It’s easy to get caught up in numbers, and measurements. You measure
your growth or any deficiencies against numbers. However exactly what
you’re measuring against can be just as important as what you’re
measuring.
Don’t try to measure yourself or your accomplishments by using
someone else’s yardstick. Use your own. Just because it’s called a
“yardstick” doesn’t mean it’s held against a standard residing at some
National Measurements Institute.
Problem for many of us when using these mental yardsticks is we’ll
unwittingly (and sometimes intentionally) lengthen the stick or shorten
it based on emotion. We’ll put more emphasis on what we think was harder
based on our prism, while at the same time see other milestones as
smaller or more easily accomplished when in reality those might have
been the hardest.
It’s a never-ending labyrinth for financial freedom if all you say
repeatedly is “you want to earn a million dollars,” yet have no real
idea of exactly what you would do with it. What good is worrying about
how one would go about obtaining it if you could have everything you
wanted in life for half, or a quarter, or even less. What if a million
wasn’t enough? Make sure you know the numbers.
If you’re going to be in charge of your own life then you want to
make sure when you compare yourself on any image of ‘measuring up” that
you use numbers that speak to you honestly. Not some arbitrary number
you pull out of thin air because it sounds good.
Just because you hear a number that sounds “rich” doesn’t actually
guarantee it adds up. Bigger numbers can imply bigger headaches if not
careful.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting a goal where the number
has only 1 zero or has 6 or more. It’s in the knowing how many that
needs to be calculated and measured against.
After all what good is chasing and worrying about trying to acquire a
forest in order to supply the wood for a building project when if you
had done your measuring and calculations you found all you needed was
available at the local hardware store.
“Measure twice cut once” is a metaphor that can be used in life just
as effectively. Knowing where your measurements are is just as important
as fitting the pieces together. Done correctly and it all comes
together seamlessly.
Spending time, worry, and effort in trying to acquire more materials
than what’s needed is just as foolish as getting close to completion
only to realize you don’t have enough.
Knowing what you need and why should be all you concentrate on hearing.
© 2012 Mark St.Cyr www.MarkStCyr.com
