Quantify Your Progress: Finding Ways to Measure Your Self-Improvement

Self-improvement is always simple in theory, but difficult in practice.

In theory, we know we should exercise, eat a healthy diet, and get a good night’s sleep, but even these basic habits can be difficult to follow through on.

One great way to hold yourself more accountable in any area of self-improvement is to find ways to quantify your progress. If you can measure it, you can improve it.

Finding ways to measure your self-improvement helps you to keep track of the results you’re getting, even if day-by-day it doesn’t always feel like you’re making much of a difference.

Of course, some things are easier to measure than others.

An athlete can easily keep track of their progress by measuring how much weight they can lift, or how many pull-ups they can do, or how fast they can run a mile. And most professional athletes keep track of their exercise routine and diet regimen to make sure they are staying on the right path.

However, you can turn any type of self-improvement into something measurable. Here’s a simple guide on how to do it!

How to Make All Self-Improvement Measurable

The easiest way to measure any type of self-improvement is to first make it into a habit (a specific activity you could do on a daily basis, in theory).

Then you can keep track of this habit by measuring either:

• How often you complete the habit.
• How many hours you dedicate to the habit.

So if you want to go to the gym more, you can simply measure how many times per week you go to the gym and workout. Or if you’re trying to improve your sleeping habits, you can measure how many times per week you go to bed before a certain time.

Or if you are trying to improve at a certain skill (such as writing, painting, or playing guitar) you can measure how many hours per week you dedicate toward that activity. Or if you want to be a better student, measure how many hours per week you spend studying.

Breaking a habit or daily activity down by “hours per week” or “X times per week” is the easiest way to measure your new habit and quantify your progress.

In general, focusing on your habits and daily routine are a good starting point for any type of self-improvement, no matter what your goals are in life. We are what we repeatedly do.

How to Keep Track of Progress

Keep it simple.

In theory, all you need to track your progress is a calendar and pen to keep a tally of how often you complete a habit (and a timer if you are measuring things by time spent).

However, I recommend checking out one of the many free apps that do basic “habit tracking.” I’ve been using Loop Habit Tracker over the past year. It’s just a digital “to-do” list that keeps track of how often you complete your habits.

Here’s what it looks like (this isn’t from mine though):

A daily checklist by itself is a great way to hold yourself more accountable and stay on track with your goals.

I even put really easy things on my checklist such as “Drink Water,” “Brush Teeth,” and “Name One Thing to Be Grateful For,” just so I don’t forget any of the basics, both physically and mentally.

You can also set up your habits on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis (depending on what makes the most sense). For example, I have “Meditate” and “Call Mom” set as a weekly reminder.

Once you have habits set-up, you can begin to track your progress over time with each one:

The app also keeps track of “Best Streaks” (how many times in a row you completed a habit) and assigns a “Score” from 0% – 100% for each habit, which can be a nice visual representation of your progress.

It’s fairly simple and easy to use. I’m sure plenty of other habits do the same things (or more), but this is all you need to begin to quantify your progress.

In the past, I’ve also used an app called Habitica, which combines habit tracking with elements of gamification (you can read about my experiences with it here). That could be a great option if you are the type of person who enjoys video games – or needs a little extra motivation to get your new habits going.

The type of app or method you choose to quantify your progress isn’t that important. The most important thing is that you are measuring your habit change – even if it’s just a chalkboard on your fridge, start keeping track of a habit you want to improve on!

The Psychology Of Numbers and “Virtual Progress”

Measuring your progress isn’t just about being more rational or empirical, there’s also a powerful psychology behind numbers.

Our minds love numbers (even if you’ve never liked math). When we count things, and can see the difference, it makes those improvements feel more real and tangible. It’s not just “Oh yeah, I think I’ve been going to the gym more often lately,” it’s “Yeah, I went to the gym over 50% more often than last month!”

That sounds a lot more real and powerful. Even when our minds here statistics in an advertisement or commercial, we begin to think it is more trustworthy and scientific. Our minds trust numbers. They feel reliable.

In psychology, there’s a type of behavioral nudge known as “Virtual Progress.”

Picture this..

You walk into a crowded bakery late on a Saturday night.

It is completely filled with people who are overflowing out the door. You decide to just turn around and go home. No way you’re waiting that long!

However, what if you could pull a number when you walk into the bakery and there’s a visual ticker showing what “place” you are in line?

Research shows that being able to see this “virtual progress” before our eyes can keep people more motivated and committed to a certain decision, rather than walking away or giving up.

You can keep looking up and seeing the progress in front of you…”Only 5 people left, only 2 people left, only 1 person left…MY TURN!”

This “Virtual Progress” nudge is all around our daily lives that we often don’t even notice it. Remember the last time you created an online profile somewhere and you could see a progress bar pop up “You have only 75% of your profile filled out…complete the rest here!”

This “virtual progress” (or visual progress) motivates people to stay committed and complete the task.

Numbers can work the same way for getting yourself more committed to self-improvement and building new habits. It makes your changes feel more real – and keeps you motivated to keep the “Numbers going up!”

Our minds immediately see numbers as a type of reward – and when you start quantifying your progress, you begin to get a tiny dopamine rush when you see the numbers moving in the right direction.

It’s almost like winning in a video game, except it’s your life.

Qualify Your Progress: Write a Journal or Diary

While finding ways to measure your self-improvement is important, it’s also worth noting the limitations of this approach.

Not everything that’s important can be measured or reduced to numbers.

One of my favorite quotes is…

This quote illustrates two ways our measurements can be limiting:

• Measuring the wrong stuff. One way measurements can be misleading is if you’re measuring things that don’t align with your core values in life. For example, if you’re only measuring success through money, or only measuring time spent partying and having fun, rather than time spent with family or helping others. You may be succeeding at certain metrics in life, but if you’re not measuring (or paying attention to) other important aspects of a balanced life, you’re ultimately selling yourself short.
• The stuff you can’t measure. Certain things in life are too complicated or abstract to measure. You can’t reduce “love,” “happiness,” “creativity,” or “kindness” to a simple mathematical formula – and even if you could, that’s not necessarily the healthiest approach to those types of things. That’s one reason I like to say “love is an art project” (no matter how much we learn through science).

Certain things in life are subjective, and we need to respect that subjectivity.

However, just because something is subjective doesn’t mean we can’t keep track of it.

Keeping a daily journal or diary is one great way to keep track of your subjective world of thoughts and feelings – the stuff that can’t always be easily measured but is still worth paying attention to.

Remember: Numbers are an important tool for self-improvement that can motivate you, but don’t let them completely take over your life.

Ultimately, the question “Am I happy?” is something you can only answer from your gut – and not something you can reduce to a single number or formula.

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