Measuring Goal Progress

by Roy Wiersma

It is important to measure progress, but progress toward goals is actually quite difficult to measure for many reasons.  However, the most fundamental reason is simple.  It is challenging to find a reasonable way to count the progress towards a particular goal because all the pieces that lead to the goal are not created equally.  The purpose of this article is to lay out the key facets to a good system for measuring progress towards goals.

Suppose you are starting a construction business. Reading a book about construction would be good.  On the other hand, if you only read books, then at a certain point you are not actually moving closer to creating the business.  This is called diminishing returns.  In fact, you are actually getting in your own way.  You are spending your limited time on a low impact activity (reading your 10th book) at the expense of a high impact activity (building a website for marketing).  The book may provide useful information, but the website will provide you with clients, the lifeblood of a business.  The upshot is that the payout is variable for almost all the steps toward a goal and depends on the other steps you have already chosen to complete.  Thus, when designing a system for tracking progress we need to account for the synergy between steps and minimize the impact of variable payout and diminishing returns.

When creating a measurement system there are several crucial considerations.  

1. Decide how you want to track your progress, will you use an app, a checklist, a vision board?  Don’t be afraid to get creative, but make sure the tracker is accessible and visible.    

2. Determine the mandatory steps to achieve a goal and set basic priority order.

3. Keep these steps and the sub-steps binary, yes or no, when possible.

4. Have a few task options available for when you are headed toward burnout. Some of these can be optional.  Novelty can help fight burnout, so some of the optional tasks should be dissimilar from your core tasks to provide a level of novelty.

5. Set realistic timeframes to manage a sense of urgency and pay attention to how you respond to urgency.  Adjust your timeframe to account for setbacks and negative responses.

6. Utilize habit creation to implement motivating secondary metrics.  These provide some immediate satisfaction to help counter burnout.

Construction business example metric:  

1. Make a list and post it next to your computer.  Make checkboxes for each step and sub-step.  Each time you complete a step, check the box and high-five the first person you see as a small celebration to remind yourself progress should feel good.

2. Mandatory steps, all of these need to be completed  to actually start doing business, and generally, should occur in the listed order.  

Research

-read 2 construction business books

-create website

-create marketing campaign

-determine maximum job size aka target demographic

-plan pricing

Equipment/purchases 

-Make equipment list

-Buy equipment

-buy insurance

Hiring

-Hire 5 workers

3. Notice the formulation of all the steps and the sub-steps are binary.  You can ask, “is this complete?”  and the answer will always come back yes or no.  This does not mean you can't adjust it later.  

4. Spare “for fun” tasks to break up the work you may find less rewarding.  Again these are to help prevent burnout.  

-Reach out to local business networks for advice

-start making business contacts (non-binary, but counts upward)

- Build a demo structure to show potential clients

-Make a youtube channel with construction demos

-Brainstorm a logo and business name with a mentor

5. This goal has three general pieces so we set up a rough timeframe for those

-Research 14 days

-Equipment/purchases 30 days

-Hiring 30 days

6. New habit: Spend 30 minutes every morning working on an uncompleted sub-step.  Place a marble in a jar every day you do this.  This will have an auditory component, the “clink” to help reinforce the habit and you will see the jar slowly fill.  Now there is a secondary metric tracking “worked days”.

The techniques and examples presented are intended as a way to frame the purpose and utility of setting goals.   The examples can be used as templates for this process, but are not intended to deal with every situation.  Instead we are advocating a thoughtful approach that considers the mechanisms by which goals aid achievement and how to begin implementing metrics to effectively support success on this journey.