the importance of tracking progress

trying to get a promotion but can’t quite figure out how to get there? here’s how you can use progress tracking to get to where you want to be:

life is a lot of work. if you factor in your career, personal pursuits, family, friends, and perhaps a side hustle or two, it adds up some significant responsibility. I often find myself feeling overwhelmed by so much to do with such limited time, but there’s one thing that can help counteract feeling bummed out – tracking your progress. tracking progress can help you do a couple of things:

• feel more accomplished in general, which impacts your mental state
• show your accomplishments to people who care (like your boss)
• keep your mind focused and deliberate

so how in the world do you fit progress tracking into an already packed schedule? a couple of ways. the first way is simple and highly recommended – schedule your check ins to be at the same time and regular. for example, I have quarterly check ins that fall in the middle of every quarter, as well as at the end of each quarter. I learned this tactic when I worked at Google and we called them OKRs (objective – key – results). a good sample might be:

objective: to better track my fitness progress and achieve 5 more pounds of muscle

key results:

• strength train 3x / week
• mark my workouts in a calendar on a daily basis
• measure muscle mass each month, with at least 5% improvement month over month

I feel responsibility for measuring my progress and reporting it back to people, so it’s pretty easy to schedule it and then get it done.

another huge reason why you should be measuring your progress is because no one else will – seriously. if you’ve done a ton of work for a project, but you haven’t told anyone about it or explained it, no one will know. everyone is busy working on themselves, so you have to be proactive about figuring out a system that works for you, sharing frequently, and keeping things written down.

net / net – take the time to plan out your work, determine what you want to accomplish, and then track your progress on a regular basis. you got this!