It’s Important to Measure Your Progress as You Go
If you aren’t intentional about your actions, you will find yourself being distracted by shinny objects. This doesn’t mean that shiny things aren’t worth the distraction. What it does mean is…you lost your focus. Unless your mission for achieving your vision involves finding shiny objects…ignore it and focus on your destination.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve discussed how a Goal Prioritization System is similar to a GPS in your vehicle. If you put in the right information, it will help you reach your destination. How to determine your destination by opening your mind to big dreams and discovering what your purpose is. And then how to turn your dream into a clear vision.
Setting goals and taking action is the best way to reach your destination.
Just like taking a trip in your vehicle, you should always be aware of where you are in relation to where you are coming from and going to. You need to constantly be paying attention to your fuel level, where the fuel stops are, how fast you’re going, where the rest stops are located, etc. The same is true for traveling through life heading to your destination.
In the last post I shared my dreams for the future and the vision of where I plan to be in seven years. I’ve always been a big dreamer, but big dreams don’t happen without action. For me the next step is the hardest to implement.
Dreaming is a lot easier than doing.
Everything I do should be advancing me toward my dream destination. If not, then I shouldn’t do it. This is critical, but hard for me. By nature, I want to do it all. I need to be intentional about not chasing shiny.
To reach my vision it is going to require a lot of different pieces and specific measurements. For today’s example we’ll look at expanding my customer base.
In my vision I state:
…“reaching hundreds of thousands of people around the world”…
How are we going to expand our customer base from 32 to “hundreds of thousands of people” by the end of 2027? To do this, we need a plan with some ways to track the progress.
If we can increase the number by 200% each year, this can be accomplished. That seems like a pretty big number…and it is.
- 2020 – 32 x 200% = 64 + 32 = 96
- 2021 – 96 x 200% = 192 + 96 = 288
- 2022 – 288 x 200% = 576 + 288 = 864
- 2023 – 864 x 200% = 1,728 + 864 = 2,592
- 2024 – 2,592 x 200% = 5,184 + 2,592 = 7,776
- 2025 – 7,776 x 200% = 15,552 + 7,776 = 23,328
- 2026 – 23,328 x 200% = 46,656 + 23,328 = 69,984
- 2027 – 69,984 x 200% = 139,968 + 69,984 = 209,952
At first this looks impossible. If you stop and think about it…all it takes is for everyone to just bring 2 new people to the group.
That doesn’t seem so impossible.
Let’s break this down some more. If we’re going expand our customer base by 64 people by the end of 2020, we need to add 8 new people each month from now to the end of the year. Up to this point this process is still fun…for me.
What really makes this process the most difficult is that the customer base is just one small piece of the overall vision. In addition to the customers we need to have something to sell that they want to buy. We need to balance the physical construction projects with the development of products and services. We need to keep the invoicing done and the bills paid. And on and on…
If one thing isn’t working, it’s time to try something new. Don’t give up. It is easy to be overwhelmed when looking at the big picture. It’s no different than taking a big trip. You have a dream, you determine the destination, you map out the route…
But if you don’t go by some mile markers, you’re never going to get there.
