FUN ANALOGY: Why Revenue is NOT your North Star!
Here’s a fun & a rather relatable analogy used to explain why revenue can never be a north star
The propensity to measure, track is pretty rampant around us, as there could be 8/10 people tracking, measuring, comparing something of a metric that they think is important & does bear some kind of a significance to them, which is also explained by the increase in the sales of those wearable devices a few years back & then transforming into those digital watches as of where we stand today.
Fun Fact:
“I am sure you have heard how some people claim that they walked 7 miles a day as given by STATs from that App on their phone. But how many of you have heard of people holding on to their phones UNLOCKED every time they tend to walk as they believe that the App would miss accounting those steps if they slipped the device into their trouser pocket”
Jokes apart, it is true that one ought to be measuring / tracking / benchmarking if they want to excel, sans which the whole exercise could be considered a dummy & good to be called a “practice” so as to mean testing stuff out & running some sort of trial sessions, putting one far away from the real deal.
Consider this for an analogy: WEIGHT LOSS MISSION!
Supposing one is on a mission to lose weight…
Stage 1: Blatant Denial
As a function of that end goal just supposing one steps on the scales on every alternate day & checks the reading on the scale, records it over some tool without doing anything else chiefly…
Would that work?
NO WAY! It won’t…
Stage 2: Seeking Recommendations
Let’s say they come across a host of people recommending the Gym & how taking it up regularly may help them reach their goal. Going by consensus / stats across urban jungles as of today that could really be a common thing.
Supposing they don't hire a trainer or seek professional help there & just get on tracking the no. of hours spent in the GYM per week.
Full on effort & scores pretty high as for being channelized & focused.
Would that work?
Absolutely NOT…
Stage 3: Get in on the Act
Now, the person perhaps understands how they ought to do something more solid & relevant to their end goal.
So, they start measuring all of these:
no. of times they eat in a day
one could reduce it to once, but if the quantity they consume is so huge compensating for the other meals, that could still be unhealthy, in fact detrimental according to some dieticians
no. of clothes that fit over a given cadence
what's the point in seeing if the clothes fit when one hasn't even moved a limb, let alone exercising
no. of hours spent sleeping in a day
when it is also scientifically proven that sleep patterns do play a role & do influence a person's weight, attempting to sleep more over a given day could never suffice for weight loss all on its own
Do you recognize something of a pattern there?
When the effort is 100% in terms of measuring, it didn’t really get one even as close to the first step towards reaching that end goal.
Reason:
The metrics chosen are all peripheral / tangential & don't directly contribute towards the end goal at all
That’s akin to someone tracking [REVENUES] over their product & trying to meticulously measure it over a regular cadence sans doing anything else. And, one of the primary reasons why that fails is because [REVENUES] happen to often be an aftermath of some (x) initiative, an offshoot of a block of strategy execution. [REVENUE] is a VANITY METRIC to say in the least, which is retrograde & could never end up being really actionable for any team.
What is relevant to track then?
Here are a few of them metrics that make sense to track if one happens to be serious about losing weight:
→ no. of hours spent on intense physical activity outdoors
the number of hours one spends on any kind of physical activity essentially outdoors, which for instance could include one or all of these:
playing relevant sports
jogging / skipping / swimming / cycling etc.
although many may perceive this one as difficult to track, the amount of sweat one breaks into over a given day / week / month could act as a good metric to account for that (x) quantum of exercise that it’d take one to get there
also note how that would factor in the stretching of hours gradually over a period of time given how the body would cease to perspire as it gets used to the exercise demanding one to do more with the progression of time
→ task completion rate
given the gym, there usually are goals both long-term & short-term as assigned by the trainers & the no. of days where one manages to tick off all tasks assigned by the PRO in the gym could be a great way to track effort & whether 100% of it is being spent in the right direction
even otherwise, if one is practicing yoga / going to Zumba, the no. of Yogaasanas one has completed / the no. of hours spent in Zumba at a stretch could be a good thing to track
→ no. of steps taken in a given day
although very trivial, this still stands as one of the most effective technique for most professionals given how they could be busy with some (x, y, z) tasks spread out over their personal / professional lives
only that, it could work well if the person prioritizes & puts walking over all else, making it a de-facto over their regular lives
It is simply understood & also safe to say that the [no. of hours spent in the Gym] may not really work out as a north star here given how the body could get totally used to & toned to that regime over a period of time getting conditioned, turning immune to that quantum of exercise & spending the same amount of time everyday over a long period may not really suffice.
→ diet streaks
the no. of days spent away from unhealthy food / a strict Protein-rich / protein-only diet / zero-FAT diet could also be a great way to cut down on one of the main contributors towards gaining any weight
So, given these individual metrics here as for our analogy, what’s a perfect candidate for a NORTH STAR (NSM)?
“Perspiration rate” ought to fit in pretty well given how that could be touted as the most significant one to track & then followed by “diet streaks”.
Did you also note how that fits in perfectly well given how exercise & diet are considered the main contributors for weight loss?
I’ll leave that pondering exercise to you now… 😊