Measuring Life's Impact

The question, how will I measure my life, in two ways. The first is, is there something that I can leave the world that is something bigger than me, that will help other people become better people? And the second one is, how will I measure whether I'm achieving that goal? And to me, that second measure, how to measure it, is just as important as the purpose of my life, and that is, how will I measure my life? And that made a big impact on the way I conduct my life, because every day, I have to start the day thinking, well if that's the way God is going to measure my life, I need to find, today, a person who I can help to become a better person. And that really has helped me be a much happier person than I ever have been before.

The problem is how to measure the impact of one's life. The concept revolves around two main questions: first, can I leave something in the world that is bigger than myself and helps others become better people? Second, how will I measure whether I'm achieving that goal? The tactic is to integrate these questions into daily life.

  1. Reflect Daily: Start each day by contemplating how you can help someone become a better person. This reflection aligns your actions with your broader life purpose.
  2. Set Clear Metrics: Develop specific criteria or metrics to evaluate whether you are making a positive impact on others. This could include feedback from those you help or personal milestones.
  3. Utilize Resources: Explore related topics, such as books on personal development or checklists for daily self-improvement, to continually refine your approach and ensure consistent progress.

By focusing on these tactics, you can find greater happiness and fulfillment in your everyday life.

Impact Template

1. Project / Area of Focus

Describe not only the more concrete details, but how you would feel in this situation. This could point to some troubleshooting you might have to do, outside resources you might have to invest in, a change in timing, or any number of factors that will affect the success of the project.

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish, what the biggest difference achieving this will make, and what the completed project ideally looks like. Purpose > Value > Outcome

a. Purpose: What do you want to accomplish? What is your motivation? b. Importance: What is the difference this will make? What impact will this have? c. Ideal Outcome: What does the completed project look like? What is the payoff?

2. Sell Yourself First

In order to motivate others to act, you must be sold on the idea yourself.

Put your imagination and articulation skills to work, capturing each result as fully as you can. Once you’re done, you’ll feel like you’re living that moment of elation or defeat. Either is a tremendous motivator when you think about it!

a. Worst Result: What’s at risk if you don’t take action. b. Best Result: What’s possible if you do take action?

3. Success Criteria

What specific results must be true for this project to be a success? Success criteria are actions, decisions, communications, and completions. Focus on the metrics! Dates, dollars, and the score. Define solid benchmarks to measure your impact. Success is incremental progress. You must have metrics to gauge your next project. Tracking past results will be an tell tail as to the efficacy of the person you have delegated the task to! It removes subjectivity from the equation.

4. Budget / Tracking

This is key. Best shown by example.