Why Weigh, Count and Measure? by Jim Rohn

Three key words to remember: weigh, count and measure. But why? To see what your results are from your activity, your attitude and your philosophy. If you find that the results are not to your liking, there are only three places to look. Your philosophy needs to be fine-tuned, your attitude needs to be strengthened or your disciplines need extra skill. Activity, attitude and philosophy create results. Now on results I teach that life expects you to make measurable progress in reasonable time. But you must be reasonable with time. You can't say to someone every five minutes, “How are you doing now?” That's too soon to ask for a count. Guy says, "I haven't left the building yet, give me a break!" Now you can't wait five years—that's too long. Too many things can go wrong waiting too long to see how you're doing.

Here are some good time frames: 1. At the end of the day. You can't let more than a day go by without looking at some things and making progress. Old Testament says that if you are angry, you should try to solve it before the sun goes down. Don't carry anger for another day. It may be too heavy to carry. If you try to carry it for a week, it may drop you to your knees. So some things you must get done in a day. 2. A week. We ask for an accounting of the week so we can issue the pay. And whatever you've got coming, that's what you get—when the week is over. Now in business, there are two things to check in the course of the week: your activity count and your productivity count. Because activity leads to productivity, we need to count both to see how we're doing. My mentor taught me that success is a numbers game, and very early he started asking me my numbers. He asked, “How many books have you read in the last 90 days?” I said, “Zero.” He said, “Not a good number. How many classes have you attended in the last six months to improve your skills?” And I said, “Zero." He said, "Not a good number. In the last six years that you've been working, how much money have you saved and invested?” I said, “Zero,” and he said, “Not a good number.” Then here's what he said: “Mr. Rohn, if these numbers don't change, your life won't change. But if you'll start improving these numbers, then perhaps you'll start to see everything change for you.” It's the numbers that count—making measurable progress in reasonable time. The best accounting is the accounting you make of yourself. Don't wait for the government to do it; don't wait for the company to do it. You've got to add up some of your own numbers and ask, “Am I making the progress I want, and will it take me where I want to go now and in the future?” You be the judge!