What gets measured gets attention

Last weekend, I had a talk with Mary Ann about staying on track on a diet, and over the long haul. I said that I didn't want to have to keep track of points, or calories, because I would never do that for the rest of my life -- too much work. I'm in favor of the gradual lifestyle changes that cause me to lose weight slowly.

But I've been re-thinking that. One reason is that, as Mary Ann pointed out, after a while, you learn your points, and it's not so hard to keep track. Another is that I'm just not losing weight -- I've lost 11 pounds and I've plateaued out. The third reason is the "performance-shaping" one: what gets measured, gets attention.

Why it's good to have some way of measuring progress:

1. It holds you accountable. If you say you're going to walk 3 times a week, and you log it, you'll know how often you kept your promise. If you say you're going to stick to your budget and you use budgeting software, you'll know whether you did or not.
2. It gives you an objective standard. You know what your goal is, and you can measure your progress as you continue towards it.
3. It keeps you focused on the goal. 22 points is 22 points, not 35!
4. It motivates. Having the result in black and white gives just a little more incentive towards achieving that goal. If you're doing poorly, you might want to try harder, or try a new tactic. If you're doing well, it's an ego-boost.
5. It helps prevents denial. You can't say you did something faithfully if you haven't.
   

This works for any goal -- whether it's time spent writing a blog, or number of resumes sent out, or whatever. The trick is to have a metric that you can use and then use it.

Movement towards a goal is the right kind of movement. And the joyful part of this is that it's under my control.