Dare to Measure What Matters

“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.”—Grace Hopper 

In his book, “Measure What Matters” the venture capitalist, John Doerr gives us a powerful system of goal-attainment called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). The ‘Objectives’ identifies where we want to go and ‘Key Results’ ensures that we get there. 

Under this system, the thing about a ‘key result’ is measurement; it is about ensuring progress. So, it should be specific, time bound and most importantly it must be measurable. Since what we measure is what we improve, therefore, measuring is perhaps the most crucial element in OKRs system. Ultimately, measuring makes an objective possible.

As the saying goes, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”  To be aware of how we are showing up for something we’ve decided is important, tracking is the guiding light. It is the primary factor that will indicate whether we are truly committed to get the result we want or not.

So what goals are you pursuing at the present moment? 

How are you showing up for them?

And most importantly, what metrics are you counting?

Answering these questions properly is how to take charge of your key results and consequently your predetermined objectives.

For example:

If you want to grow your business: Are you counting your sales calls.

If you want to master a skill: Are you meeting your practice count?

If you want to get out of debt: Are you living on a strict budget?

Having an objective starts the process of achievement but to keep track of the work and making necessary improvement along the way are what will bring the distant vision into concrete reality. 

The system of success written by Doerr in ‘Measure What Matters’ is especially useful in three practical ways:  one, it prevents us from getting off the rail of purpose, two, it helps us build momentum in the right direction and three, it keeps us focus on what matters most.  

Whether we run a big organization or a small one, or we just want to improve our own lives in a more meaningful way, the system of OKRs has tremendous value. With it, we can make judicious use of our time, attention and energy to achieve whatever we set our minds to achieve.

Result Ritual: the Productive Tool of Giants

“Any serious attempt to try to do something worthwhile is ritualistic.”—Derek Walcott

Do you have a vision to accomplish something worthwhile? Is it big enough to scare and motivate you at the same time? Are you absolutely committed to making it happen? If you answer yes to these three questions, I think you need a result ritual.

So what is a result ritual? 

A result ritual is a set (pattern) of actions (or words) that is followed regularly and precisely to produce certain result in a particular aspect of our lives.

Result ritual is different from a senseless routine; it doesn’t just happen, it requires intelligent purpose. And the professor of literature, Joseph Campbell explains the concept as follows. He says: “The function of ritual, as I understand it, is to give form to human life, not in the way of a mere surface arrangement, but in depth.”

Result rituals serve a constructive function in our lives. They not only make our goals easier to achieve, they also make our journey a little more enjoyable. And as we fall in love with the process of achievement, we become more motivated to keep the ball rolling—even on a very bad day. 

From the foregoing, we can see that a ritual is one of the only things which can impact our results in a very powerful way. When we design and follow a ritual for a goal, we feel more disciplined, less distracted and more consistent on the course that we have set; a useful ritual helps us make the most of our time.

This is the secret of the cream of the crop in all walks of life. And it is a point the publisher of SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy highlights in his insight that: “A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else. The routine is exceptionally powerful.”  

 

For illustration, let’s take a look at one of greats in the literary world of creation: the prolific American writer, Stephen King. In the following quote, he informs us of how he uses this tactic to prep his mind to move into high gear for an ingenious output, on a daily basis. He writes:

“There are certain things I do if I sit down to write:

I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. 

There’s a certain time I sit down, from 8:00 to 8:30, somewhere within that half hour every morning. 

I have my vitamin pill and my music, sit in the same seat, and the papers are all arranged in the same places. 

The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day seems to be a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon.”

Having heard from a giant, I think it is time to talk about your own result ritual.

Design Your Own Result Rituals

The thing about ritual is that it is not only a choice but it is pretty personal. If you choose, you can use it to season your energy and emotions for their optimal returns in your life. And it is necessary if you are after extra-ordinary result in your field. 

As Mason Currey writes in his book, ‘Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work’: “The surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time.” 

He explains how to do that in the next sentence. He says:

“Decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.” 

Unlike amateurs who always wait for perfect moods to do what is important to them, this is how real men work. They design a result ritual to enable a good outcome they want to see in their lives. And then, they commit to doing it every single day—no matter how they feel. 

On why this tactic works so well, ‘Daily Rituals’ states: “The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.” 

Lastly, to achieve like the expert, we must stop relying on willpower alone to do the things we truly want to accomplish. We need to know that the big things that we dream of, can be made a lot easier to achieve with better strategies of success; one of which is a well-designed ritual for the specific result that we really need in our lives.

   

               

Start Your Days on a High Tide

"Each morning brings a hidden blessing; a blessing which is unique to that day, and which cannot be kept or re-used. If we do not use this miracle today, it will be lost."—Paulo Coelho

Why do few humans accomplish big things while the vast majority of people struggle to set mere mediocre records? One answer is in how they spend their time, especially the first portion of their days: the early mornings. 

World-class talents do better than most of us because they truly understand the power of early morning. And they don’t spend it haphazardly. They spend the beginning of their days thinking, planning and working on the critical goals they need to accomplish to contribute better to the good of all. 

Unlike us, they delay low value activities till later, every single day. To them, the mantra always is, if a task is relevant to a big goal that they have, then it needs to be done first. And Laura Vanderkam writes about this in her book, ‘What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings--and Life.’ She states:

“Before the rest of the world is eating breakfast, the most successful people have already scored daily victories that are advancing them toward the lives they want.”

In other words, they do more meaningful work before 9:00 am than most people do all day. Before noon, they have already made a measurable progress toward the things that are really important.

Just like Luara Vanderkam and other high achievers who use the early morning hours to their advantage, we can make tremendous progress toward success, if we take full charge of our own morning too. The rest of this article is going to help us in doing just that.

Remember:  how we start our day can largely determine how we spend the rest of it. 

Get Organized From the Night Before

If you want to make the most of your next morning, don’t eat your dinner too late the night before and try to sleep as early as possible. This is to ensure that you are well rested and alert to tackle your biggest challenges as soon as you wake up.

And when you wake up, thank your Creator first. Say your prayers or meditation for spiritual grace and blessings. Never skip this part on any day. We live in an unpredictable world, so it takes God’s special mercy to secure safety from dangers in all aspect of our lives. Emergencies can destabilize even the strongest among men.

After prayer and gratitude, condition your body for peak performance by doing some physical exercises like pushups and jump ups and possibly, a little walk. Then take a cup of water to prevent dehydration during the course of your work. 

Now read on to learn a life-changing idea for your life and business.

Focus on the Hardest Thing First 

The president of a steel company consulted an efficiency expert called Ivy Lee on how to do a better job of managing his company. He wanted to learn the optimal way of getting things done for growth and profitability of his business.

The revolutionary idea given by Ivy Lee to this executive was as follows:

He said: “Write down the six most important things you have to do tomorrow.” The executive complied with Lee and wrote down the essential tasks of the next day.

Now Lee continued, “Number those items in their order of importance to you and to the company.” The executive also did as requested.

Then Lee said, “Begin tomorrow with the number one task on your list and stay with it until it is completed. Don’t move to number two unless the first one has been finished. And then do the same for the second task on your list, and so on.”

Lee cautioned the executive not to worry even if the number one task took him the whole day to complete. What mattered was that he took things one at a time in their proper order. He should focus on the hardest task first and ensure it was completed before moving on to the next priority.

“Do this every day and send me a cheque for whatever you think the idea is worth,” Lee concluded.

After just a few weeks, the executive sent Lee a cheque of $25,000 (N9,125,000) with a note stating that the idea was the most profitable business lesson he had ever learned  in his entire life. 

Yes, the idea was that valuable; it became largely responsible for turning a struggling company into one of the largest steel companies in the world at the time—in just 5 years.

Lee simple idea coincides with what Gary Keller writes in his book, ‘The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.’ He counsels that: “You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.”

And that means you need to figure out the few critical tasks that must happen to move you toward your big goals and then commit to doing them as early as possible in the day before any interruption can get a chance to derail you from your purpose.

If you can consistently force yourself to do meaningful work in the early part of your days, you will be astonished at the level of progress you can make within a relatively short period of time.

In summary, to put your life on high gear, start your days on high tide by always doing the hardest thing first.

The Law of the Farm & How It Applies to Other Aspects Life

 “Nature herself does not distinguish between what seed it receives. It grows whatever seed is planted; this is the way life works. Be mindful of the seeds you plant today, as they will become the crop you harvest.”—Mary Morrissey

To truly succeed in life, we have to live in line with the natural laws as instituted by our Creator. And, one of those laws is the law of the farm or the law of harvest. In simple language, it says the farmer must plant in the spring if he wants to reap in the fall. To get good, he has to respect the season of duty. 

In his book, ‘7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness,’ the business philosopher, Jim Rohn describes the workings of the law in a blunt tone, as follows:

“Those who rest in the spring do not reap in the fall, regardless of the need, regardless of the desire.” 

From the foregoing, we can see that nature is a stern taskmaster but a generous paymaster. It rewards diligence in abundance but gives nothing to indolence.

As a result of this truth, a wise farmer proactively chooses to till his land, plant his seeds, nurture his plants, and eliminate useless weeds. He keeps a regular watch on his farm until the time of harvest. In short, the farmer has to put in the time to complete his part.

At the season of planting, being undisciplined is like playing with fire; it has real consequences for the farmer. He will pay for any lapses at the time of harvest. This is why the business consultant, Stephen Covey asks the following question in his book, ‘First Things First’:

“Can you imagine forgetting to plant in the spring, flaking out all summer, and hitting it hard in the fall — ripping the soil up, throwing in the seeds, watering, cultivating — and expecting to get a bountiful harvest?”

Clearly, such expectation is not only foolish but futile. Short cuts and false hopes don’t work in the farm. The system of the farm is a natural system that can’t be cheated without a price. You have to do your part, at each stage of its process. You have to respect the spring if you must reap come the fall.

However, it may appear possible in other areas of life for— a while— where people seem to succeed by using quick fix method to circumvent the process of creation but Covey refutes this false assumption in his conclusion that: “In the long run, the Law of the Farm governs in all arenas of life.” Short cut eventually backfires because what is not done right will never yield its maximum return.

The law— in three simple steps— says if you want good harvest, plant and cultivate well first. Now let’s examine the process in greater detail—as it applies to life in general.

Plant, Cultivate and then Harvest

The law of nature that determines success in the farms also determines success in other aspects of our lives. As success at the farm requires intelligence and diligence, so is success in school, in business and at home. 

For example: If you want the harvest of a good child in the distant future, you must do your part by choosing a good partner for a healthy seed of life, then cultivate the farm by raising your child the best way possible and with time, you will get the object of your desire.

The same goes for almost all aspect of our lives; what and how we sow invariably determines the quality of our harvest. This process is described by the founder of Nerium International, Jeff Olson as “You plant, then you cultivate, and finally you harvest.” He explains further that to skip the nurturing stage is to gamble with our harvest; we can’t jump from planting to harvesting. So as wise handlers of our affairs, we should always endeavour to do whatever we need to do, when we need to do it, whether we feel like it or not.

However, those who choose neglect and procrastination will be rewarded with failure. Those who want to harvest without planting are living a mirage. The moment we understand that the law of the farm is universal and immutable; we shall be content to receive nothing whenever we failed to sow and cultivate. In other words, if we want better harvest, then we need to do better at the gardens of our lives.

Garbage In Garbage Out

Since our future is carved out of our present moments, we must plough the land and sow properly today for a bountiful harvest tomorrow. Good harvest can only be expected when we have planted the right seed first. 

Afterward, we must continue to invest time, energy and attention to cultivate our farm. This is true whether the farm is a physical, mental, social one. In all aspects of life, input determines the output. And the author of ‘Iron Will’ Orison Swett Marden goads us further. He says:“We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest.” 

We need to understand that success comes not from finding an easy shortcut to where we want to go, but from doing whatever it takes to get us there. Even if your own ambition has little to do with tangible things of this world, know that the law of the farm also governs the spiritual aspect of your life. 

So, learn to plant something wholesome in the tender garden of your soul to reap a bountiful harvest of serenity for life. In this direction, Stephen Covey still reminds you that: “The only thing that endures over time is the 'Law of the Farm.' You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate, and water if you expect to reap the harvest.”

Finally, diligent patience to the process creation is the secret of successful farmers. As it turns out, diligent patience is the ultimate secret of all great men as well. The Edison’s and Michelangelo’s of this world use the law of the farm to their advantage; they paid their full due early in time to earn their well-deserved recognition in the world. 

Therefore if you dream of realizing your full potential one day, know that you have no choice than to put in the work in the springtime of your life.