There are many ways people measure their success in life. It could be how much money they have, how happy they are in relationships and career, maintained good health and other reasons. It’s important for you to know how you measure success so you can feel great about the outcome or know when you need to work harder.
Business success is very important for some people. Unless they meet the goals they set to grow their businesses, they feel like failures, even though they might have great relationships with spouses and children – the failure of their business goals is paramount in their thoughts.
When you decide what form success takes in your life, you can measure it accordingly. The main thing is not to think about your personal success as someone else sees it – for example, money and material things.
To you, success may be valuing and helping people realize their hopes and dreams. The goals you set should depend on what success means to you. You can then measure that success by the mini and large goals you successfully reach.
Knowing what success means to you in your own life will help you become enthused and motivated about goals. That positive energy will make you take the appropriate actions necessary to reach them.
You may already feel successful because you’ve overcome so many obstacles in your life. Even though you may not have the trappings of wealth, it’s important that you realize how far you’ve come. That will give you confidence to keep going.
Some other ways to measure your success might be feeling love from those you love, respect from those you respect and admiration from those you admire. When you feel successful, you’ll also feel a sense of purpose for your life and become more confident that you can make a difference in your own life and in the world.
Never attempt to set goals and become successful according to what someone else wants for you. You will never be satisfied if you take that path. You are the only one who gets to plot your own success and measure it according to your own standard.
When planning for your personal success, believe in what you can accomplish and dream big. Find out what inspires and motivates you and follow those clues to release your passion and move closer to your own version of success.
Many have lived their lives without knowing what success means to them. They flounder and try many different paths, but none ultimately works for them. To zero in on what success truly means to you further ensures that you will live life to your full potential.
Living your life to the best of your ability should be the ultimate goal in your life. Don’t let anyone pressure you into doing something that won’t make you feel successful, just because others think you should.
If This Is a Repetitive Project, Consider the First Implementation Your Base
Repetitive projects can become boring unless you’ve made provisions to keep them interesting and strive to improve them over time. The first implementation of your project should be the base that you compare every one after that.
The first implementation is the ground-zero that you’ll compare all others to. It will give you a first-hand look at how you’ve improved, either by time, budget, the results you have, your feelings – or however you measure success of a project.
Repetitiveness can teach you a lot about how to do things and in which order to do them. As you repeat a process, you learn more about what works and what definitely doesn’t work.
It may seem like the same repetitive project, but if you think about it as you repeat the actions, you may get an entirely different perspective of how to do things in the future. That’s what keeps it from becoming boring and that’s what keeps your project moving forward as it should.
Be sure to keep records of a repetitive project from the very beginning – how long it took you to get started, how many obstacles encountered when you began and how long it took you to get to the finished product or goal.
That first implementation is a good starting point and can teach you a lot about how any project might be better if you took other actions. If you have a team of people working on the same project, it’s a good idea to get together periodically and find out what others are discovering.
The budget you formulated for the first implementation of the project should also be a consideration when keeping accurate records. By knowing what you spent in the beginning, you’ll know if you have to increase the budget to get better results or decrease the budget because it didn’t warrant the cost you planned for.
You may have ideas or plans about how to move forward with the project – add new enhancements or other improvements that will cause you to increase the budget. You can also compare what you’ve done to others who have created similar products or worked on similar projects.
If you’re just not satisfied with how the project turned out, a comparison base is necessary to make changes such as budget, workers who may not have lived up to your expectations or time that needs to be spent on the project to make it live up to your standards.
Repetitive projects don’t have to be entirely repetitive and boring. Always keep an eye out for how you can change things for the better. You may be tempted to ditch a project and go back to the drawing board if you don’t like how it turned out the first time.
But, with a comparison base, you may be able to salvage the project with a bit of tweaking. The first implementation of your base project should provide a great deal of knowledge that can lead you in the right direction.
How Do You Want Your Process to Evolve Over Time?
Rather than jumping into a project’s process immediately, it’s best to take some time and think about how you want it to evolve as you move forward. One thing that will help the success of the project is to have a base of previous results to go by.
Setting goals is one way to be able to visualize and plan a process that evolves smoothly over time. You may be able to base a new plan on data of results you’ve gathered – or begin completely anew.
Prioritizing the tasks in your process is key to making things happen. Everyone has the same amount of time, but we don’t all use it the same. When you haphazardly jump into a project without prioritizing how the process will work, you run the risk of things running amok.
If you have a team helping you with the implementation of a project, get together with them about how to improve the process. You may decide that by taking one small aspect of the project, you can get a better result.
Or, nothing may be working well and as you planned, so an entirely different strategy maybe called for. Are there more urgent tasks that should be accomplished before heading on to other things – or have a completely different to-do list that rearranges and reprioritizes the tasks.
Some processes won’t take you to the place you’re aiming for. That’s a sign that you may need to return to the drawing board and revamp and rethink decisions you’ve made in the past.
One thing you may want to revamp is your deadlines. Deadlines for some projects are extremely important while some may actually hamper progress. For example, if you’re on the verge of finding out some very important information to make your project more successful, it’s a shame to have to cut it short and call it finished.
Flexible deadlines may be best for some projects. Try it on a temporary basis and see if it works better for you to ensure a quality product and one that you’ll benefit more from. Establishing checkpoints at certain times of the project can help you evaluate whether more time is needed.
Team work on a project might also cause unproductive periods of time because one area needs to complete a task before others can move on with theirs. Establish a way to rotate the work so that each team has something to work on at all times.
During the evolution of your project, you can insert tasks when needed so the process isn’t held up by a task that isn’t completed or one that is totally left out of the mix. A task that isn’t thought of and carried out can make a big difference in the future evolution and completion of the project.
Did Your Results Live Up to Your Expectations, Exceed Them or Fall Short?
It’s important to keep good records of a goal or project’s progress so you can properly evaluate it when the results are in and the project is completed. They’re good measuring tools to tell you if the results lived up to, exceeded or fell short of your expectations.
The action plans implemented in your project outline should have solved problems, overcome obstacles and become predictable as time went on. If that didn’t happen, it’s time to discern what did happen to delay or make the project fail or fall short of what you planned for.
Successful action plans provide palpable results that should lead to further successes and more confidence on your part that you were effective in planning goals and reaching the end of a successful process.
Even if the project wasn’t completely successful, you’ll gain valuable information when you analyze the results. This information can help you build your business, re-think some of your actions or even go back to the drawing board.
Unless you can evaluate the results of a project, it’s difficult to measure the results. Some problems within the project can be solved by creating an action plan that addresses the particular problem.
Any plan or project (unless it’s new) can be compared to previous action plan results. For example, if you’re a marketer and your plan is to gain three followers per week, you can compare the results to the other plans you put into action to gain followers.
If you’re just starting out – with no followers – the plan might gain the three followers you planned for at first, but later on might need to be tweaked since you may not be targeting the same group.
Results of a project should be carefully analyzed before you repeat the process. You may not have to start all over again, but the knowledge you gained from the results can more than likely help you re-plan some of the areas that caused problems.
When the results lived up to or exceeded your expectations, you should still take a look at what you did to get those results. Could the same plan work with other projects you may have?
If one portion of the plan failed miserably while another exceeded all your expectations, try to find the reason for the failed portion. Could it be the employees that were responsible – or, if you did it yourself, perhaps you should outsource that portion to more knowledgeable people.
Whatever you decide to do about future projects, you’ll be glad you tracked the process and ended up with direct ways that you can improve the execution of them in the future. It works the same in life as it does in business – see if your results lived up to your expectations when you try to change something and implement a plan to alter your course.
Did Any Patterns Develop During the Implementation of a Strategy?
Like habits, patterns can be good or bad. It’s best if we work on our bad habits to have a better or healthier lifestyle. Patterns that develop in a business or a project should also be analyzed for their contributions or setbacks.
To be able to get an advantage on competitors, you should have strategic strategies that work smoothly and rapidly to generate great patterns to help your business grow – or to help your project be completed successfully.
Good patterns that develop during the implementation of a strategy may be used in other areas of your business or other projects you may have. Bad patterns can be analyzed and either made to work or discarded from your strategy.
Some simple techniques can be used to correct the bad patterns in a strategy, just as there are techniques to help you get rid of a bad habit. Some are similar in nature. If there are negative thoughts about a strategy that keep it from being implemented properly, decide what positive aspects you can find and concentrate on them.
Negative or positive thinking makes a big difference in how fast and how successfully you can kick a bad habit – or turn a negative strategy into a positive one. One problem that businesses have when implementing a strategy is the time it takes.
If that’s your worry, have a brainstorming meeting and jot down ways that the process can be streamlined so it will meet your deadline goals. Be sure the shortcuts or final decisions still produce quality results.
Some patterns may begin to develop during a particular stage of the project. If you’ve kept accurate records about the process you should be able to pinpoint when the negativity and take steps to change it.
It might be necessary to change the strategy so that completely new patterns emerge that will help to implement the strategy in a new and more lucrative way. If you have employees or outsource to others, be sure and include them in your thoughts and decisions about how you want to change things.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re confused about how to change the negative patterns to positive action plans, it may be helpful to enlist the services of a professional business strategist.
These professionals are well-versed in how certain patterns of business strategies can make or break your success. It may be well worth the time and money involved to be able to nip the negative patterns in the bud.
Also, study other businesses that may have used the same strategies as you, but didn’t have negative results. They may have done a few things differently, but that made a difference when actually implementing their business strategies.
Evaluate the Time It Took to Reach Your Goal
Gathering data from good record-keeping should help you evaluate the time it took to reach your goal – whether it’s a project or a personal goal. You can then decide if you could have done it faster or if you should have taken more time to make the results of a higher quality.
Maybe you gave up on your goal at some point in the process and it took some time to get motivated enough to return to it. What caused you to give up for a period of time? That and more are answers you’ll get when you evaluate what happened during the time it took to reach your goal.
Is this a goal you’ve set before and never reached or did you have so many obstacles reaching it that you gave up? If the time it took to reach your goal seems way out of line with the amount of time it should have taken, it’s time to evaluate the process and change where needed.
Maybe you’re not happy with the results. If you’ve set a goal for your life or your business and it turned out to be of lower quality or just not what you expected, an evaluation of your time can be important to determine if you didn’t spend enough time or if it was just a project or product you were wrong about.
There are reasons why you wanted to accomplish the goal, whether it’s weight, health or a business milestone. If you still haven’t reached the goal, your time evaluation could help determine what you need to do next.
The answer might be that you should rev up the time you spend working toward the goal – or become more motivated so you do more that can get you there. There are various ways you can motivate yourself, including vision boards and meditation.
Many people abandon goals and projects because they’re simply overwhelming. If you think that’s the case and you just can’t make the amount of time you spend on it work – go back and try to break it up into smaller goals that you can easily handle.
Reaching each smaller milestone can be a great motivator to get you to the next rung in the ladder. Add some time on to the project if needed to ensure that you end up with quality results.
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Think about how formidable that task must have been to the movers and shakers of the day. It took exact planning, manpower and execution of their goals to build one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
They also implemented a type of government that would change the world. The Romans didn’t give up. They knew they had ideas and goals that would change the way the world looks at architecture and government.
You may not have a goal quite that lofty, but when you’re committed to making your own life or business prosper, you’ll do what it takes and take the time needed to complete the goal to your satisfaction.
Look at the Quality of the End Result and See If It Can Be Improved and How
Quality of a project or product can set the stage for success or failure. It’s best to ensure quality by making changes as needed as the project is in process, but it’s especially important at the end of the project so your customers – and yourself – can benefit on the next project you undertake.
When you’re always changing for the better, your business is sure to grow and gain respect and customers. If the end results are not deemed of quality, it’s time to take a serious look at what you’re doing and take steps to improve the process.
If end results aren’t what you anticipated, you need to make a commitment to devote yourself and the process to reinforce your plan with changes that will make a difference. Quality should be non-negotiable to ensure that your ultimate plan will be successful.
In brainstorming sessions that are focused on how to improve the quality of a project or product, it’s important that you define to yourself and to others involved what is meant by the word quality.
It may be that you measure the quality according to the original specifications, including time and end results. Or, the specs may have not produced the results you wanted. The plan might simply need some tweaking – or an entire new way of doing things may need to be addressed.
A business with employees may need to invest in more training to achieve quality results. It’s well worth the money for the education if the employees can gain a better understanding of where things need to be changed to get the quality product you insist on.
When you decide on what needs to be done to improve quality, it’s important that you have the right attitude about it before proceeding. That’s especially important if you have employees who may resist change.
If it’s just you who is making the appropriate changes to improve quality, attitude is also important so you can keep on track and stay motivated to complete and implement a new plan.
End results of a project (or product) may produce information you’re not happy with. No matter what you do or what your object is, it’s easy to become discouraged about all the effort and time you devoted and still didn’t get the outcome you wanted.
Use the end results – if not up to expectations – as a catalyst to do better. If you use the knowledge you gained in the right way, you’ll surely come up with better ways of taking your business to new heights.
Even if the end results achieved the quality you were expecting, evaluate the process and see how you could do better. Always be open to improvement and be willing to do what it takes to achieve it.
Analyze the Cost of Success and See Where Your Budget Can Be Improved
Success can be expensive. The first time around, the cost of your personal or business success might have cost more than you bargained for. If it was a business project and you had to increase the budget to finish with a quality product or service, you can analyze the cost and see where your budget may be improved.
If yours was personal success such as dieting or exercise, you may have broken the budget purchasing expensive food and joining a gym to reach your goals. You may be able to improve the budget by learning how to cook healthy meals and find a form of exercise that will produce the same results, but doesn’t cost anything.
Perhaps you need to take periodic evaluations of what is being spent and on what. Although it may be difficult to change direction in the middle of a project, you can look around for new methods and incorporate them after the final evaluation.
Sometimes time isn’t being used wisely and that can get expensive too. Take a serious look at your time management and employees, if applicable. There are tons of online help that can teach you how to meet your goals in a shorter amount of time.
Every dollar should be accounted for when you track your spending. By analyzing how you spent the money, you can discern if the outcome was worth what you paid. Maybe your beginning budget wasn’t detailed enough and unexpected costs occurred.
There may have been things you weren’t aware of when you made the budget. Now that you know where these hidden expenses are, you can budget for them in the future or find another way to get the same results.
Your optimism about the project might also have been a cause for going over the budget. You may have underestimated the time it would take to complete the project and the time you didn’t plan for was costly.
It may be a good idea to enlist those who have been through the same or similar project path to help you formulate a new budget that can cut costs or better estimate the costs needed for the project.
A contingency plan for adding funds to the project if something goes wrong may also be in order. Periodically check to see if you’re on budget just as you check on the progress of the project.
When you forget or don’t anticipate major costs, the outcome to your project can cost you more than money. It could mean the downfall of the project completely. A budget should be easier to put together after the first project.
If you’ve kept accurate and concise records, it should be easier to see where you can improve the budget and still produce a quality product or project.
Evaluations May Need to Take Place In Intervals
Sometimes an evaluation of a project or goal may need to take place when a milestone is reached rather than at the end of the entire project or goal. You can prevent a waste of effort and resources when you see things that aren’t working and can change them before the project is complete.
It doesn’t make sense to continue doing things the same way if it isn’t working as it should. Businesses use benchmarks as indicators for measuring the successes (or failures) of a project and you can do the same with any career or life goal you hope to achieve.
At the end of a pre-chosen date or milestone, the indicators are evaluated to see if they’re having the desired impact. Indicators can be how much has gotten done on a project over a period of time.
Some indicators are more important than others – and you should know how to select indicators that are going to be most important to know. An indicator can also be several things that make up the evaluation – or one indicator that lets you know the quality of the project being evaluated.
For example, the success of the project of an online entrepreneur might be measured by how many followers were added to the list during an online membership endeavor. You’ll know that it was a success if you reached the goal you set for yourself.
The ability to evaluate certain portions of a project is especially important at the beginning. A designated milestone that occurs just after a project gets off the ground and has had a bit of time to work can be important to evaluate.
You can judge how the rest of the project will continue if you use the same resources and put forth the same amount of time an effort. You may need to ramp up the efforts or increase the time – but, it’s best to find out early rather than at the end of the project when it’s too late to change things.
Waste of time and effort mean that money is being wasted, so these milestones can project whether you need to intervene or carry on with the implementation as is. If you’re working on a personal goal, rather than a business one, wasted effort may cause you to lose motivation and give up.
For example, if your goal is to get fit, lose weight and melt inches from your body, milestones measured in intervals is an important part of knowing if your current efforts are working or if you need to change exercise, diet or make other changes in your lifestyle.
When you choose to evaluate a personal or business project in intervals, you’re able to get a fresh, new perspective on how your efforts and time are paying off and change it or keep it as is.
Don’t Just Evaluate the Results – Analyze the Impact
When you finish a personal or business project, you should analyze the results to the business or your personal life. You may have a high quality result that barely makes an impact – or, the result made a huge impact and is worth analyzing and improving upon.
Data that is analyzed from the project or personal goals is an important tool in understanding the impact and being able to draw the best conclusions about how to go forward.
Collecting data for evaluation of a business project is different from collecting it for a personal goal, but it also has many similarities. Accurate record keeping is essential for both. With those records, a correct evaluation and subsequent analysis is possible.
You’ll see immediately what the impact was to your budget, your life and how it changed your lifestyle on a personal basis. Consider the quality of the impact, too. It may be on budget, but fell short of achieving your desired goal.
Or, the plan may need some tweaking to get the results you want. Be sure an record your observations and then organize them to see the exact areas and times you forged ahead or got behind.
When you analyze data to determine how results have impacted your business or life, you’ll see patterns that have emerged and that will give you a clearer picture. The conclusions you come to will help you better understand how the end was reached.
Analyzing the results brings you back to the beginning of the project and walks you through until the end. You’ll likely find weaknesses in some areas and strengths in others.
There may be an impact from the results that can’t be analyzed because it’s a feeling or sense of pride. Others may not think about the results as you do, but you must be the final decision maker about how good – or not – the impact of your efforts was.
The goal of analysis of results you gathered should tell you loud and clear all about the effectiveness of how you conducted the project or personal goal and made the impact it did.
You might also be able to see how you can add variables to the next project or goal that will provide even better results and be worth the efforts you put into it. With that knowledge you can continually improve the way you approach and do things.
Analyzing the impact of reaching a goal or creating a product is experience that is invaluable to yours or your company’s growth. The experience of record-keeping, evaluation and final analyzing of a project or goal is a sure way to plot your journey to further success.
