The More Metrics The Better

Define precisely where it is you want to go. Then set up as many side quests along the way as you can.

Most people don’t start with Shakespeare.

We learn the alphabet instead.

We start clicking off vowels and consonants after that, then verbs and nouns. We collect hundreds of little victories along the way and eventually make our way to the classics.

Then we grow up and forget just how important it is to use multiple measures of success. Instead of layered goals with dozens of smaller achievements along the way, we set single-minded objectives that, worthy as they may be, deprive us of the motivation we need to keep going.

Video games are a great example of just how important it is to have side quests on the way to our primary goal. Assassin’s Creed, for example, is littered with thousands of objectives and hundreds of save points. All mini measures of success we can use to help us stay the path.

Define precisely where it is you want to go. Then set up as many side quests along the way as you can. The more metrics we have measuring our success, the more likely we are to succeed.