The Power of Measuring Progress

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Mike Almeyda, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

At some point, we all get frustrated that we aren’t where we’d like to be. Whether it’s saving for retirement, getting a promotion, opening a business, or getting fit, each of these has a start point and end point. That right there is the value in the word PROGRESS. Progress shows you where you are at a fixed point in time from where you started and where you intend to be. It’s a valuable piece of information that, if used correctly, will make certain that you hit your target.

Now we know that all progress is NOT good progress. It’s possible that progress could be going in the opposite direction than intended, BUT, and it’s a huge but for a reason, the true value of progress is not in the direction it’s going, but in the information it’s giving. What do I mean by that? Let’s use saving for emergencies as an example. Let’s assume that it’s December 31st and you have a goal that you will have $12,000 in your emergency fund exactly one year from the date. Your goal is to save $1,000 per month. It’s now May and you expect to see $5,000 in your account, but you only see $3,000. The direction of the progress would frustrate you, BUT what does this new information tell you? It tells you that you have 7 months to save $9,000. Now you have a choice: either get upset that you are not going to hit your goal with your current plan and accept it, OR, make the adjustments and hit your target.

Think about a time in your life, or in the present moment where something is showing negative progress. What could you have done to change it? If you are going through it right now, what will you do to adjust. If you haven’t been tracking progress at all, when will you start? There is one reality for certain: if you don’t measure progress, you’re willing to accept any level of performance.