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How To Measure Progress

The document outlines steps to effectively measure progress including identifying goals, setting deadlines and milestones, creating SMART goals, and documenting and reviewing progress. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based to best track performance.

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darvasfortunes
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15 views

How To Measure Progress

The document outlines steps to effectively measure progress including identifying goals, setting deadlines and milestones, creating SMART goals, and documenting and reviewing progress. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based to best track performance.

Uploaded by

darvasfortunes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to measure progress

To measure your progress effectively, consider the following steps:

1. Identify what you want to achieve

To develop long-term and short-term goals, it's important to identify


what action you want to accomplish and what type of outcome
you're seeking. To do this effectively, consider measuring the
current status of an aspect of your company you plan to improve.
Then set a specific goal related to that information.For example, a
company may identify its goal is to have a million followers on
social media and determine it currently has 200,000 followers. Then
the company's marketing team could develop specific short-term
and long-term goals related to gaining 800,000 followers, such as
implementing an ad campaign that targets prospective followers.

2. Set a deadline

Creating a deadline for achieving long-term goals can help you


refine the process you follow to accomplish short-term tasks. To
create a thorough plan, consider writing each step of your process,
along with the time you expect to spend on completing each step.
While planning, consider reviewing the steps to anticipate potential
problems and prepare solutions. This can help improve your time
management skills, which may make it easier to meet
deadlines.You can also develop a timeframe by tracking when and
how you complete a task. This can allow you to reevaluate and
improve the methods you use to complete tasks, which can help you
accomplish your long-term goals. For example, if a writer signs a
100,000-word book deal with a publishing company, the company
might request that the writer finish the project within two years. To
measure their progress toward their two-year goal, the writer may
set short-term goals, such as a specific number of words to write
per day.Related: The 8-Step Career Planning Process

3. Set milestones

A milestone is a minor achievement that you can use to measure


the progress you've made toward an overall goal. Milestones might
help increase your focus since they allow you to envision each step
in your plan and can produce a sense of accomplishment once you
achieve them. To set an effective milestone, consider choosing a
minor goal, such as completing a task by a specific date or finishing
a number of tasks by a particular time.For example, if a college
student intends to pursue a career in teaching marine biology,
completing all of their courses each semester could be a milestone.
This can help them measure their progress toward their long-term
career goal and help them understand the amount of time they need
to reach it.

4. Turn your goals into SMART goals

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and


time-based. Developing SMART goals can help you measure your
progress by:

 Providing specific tasks to track: Creating specific goals


and separating them into tasks can help you understand the
steps you need to take to accomplish long-term objectives.
This can also assist you with making a realistic estimate of
how much time it may take you to reach your goals.
 Identifying if your goals are measurable: To ensure your
goal is measurable, consider using time as a metric. You can
do this by establishing a timeline, which can help you
determine how many tasks to complete, how much time to
spend on each task and how much time it may take to achieve
your overall goal.
 Making sure your goals are achievable: Since some tasks
are easier to accomplish over a longer span of time, setting
long-term goals and using milestones may help you ensure
your goals are achievable. Determining whether your goals are
achievable can also help you identify whether it's necessary to
gain additional skills. Then you can measure your progress by
tracking the skills you've learned and each milestone you've
reached.
 Identifying if your goals are relevant: When developing
goals, it's helpful to evaluate them to ensure they're relevant.
This can help you change, update or refine your goals to make
sure they apply to your needs. This can also improve your time
management, which can help you measure your progress more
efficiently.
 Creating time-based outlines of your plan of
action: Developing a timeframe can help you measure your
progress by making it easy to visualize the progress you've
made toward a particular goal. This can help you set realistic
deadlines and update unrealistic ones.

Read more: SMART Goals: Definition and Examples

5. Document and review progress

An effective method for measuring progress is documenting it.


Consider recording your overall goals, tasks, milestones and
deadlines. Then you can use a calendar or a planner to help you
track your progress by checking off tasks as you complete them and
milestones as you achieve them. The information from your planner
may help you understand if you need to adjust your timeframe or
add a new task.For example, if a test taker has the goal of passing a
certification exam with a high score, they may use a calendar to
clarify the test date and establish a study deadline. Then they might
outline which topics they need to study, estimate how much time to
spend studying each day and set milestones to help them stay
focused on their long-term goal.

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