Okay, we’re really rolling now. We’re doing the work! But before we dive into the last (and maybe most important!) segment of this Vision Strategies series, let’s do a quick recap of what we’ve done so far: First, we cranked up the happy vibes and created vision. (If you need a little primer, check out Vision Is Everything). Then we set some empowering benchmarks on our way to vision. (Enjoy Vision Strategies :: Benchmarking). We had a blast brainstorming and creating that list of ideas we could execute in our Action Plan. (Have fun with Vision Strategies :: Action Plan). And now we're onto the all important Measure, Evaluate & Calibrate. Oh man, this is the step that'll make or break your journey to vision. This is the part where we check in to assess whether we're making meaningful progress to our benchmark, and we ask ourselves what do I need to stop doing?, what do I need to start doing?, and what do I need to continue doing or do more of? in order to continue moving toward my vision.
This doesn't require an engineering degree or any special skills or talents. You simply need to look at where you started, what you did, and where you are now in relation to your benchmark. Easy peasy. Let’s look at the example from our Action Plan blog where we named a vision called, I play with the grandkids and trek all over Europe every April into my 80s and beyond. And we set a 1 year benchmark to weigh 135 lbs, down 30 from our January 1st weigh-in at 165. We made a list of ideas for our Action Plan, narrowed it down to the top 3, and picked the first one to try: walk 20 minutes each day. We calendared that bad-boy, and about 85% of the time, we make it happen. 7:10-7:30a, we hit the sidewalk. Now it's February 1st and we weigh in and, lo and behold, we're at 163 lbs. That's progress, something to celebrate for sure. But at this rate, it's not quite going to get us to our 1 year benchmark. So what do we need to start, stop and continue/do more of?
Maybe we decide that the walking feels great and is helpful for energy, so we decide to continue that. We've noticed that suddenly everyone and their middle-schooler has one of those gigantic 40oz Stanley water bottles and we figure there must be something to it. So we decide to start incorporating a daily water goal of 80oz (that's a giant StanleyX2). We're feeling frisky, so we also commit to doing some research to find a qualified nutritionist because we suspect that we may need to stop having dessert every night 1 hour before bed. And then, we calendar it! Walking is already on the calendar on repeat—Check. We set a daily alarm on our phone to remind us to drink 16oz of water upon waking, and then another alarm to keep us on track with our new relationship with Stanley—Check. And finally, we book 30 minutes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 12-12:30p, for three weeks to research nutritionists—Check. And we make sure our March 1st check-in is in the calendar too!
And that, my friends, completes the circuit. Vision Named → Benchmarks → Action Plan → Measure, Evaluate, Calibrate → Vision Realized. And the beauty is you can use the same process, like a blueprint, in all aspects of your life. Wanting to be fit and vibrant at 80 is a great thing to be up to, but if you’re in your 20’s or 30’s or 40’s, you still have a whole life to fill up before you become the octogenarian hide-and-seek champion. So you’ve probably named visions for your career and your finances, for the family you want to create (or not if you’re the fly solo type), for the friends and colleagues and people you want to have in your life. You’re working action plans to hit the benchmarks that will take you where you want to go. But are you taking time along the way to measure, evaluate, and calibrate? Because this is the piece people most often miss, and it's everything. Without a plan to measure, evaluate and calibrate, we could be putting in ALL the work and effort, and totally wasting our time.
Let’s say you work for a company that manufactures, I don’t know, personalized ballpoint pens. Okay, not super exciting, but for the sake of the example, let’s keep it simple. You’re a salesperson but you’ve named a vision of working your way up to the C-suite. Does a company that makes personalized ballpoint pens even have a C-suite? I don’t know, but this one does. In order to facilitate your meteoric rise to the top of the ballpoint pen game, you set a one year benchmark of having the highest sales in the company. Awesome. Then you create an action plan that includes things like gathering leads, making X number of phone calls per day, getting out and knocking on X number of doors per day, etc. For the next year, you’re out there, working your tail off, following your action plan. But are you taking the time to see if it’s actually working?
If your goal is to have the highest sales, then obviously you’re going to want to keep track of how your colleagues are doing. Turns out Jerry has sold X number of pens, 50 more than you. Not only is Jerry eating your lunch, you’re not even hitting the monthly goals you set for yourself. So, you’ve measured your performance against that of your colleagues and your own expectations. You’ve evaluated what’s been working and what’s not. Now it’s time to calibrate. You notice your phone sales don’t even come close to the sales you make in person. So…maybe you dial back the time you’re spending on the phone and devote more hours in the day to knocking on doors. Maybe you decide to tweak your pitch a bit. Maybe you come up with a post-sale survey to determine what it was that turned a potential customer into a purchasing customer.
The point is, it’s one thing to follow a plan; it’s another to make sure the plan is actually working. You could make up your own recipe for chocolate chip cookies if you wanted to. But if they’re crap, what are you going to do? Just live with a plate of crap cookies? No, you’re going to go back to the drawing board and rework your recipe. A little less flour, a bit more sugar, an extra pinch of baking soda. And then you try again. Unless you’re just into crap cookies, in which case, you're on your own.
Maybe your vision includes being a family rich with cultural knowledge. Great. Set a benchmark for engaging in some number of cultural activities in a year. Make your action plan. Where/What are you going to do? When are you going to do it? Calendar it in. Start going to museums or symphonies or plays, start watching documentaries, listening to different genres of music, whatever you’re into or want to get into. But you have to also pay attention along the way. First of all, are you following through? Are you choosing activities that are actually doable? Turns out going to see the philharmonic ain’t a cheap date. Especially if you’re a family of 5 or 6. Are you doing things that engage everyone’s interest? Or do the kids tune out just at the mention of another ballet. And hey, I’m not knocking ballet or anything else. I say try everything at least one time. But once you know you’re not into something, like that glass-blowing class they offered at the junior college, then no reason to keep visiting it. Instead, hone in on the things that you get the most out of.
And that’s all we mean by measure, evaluate, and calibrate. I know they’re big, important sounding words but all they really mean is, hey, turns out I’m not a big fan of handling 1000 degree liquid glass and turning it into funny shapes, so I’m not going to do that anymore. Instead, I’m going to do XYZ. Turns out your in-person sales far outweigh your phone sales so, time to get out and start knocking on more doors, or mentoring with Jerry, who’s killing it on the phone. Turns out walking alone isn’t going to get you to your 1 year health and fitness benchmark. Okay, let’s add some additional strategies. You see the idea. Little tweaks, maybe big ones sometimes, but mostly little tweaks. Doesn’t need to be over thought or overly complicated. Just pay attention. Take note. A little less butter, a little more brown sugar. And if you’re trying to drop that 30 in the next year, maybe skip the cookies all together.
So that brings us to the end of this little series. For now, anyway. If you’ve read through all the Vision Strategy blogs then you’ve gotten a crash course, kind of the Cliff’s Notes version of what we do at our Power Series programs. If you haven’t joined us for a weekend yet, what are you waiting for? It’s time to measure, evaluate, and calibrate a plan that includes attending a Power Series weekend intensive. You’ll get all the tools, techniques, and strategies for naming a vision and taking the actions that will bring your vision into reality. Click HERE to learn more about the Power series and sign up today!