Day 8: Chart your progress - Part 1

The Americans have a phrase, 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it'.  It's the same with goals. So today's tip is a simple one:

Tip 8:  Chart your progress

Many of the goals people set can take a while to achieve, and waiting until the end to find out whether or not you have achieved your aim leaves things a bit too late in the day to do anything about it!  So, charting your progress at regular intervals allows you a lot more flexibility in taking action early, if you find yourself starting to deviate from your plan.  There are other benefits too; the very act of recording your progress can be motivating in itself.  Also, routinely measuring the changes you are making can help to make the new behaviours a habit.

With many goals it will be more important to look at trends rather than isolated incidents.  Take weight, for example.  This can fluctuate quite widely on a day-to-day basis, due to a number of factors, so if weight loss is your aim, looking at trends rather than single events is more useful.  (It will also stop you beating yourself up when you stand on the scales and see that you are a pound heavier than yesterday!)

You can be very creative about how you decide to measure your progress.  I once heard of a golfer who wanted to have greater emotional control during competitions.  He set off on the course with several golf tees in his right pocket.  Every time he felt himself 'losing it' during the round he would transfer one tee from his right to left pocket.  This simple idea allowed him to raise his awareness of just how many times he was losing control and why he was doing so.   This gave him the information he needed to start taking corrective action.

So, come up with a way of measuring your progress, decide how often to take measure and then make a record eg a graph, table, simple tick list etc.  Keep it where you can see it and use it to motivate yourself!

Post up your own ideas for charting progress and let us know how you are getting on!