I was being told a story the other day about some advice a now retired gentleman had been given before starting his first job. When working with statistics, the advice stated, the very first thing to do is ask your boss what they want to prove.
When working in the corporate world, and particularly with sales, it was second nature to not only have targets but also a measurement of what was classed as important to that business.
To borrow an advertising slogan, you’ve got to be in it to win it. One of the ways that people can stay stuck in a situation is that they stop (or don’t start) taking action.
For example, Colin has always wanted to write an award winning screen play. He sat watching the Oscar’s thinking I can do that but feels he’s just not quite ready to start. And yet until he starts the potential for getting that award stays just as far away. As the successful writer and producer Russell T Davis has said in the Writer’s tale “The whole world is full of unwritten scripts.” [Amazon.co.uk link] [Amazon.com link]
Let me ask you a question, what are you measuring?
For example, if you are currently job hunting, are you counting the number of applications/contact you’ve made with potential employers you’ve made or are you counting the number of times you haven’t got a job?
In the examples above, lets look at what is likely to happen. If you are job hunting I am going to presume that what you want is a job – (preferably one that you will enjoy and not hate!).
If you are counting the number of times you have not got a job, the chances are that you’re not going to feel too great about that and probably powerless. And if that goes on how motivated are you likely to be to apply elsewhere – I’m guessing that over time your motivation is possibly not that high.
If you are counting the number of applications/points of contact you make, this time you are counting something you have the power about. How do you think you will feel about that? I’m guessing that you’ll feel much more in control. I’m also going to guess that your motivation in such instances are much higher than in the first option.
Now the more people that know about what you do, the more chance you have about someone saying “yes”. I was hearing an example the other day where a job seeker had contacted a potential employer to see if there were any jobs going. While that particular employer had no current vacancies he was so impressed with that person that he passed the details to his wife’s company who he knew were looking for just that sort of employee. (Yes, even in this economic climate!)
Taking another example, If you want to find somewhere new to live are you counting the number of times you’ve said you want somewhere or are you counting the number of places you’ve actually looked at?
Which one of those is actually more likely to lead to a brand new home?
In our own personal lives we may not have spreadsheets or big displays about what we are measuring similar to what you may find in the corporate world. But it’s amazing how we keep track of what we are measuring in our own head.
Ever noticed in an argument how some can recall all the times that someone has irritated them in the past?
If we are going to do that in your head anyway I would suggest that you are your own boss, and just like that piece of advice to that young man before starting his first job – check what you want to prove or do.
This week I invite you to play with the following:
1. Pick something that you want and decide what would be most useful for you to measure to get you there.
I suggest that you make it something that you have control over and something you can do – Just like in the job application example.
So if you want to loose weight*, so you can get more healthy, measuring the amount of exercise you take is something you have more control over rather than what the scales say.
(*Disclaimer bit: I’m not a medical doctor so do seek medical advice if appropriate.)
Colin, with his wish of writing an award winning script, may want to measure the amount of time he spends writing – regardless of if he then chooses to use all of what he has written.
Sometimes you may want to measure something specific, like the number of times you practiced a new skill.
Sometimes it may be more appropriate to measure something more general like the number of actions taken.
There is no right or wrong way, just the one that will work for you. Pick the thing that will make the biggest difference for you.
2. Make this easy for yourself, rather than keeping track of this in you head, find some way of recording this for real.
I also suggest that you make it fun for yourself – some people like to use a list and others keep a running total displayed. Maybe you’d like to make a board game from it or some like to colour in segments of a picture as they go – I’ve even been known to do a dot to dot.
The important bit of how you record it is that it appeals to you. That makes it more fun for you to keep taking the action you have chosen to measure.
You may want to place the means of how you are recording this somewhere that others can also see it – It’s amazing the curiosity a dot to dot puzzle can generate. 😉 It can lead to encouragement as others get involved and also extra ideas 🙂
You also may want to consider if you want to include some kind of treat – maybe when you reach certain stages. It doesn’t have to be anything huge, just something that you class as a bit of fun.
I’d love to hear how you play with this
Love
Jen
PS If you are a Job Seeker and feel like you want more confidence, click Confidence for Job Seekers