What are you measuring?

The result you get is always a sign of what you’re measuring. In other terms, what you measure will generate results.

A friend of mine called me a couple of days ago saying that she couldn’t decide on what to do for the next year. She’s studying at the most prestigious business university in Sweden, one of the toughest educational programmes that one can go through in the country.

She was in agony about the decision, she was pondering back and forth. So I proposed a different solution: taking a year of study leave. She was struck, and realised that taking a year off hadn’t even occurred to her. She told me that just thinking about it felt uncomfortable as she started thinking about what people would think about her.

If we measure our success or self worth based on the opinions of others, we’re going to play by their rules. If the path you’re on is clear to you, it probably means that you’re running someone else’s race.

When measuring those things, you need to be thoroughly grounded in what it is that you want to achieve. If you want to achieve things that most people haven’t, you’ll have to do things others haven’t done.

The society or the community around you will measure some aspects. Your parents will measure others. Your employer/school/spouse/friends will measure even more. What’s important to keep track of is what you want to measure, and then bury your head deep enough that your parameters are the only ones you see.

You don’t have to want to achieve something remarkable. Most people don’t. But what you want to achieve will always be directly related to what you’re measuring.

So what are you measuring?