Learn to measure, measure, measure 📏

My eyes can deceive me quite a bit.

Over the past two months, I have embarked in some house-related projects. One was to redo our front walk. The other was to level the area underneath an over-ground pool.

Because my home 🏡 is on a hill, an optical illusion is created that makes flat surfaces appear sloped.

When I saw our completed walk, something just didn’t look right.

And after adding substantial top soil to one end of the pool 🤽 site to even things out and prevent water for building on one end, it still seemed uneven.

However, when I used a level 📐 (a tool that indicates how flat a surface is), I saw that the surface is in fact flat.

Often, we think something or draw conclusions based on intuition and senses.

Sometimes, it’s “for the good”, thinking that we’re getting a lot done or are ahead of last year’s pace.

At other times, we feel that things are coming off of the rails and start to act or make decisions accordingly.

But if we don’t measure, we can’t know for sure.

I’ll be honest. I hate to measure.

I just love to do. Coach, consult, teach, speak, write. Those are my passions.

Measurement, not so much.

But I must condition myself to use metrics to ensure growth and clarity of direction and action.

You can’t hit a target that you can’t see.

What metrics do you use to ensure that your success, or failure, is not simply an optional illusion, and that you remain on track with your goals?