Business Owner Self-Worth
Don't Let Metrics Define You
A couple of weeks ago, Sean and I completed the (scaled version) Memorial Day Murph.
The full work is the following while wearing a weighted vest:
1-mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 air squats
1-mile run
We didn’t use a weighted vest and did ring rows instead of pull-ups.
Before they yelled Go! I selected Cross Training on my Apple watch and pushed Start.
42:15 minutes later, I pushed End.
I quickly scrolled through the data, and it showed that I had burned 174 calories.
I usually don’t take these numbers seriously, and today, I really had a WTF moment looking at that number based on my heavy breathing and smashed quads.
Fast forward to later in the week, when I wanted to end my step challenge competition strong, I jumped onto my walking pad, knowing a quick 10-minute walk could put me at my goal.
As I approached the 10-minute mark, the screen scrolled through the distance and calories.
56 calories.
Wait, what? Nine minutes into a walk on a flat walking pad, and I’m already at 56 calories?
I laughed, and it got me thinking about the conversations I have with clients about how they sometimes determine their value, worth, and/or effort. It’s a common theme that comes up when working within their business. How we work together to dig into their business and uncover which metrics actually matter and focus on the indicators that truly reflect their business impact.
How many of us get caught up in a software or tracking system and look at the results as capital T, Truth?
We start to let it determine our worth, our expertise, our value, or our performance. But, if we switch to another tracking system, it could look completely different.
This could be the likes on your recent IG reel, a harsh Google review about something you never even offered, or your P&L from the year you took maternity leave.
While I wasn’t worried about the actual number of calories, it can potentially put us in a tricky headspace.
And no I’m not saying to stop tracking anything because it allows you to see where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going. That’s where software and tracking systems are extremely helpful.
But the next time you find yourself questioning your worth based on a dashboard or metric, ask yourself:
What would a different measurement system show?
What would your clients say?
What do YOU know to be true about the value you create?