In this series I want to encourage you to take just five minutes out of your busy day to set yourself up for bigger, better success.

People wonder how they can make their dreams come true: very often, it’s a matter of working out a way of making a small dent in a big  ambition , putting the right systems in place, and making sure that it’s easy for these systems to work.

I will share my own systems, so that you can test them and see whether they work for you.

If you want to share a five-minute system with my readers or give me feedback on how this is working for you, tweet me @SusanHayes_   and follow me

Remember, it only takes five minutes, right now, to change the course of history – your history at least!

A KPI is a Key Performance Indicator : it’s a metric that tells you how well you’re doing on your path to an objective . Every dieter know they have to use scales or a tape measure to check how they’re doing: their weight or measurements are the KPI they’ve chosen to measure progress.

To choose and track a KPI:

1. Decide on a project , either personal or professional, that you want to work on.

2. Break down this project and find out which metric is the best measure of success . For example, if you’re in business, it might be a “sales projection for the year.”  If you’re saving money for something specific, it might be “what money did I put towards my goal this week and how has this brought me closer?”  If you’re studying for an exam or working on a project, then it might be “how many chapters did I cover this week and how does this make a difference in my overall preparation?”

3. Decide on a system that will make it easy for you to track that metric: it can be as simple as a wall calendar on which you mark a big “X” for every day that you do the thing you want to do. Alternatively, create a spreadsheet in which every day or every week you log the impact you’ve made on the KPI (for example, taking care of your accounts).

4. Decide when you will log the KPI and put a reminder on your phone or on your computer.

That’s it!

That’s exactly why you need the KPI exercise! First of all, make sure you actually want the result that the KPI points to. Then, make sure it’s easier to stick with tracking the KPI, than to forget about it: for example if you’re tracking the number of sales calls made , find a way to incorporate the log into the existing workflow . A dieter might for example put the scales right in front of the bathroom sink, so that they have to step on the scales every time they brush their teeth.

1. To start gathering important data : you may be taking the “scenic route” to your goals when in fact there is a much more direct way and your KPI can be a super signpost.

2. To give yourself a “daily success” : when you’re trying to achieve something big, you need intermediate deadlines to keep up motivation and make sure you’re on track. A daily or weekly log is that intermediate deadline and acts as a regular pat-on-the-back , showing you beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re moving forward.

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