Possibly The Smartest Way To Progress In Life

First there's uncertainty and then there's progress.

One of the first things you'll learn in negotiation is the difference between needs and wants.

You need air to breathe, you need water to drink. You don't need that job, you wan't it or you don't need that promotion - you want it.

Unfortunately, once we get what we want - we're supposed to be happy. Sorry, doesn't work that way. The fast car... just lasted you 60 minutes of happiness.

Tony Robbins

Progress = Happiness!

If you're growing, and giving you will be happy. If you're moving forward in life, if you're progressing personally, professionally, emotionally or spiritually - you will be happy.

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee in life. None in your job, you can work as hard as you want and you may not get that promotion. You may make investments, but there's no promise it will go up tomorrow.

This causes stress. And if you're like me, you don't want stress...

There are two schools of thought - If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. And - things that are invaluable are immeasurable.

Anyways, you can't know for sure whether you'll get that promotion - but you can measure how much money you've made for the company, or how much time you've saved.

You can't know for certain how much money you'll make on your investment - but you can start tracking to see how much your portfolio is growing when you invest during good and bad times.

By measuring, you're making the unknown - known. I talked about this earlier, that if you want to progress in life - WRITE IT DOWN. This is so empowering...

By writing it down and measuring it, you're making the uncertain - certain - that small step will provide you the progress you need to see, to feel happy. It provides you the needed feedback loop.

In a world of instant coffee and ADHD, we're attuned to immediate gratification.

Ask any day trader, and he'll tell you exactly what I mean by that...

I mentor traders as well, and one of the things that keeps popping up, is the importance of keeping a trading journal. It's SO impactful. To measure your every step before and after the trade, to document the mistakes you make, so you can avoid them next time - or the successful trades, to celebrate them. You actually see your progress over the year like a well crafted oil painting.

When was the last time, you sat to do your Personal Networth Statement - a statement that puts your assets on one side and liabilities on the other side - and you take the difference to see your Net Asset Value?

Marie Forleo (a great lady btw!), reminds you to check your bank account every day. By making this a habit, you start to see your wealth grow. Why is that?

I'm guessing it has something to do with the measurement - by checking everyday, you're seeing any changes - slowly, but surely.

Even video gamers, know the importance of measurement - they build it into the game as a score. It gives you the feeling of progress... remember how you felt like when you played Donkey Kong or Angry Birds?

Do you need to measure everything?

No, only the essential. You don't need all if it, but there's no harm in measuring it if it doesn't intrude your daily activities or keep you from doing the most important work.

Fortunately today, there's no dearth of non-intrusive measurement technology... you can measure you're weight, you're heartbeat, how much distance you've walked, how many hours you've slept, or even how much time you've spent writing an article this like.

Which is probably why, as humans we've made so much progress in the last 100 years than in the previous 1000 years. Imagine what the next 10 years will be like if we keep on measuring...

What are some of the ways you measure things? Have you seen any change in your behavior as a result? What do you think are some of the problems of measuring too much? Share your thoughts, who knows there might be some insightful stuff in that great mind of yours.