There’s a famous quote from management guru Peter Drucker that says:

“What gets measured, gets managed!”

That makes sense and something I’ve definitely noticed in my personal and professional life (interestingly, as a strategist, I realise too few people actually work out what is sufficiently strategically important that they should measure it instead often letting metrics that are easy to measure dictate what is strategically important 🙄).

Being the kind of inherent maths-nerd who is obsessed with a Growth mindset, I use metrics in lots of different areas of my life. Examples include:

• how much physical activity I do a day
• how much I Sleep each night
• how much I spend each month on groceries and other items
• how many times I see important people in my life each year
• how much fun I have each week running my business

Admittedly, many of my friends and loved ones think some of this is a bit weird but it works for me and my goals.

I have encountered a problem with metrics though

Metrics are great when you use them consistently; they can really help you achieve a goal but what happens when you stop using them and then try to reuse them at a later date.

Should you pick up where the old metrics left off or start again?

Let me bring this to life for you:

I’ve been a runner for about 20 years now. Previous versions of me took it very seriously and I went through a stage of life where I ran at least a marathon a year and completed an ultramarathon.

Nowadays I’m more a casual runner but, having moved home recently, I have picked up my running and am now back to 3 runs a week.

To help me track how I’m doing I’ve fired up my old Garmin watch and started measuring the distances, times and speeds that I am racking up.

It’s been great as even within a month I’ve noticed my times and distances improving 🙂.

However the watch still has many of my old times, speeds and distances so that it’s hard not to compare how I’m doing today with how I was doing 5–10 years ago.

Obviously life has moved on, I’m now a 43 year-old start-up founder with less time and dedication for running so it’s very hard to keep pace with super-fit me from years gone by and the times I used to post.

Whilst I know that rationally, sometimes the emotions get the better of me and I get very frustrated that I’m not as fast as I used to be nor can run for as long.

What’s the solution?

The sensible thing to do is to forget about those old metrics and focus on the new ones. Reframing the thought process around how much progress I’ve made in the last 2 months (an improvement of almost 5 minutes on a 10k run) is far better than thinking about how far away from my former performance.

This slight tweak to my mindset has been amazing and actually means that I look forward to my runs so that I can work on beating my new set of metrics [the old metrics have been immortalised in the hall of fame and are not currently relevant as far as I’m concerned — who knows maybe someday they may come back into contention].

In many ways, starting again can be a joy as it affords you a blank slate and every day is an improvement whereas only look back in the rear view mirror can be a massive metaphorical anchor round your neck ⚓.

I applied this technique in a similar way to help me when I started my own business

Using this approach when I started Shiageto Consulting

If you’ve read my blogs before, you’ll know that I set up my own business 4 years ago.

At the time I left a high-flying position in a big firm, which meant turning my back on a large salary (something many people close to me thought was crazy!).

Even with the greatest will in the world, it was highly unlikely that I would make the same salary in my first couple of years of starting Shiageto; it would take time and investment to get it off the ground (and that was even before taking into consideration the pandemic that struck 6 months later).

Yet, having come from such a competitive culture surrounded by insecure overachievers, it had become almost an accepted feature that a high salary and high status was what someone my age should have and that one would expect for that salary to still be perpetually going up (so I was actually competing with an even higher salary).

Knowing how my mind works, I knew instantly that setting this as my goal for year one would have led to feeling crushed as I invariably missed it.

So, instead, I got out a blank piece of paper and jotted down all the things I needed to deliver a comfortable (not excessive) existence in the year ahead; things like:

• one year’s rent
• one year’s utility bills
• one year’s basic groceries
• one’s year’s petrol Money
• money for socialising at a normal rate (occasional night out, gifts for loved ones, etc.)
• money for one holiday

Once I wrote all these numbers down and added them up, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the number was about 70% less than the salary I had previously been on.

I decided there and then, that that would become my target for year 1 of my start-up.

Sure, it was a much lower number but it was more achievable and more realistic.

Fast forward a year and, even with the pandemic 6 months into setting up my firm, I managed to hit that new financial goal.

The sense of elation was immense 🙌🙂🎉

This in turn then gave me a platform for setting a financial target for year 2 of the business which led to year 3 and now onto year 4’s target (which is considerably higher).

Back at the start of the business I had conservatively estimated that it would take me 3 years to hit the same salary that I had been on.

In reality, it took me less time than that but it was only possible by taking a step back in my metrics to go forward.

Even now, I don’t consider that I’m back competing against my old metrics; I am 100% accountable to my new metrics.

So, what’s my key takeaway?

If ever you find yourself in a situation where it’s new you vs old you, don’t hold yourself to your old metrics, they will only demoralise you.

Set yourself new, realistic metrics and enjoy the improvement as you rapidly surpass those; it could ultimately be the difference between a healthy mindset and poor mental health.

….and don’t even get me started on why you should never use other people’s metrics as your goal 😨.

Need some help with your business goals and strategy? Drop me a line.

Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness. Connect with him here

Success = IQ x EQ x FQ

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Originally Published on https://farisaranki.medium.com/

Faris Aranki Strategy & Emotional Intelligence

Having spent over 20 years delivering strategic change for the corporate and non-corporate worlds, Faris has experienced first-hand the fine differences between strategic success and failure.
His work has spanned numerous companies (from global behemoths to small start-ups), in numerous countries, across a range of sectors, supporting them all to unlock strategic success.

He came to realize that often what hinders institutions from achieving their goals goes beyond the quality of their strategy; it is their ability to engage effectively with others at all levels and remove barriers in their way. This has led to his passion for improving strategic effectiveness within all businesses and individuals and the foundation of Shiageto Consulting.

Over time, Faris has worked to distill his knowledge of how to solve complex problems in a structured manner combined with his skill on engaging effectively with others and his ability to quickly determine the barriers to a strategy's success. This knowledge has formed the foundation of Shiageto’s workshops, courses and methodologies. Faris believes that any firm or team can adopt these improvements; all it requires is a little of the right support -something Shiageto provides!

On top of leading our business, Faris is now an accomplished speaker and contributor for a variety of outlets.