I don’t find games much fun or engaging without keeping score. My kids are the same way. We try to have fun and just play, but once we inject some kind of scoring, it becomes much more fun and the focus and intensity go up right away.
It’s natural.
We’ve had decades of socializing trying to tell us otherwise, but I don’t see that working much for desperate and scared adults that bought the lie. And those people that told them scores don’t matter aren’t around anymore.
When you have to survive, meet goals, provide for others or make your vision happen, you have to keep score. How in the world would you know how you are doing if you left it to an ambiguous feeling of doing good?
And if you are serious about success and getting results, you have to know your score every day.
That’s because your brain is designed to solve problems. When it notices a gap, it wants to close it. When you set a goal and see your current score, there will be a difference. That’s alright. We always carry the gap between where we are now and where we want to be.
The important thing is that your mind is aware of where you are at today and seeing what you want down the road.
The great thing is that numbers are not hard to get today. You have a ridiculous amount of technology that feeds you information daily. Your:
- Bank account balance
- Current monthly sales
- Pipeline of opportunities
- Expenses and cash flow
- Deals you are working
Each morning, you can check these numbers. Just set up your Google Chrome or browser to automatically open different tabs so you can view the scores for each number and see your current status. Compare it to the target number you want for each score.
Or build a Google Sheet and keep track over time by updating your numbers. When you keep score, you are focused on winning.
Yes, some days can be discouraging when you have a big gap. But it’s far better to know where you are at and where you want to be than not know.
Think about getting concrete and building your own scorecard. You can simply:
- Figure out where you want to be in six months. Quantify every goal.
- Put those numbers in a Google Sheet.
- Every day, update your current numbers. Let the Sheet calculate your gap by percentage or amount.
This daily habit can take a few minutes every day. It gets your heart and mind focused on the game. And you are in a game. It’s called life.
I like getting my goals. I’ve seen plenty of unhappy people that insist they can be random and laissez faire. No thanks. They have many other problems. And I wish them luck living out their worldview.
Reality has a way of keeping score whether we acknowledge it or not. If you care about yourself and getting results, keep score daily. You will be giving yourself a gift.