How do you track your essential metrics? Which metrics do you track? Which ones could you track?

Weight and heart rate are two obvious personal metrics, but what about hormone levels? Blood sugar levels? Cholesterol levels? You don’t need hourly updates on the latter set of numbers, but when did you last check each of them and when will you next check? You don’t have to wait until you’re ill to monitor all the most salient biomarkers. How else could you establish your baseline, after all?

Why stop at biometrics? What’s your current bank balance? Your outstanding loan balances? Savings amounts or deduction amounts? Financial concerns can contribute significantly to stress. Sometimes you need to track your dollars more than your calories.

How about personal productivity and quality of life goals? (Note the distinction.) Are you hitting your KPIs at work? Your personal KPIs? You have defined personal KPIs, right? The latter can include components like “Number of healthy meals eaten each week,” “Naps taken,” and “Time spent reading books to your children,” if you want. They’re your metrics, not your boss’s, and you decide what gets tracked.

Finally, what will you do with all this data? What’s your plan of action for when the numbers deviate from their norms? When they fail to meet expectations? What corrective measures can you put in place? How about preventative ones? Come up with plans now, get tracking, and see what improves next. Perhaps you’re already making much more progress than you thought.