I bought a new truck last week.
I don’t like the depreciation factor of buying new so all my vehicle purchases are “new to me.”
I had been looking for a special kind of truck for a while. This truck has to be able to haul my RV along with all my other Hobbies like bicycle and my motorcycle. Oh, and my kayak too.
After months of searching, I found it. The owner was a super nice and honest guy. We hit it off right away.
It’s always risky buying used because you really don’t know the history of the vehicle. So now I am going through the process of learning about the truck. This is a process I really enjoy. As I discover things I want to change I am writing notes in a book. As I make modifications, I am also making notes on my permanent record.
These notes allow me to know exactly where I stand with my purchase and my modification plans going forward.
Knowing where I stand is very important to all of us in business.
I want to share with you a way to know where we stand in our business, every day. An early mentor of mine taught me this technique and it really changed my business life.
First, we have to realize and accept that everything is measurable.
Once we know what we want and how to measure the results we are seeking, we can create a picture that we can track every day. A picture is really worth a 1000 words.
Here is what you do:
Create a coordinate graph on a regular sheet of paper, or on a spreadsheet program
- The x-axis is labeled for 31 days
- the y-axis is labeled from 0 to the number (A) you want to achieve this month
- Draw a line from the origin to the point of intersection of the last day of the month and the y-axis goal (A) for the month
Now you have your plan for the month, your visual, real-time updates.
Next, it is absolutely necessary to update the graph every day and to post the graph prominently where you will see it.
This is a critical management tool for you and/or your reports whose efforts are critical to your success. Just realizing where you are every day will cause you to have a greater focus on what is really important and what you need to do.
In my case, this one technique turned my carer in the YMCA around almost overnight.
For an example of what an easy, basic, low-tech graph looks like..
Very often the hard part is deciding exactly what you should be tracking. If you get stuck with trying to figure out what to track, contact me for some ideas.
