Can we talk about what a giant pain in the left shoulder it is when you have to be somewhere completely new to you at a specific time and don’t have the exact meeting point nailed down?
Today, I’m pulling back the parenting curtain and sharing what it’s like to have a middle schooler in cross country (because, what’s more fun than middle school sports). For the non-athletes among us (ahem, me) cross country is a school sport where your kid competes against other kids in races out in nature. Your child signs up for a season and makes a commitment to attend running practice 2x a week and run their heart out in races, and you consent to experience the following (every single weekend) in support of your child:
- The ulcer inducing stress of not knowing where in the park to navigate to on google maps, and then wanting to scream when it took you to the wrong end and you are now running late.
- The joy of snagging a parking spot within a 5 minute walk to the race and the ensuing looks of despair of the drivers behind you, who are also now running late.
- The epic dilemma that wages in your head of whether you need to pee bad enough to wait in the eternal porta potty line, or just hold it.
- The regret you have when you forget to bring cash for the concession stand with the good chips and fresh fruit popsicles (again).
It wouldn’t be so stressful if we weren’t so pressed for time, but aren’t we always?
Time is the VIP of factors when it comes to how specific we need to be with the destination in our travels. Is there time to get lost? Can you navigate to the general vicinity and figure it out from there if you chose wrong, or is there only enough time to get it right the first time?
I’m a big fan of getting specific (especially at work). Doing more with less has meant spicier deadlines and more complexity. An unclear goal often leads to bad assumptions that torturously unravel the momentum and progress of projects and teams like a cheap sweater that flatters like flourescent light. Making the investment to get specific upfront about what success will look like is going to pay dividends in returns on time, work, and binge stress-snacking saved.
Daring to get specific with your starting points and destinations will reap gargantuan rewards when it comes to your data, too.
There’s a Taj Mahal of difference between “be more efficient” and “reduce cycle time to 7 hours”.
If you want to save oceans of time and money on your data efforts – practice specificity in your goals and questions with a clear timeline.
As you’re thinking about your goals, try using the following simple formula to ensure specificity:
- Define your goal in specific numbers or values: make X dollars, achieve a cycle time of Y hours
- Add in a timeframe (super important, don’t skip this!): by X
- Define where you’re starting from: today I’m at X
Example Goal: I plan to make $100,000 in revenue this quarter, and I am starting from $0
or
I plan to do an unassisted pull-up in 6 weeks, and I can do 0 today.
Daring to get ultra specific and then tracking the data as you go along will put you head and shoulders above others in your data journey.
Here’s why: specificity inevitably leads to deeper (ie more sophisticated) questions.
If my goal is “Grow Revenue” then my follow-up questions will be:
How much have we made?
Are we growing?
By how much?
If my goal is “Make $100,000 this quarter” then my follow-up questions will be:
How much have we made today?
How much have we made quarter to date?
Are we on track?
What’s the variance?
How do we close the gap?
What’s our stretch goal?
What’s not working?
What’s working?
What’s our next step?
Do you see how much better the follow-up questions (and likely the course of actions) are when you have a specific destination you’re driving to? Suddenly, you have context for whether you’re on target or not, given the time frame you have.
Specificity in your goals and starting points will inevitably lead to bigger and better questions. You’ll automatically track better data – because your questions are better.
For today: Can you get more specific with one goal in your business or life (with a timeframe) and track it through with data? Once you have a specific goal – think about the questions you’ll want to answer – and that’s the data you’ll need to track.
It’ll be time well spent. Because, trust me, you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of the park, without cash, and praying for a good parking spot because you really need to pee.
