How to track and appreciate your progress

As you start implementing your goals, keep notes of what you do and what you are getting out of it. This helps you fine-tune your approach, as well as appreciate how far you have come.

Over the course of a year, I sometimes find my goalposts shift along with me. When that happens, I might not fully appreciate the amazing journey. Does that sound familiar?

If journalling with words is not your thing, get creative. I have seen people colour in squares, use increasingly saturated colours to represent their progress or develop other visual methods. Whatever works for you.

Identify what throws you off course

Checking in with your progress also helps you identify the derailers that throw you off course.

This is a little less free-form than some other aspects of journalling. When you are setting goals and deciding on your next steps, check in with how things are going, what you did or didn’t do, and what got in the way.

Over time, this can give you a list of recurring reasons or patterns. Recognising them can be painful and potentially annoying, but it is also extremely helpful. Once you know what repeatedly gets in your way, you can begin to address it rather than allowing the same barriers to keep popping up.

Everyone has a few recurring patterns, and it helps to recognise them so that you can decide how to respond. Competency frameworks, metrics and other measures can also be useful, particularly when combined with feedback, if you are tracking a work-related goal.

Separate the ‘what’ from the ‘how’

It is also useful to separate the ‘what’ from the ‘how’ as you track your progress.

Sometimes, we do something really well in terms of how we approach it but don’t achieve the desired outcome. Alternatively, we might think we have been extremely successful because we achieved the ‘what’, while leaving disgruntled people in our path because we neglected the ‘how’. We all know people like that – and probably wouldn’t want to become one ourselves.

Ideally, you want both to work. When things are not going well, we sometimes overemphasise one of the two. Consider which one this might be for you and how you could restore balance.

Be grateful

What worked well today? Who helped you? What did you learn from them? What did you achieve? What did you follow through with?

Write these things down. We often focus on our shortcomings rather than recognising what we are already doing well.

Then, take time to celebrate your progress and important milestones. If other people have helped you along the way – and many will likely – remember to say thank you and include them in your celebrations!