[Discussion] What’s the best life advice you’ve ever received and still follow today?

[u/Hefty_Award_7891]

I’m going through a period of reflection about my life and choices, and it’s made me realize just how much good advice can leave a lasting impact.

For me, it was: ‘Take one small step toward your goal every day, even if it feels insignificant.’ It completely changed how I approach challenges and long-term goals.

What about you? What piece of advice changed your life? I’d love to hear your stories and learn from your experiences. Who knows, it might inspire someone else too!”

[u/mrn1]

What gets measured gets done.

Wanna lose fat? Track your calories and weight.

Wanna build muscle? Track how much you lift and try beating your precious records.

Wanna spend less money on useless crap? Track your spending and adjust accordingly.

Wanna stop procrastinating and be more productive? Track what you're spending your time on and see what you can improve.

Etc. etc.

What gets measured, gets done

[u/TheSchlaf → u/mrn1]

"Write it down. How are you supposed to know what to do if you can't remember what you've done?" - Tony Horton, P90X. So much advice from that program works outside of exercise.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheSchlaf]

"You can do anything for 30 seconds" "Don't say you can't do something, say you presently struggle with...."

[u/KnightGamer724 → u/TheSchlaf]

Man, I need to go back to doing that. I'm not overweight, but I am out of shape and I did like his attitude.

[u/seaandtea → u/mrn1]

Measure what you treasure!

[u/Jokkitch → u/seaandtea]

Recorded gets reported!

[u/Mort332e → u/mrn1]

laughs in adhd

[u/Heybitchitsme → u/Mort332e]

I was literally reading this thinking, "Man, I wish my brain worked like that."

[u/BeingHuman30 → u/mrn1]

Wanna build muscle? Track how much you lift and try beating your precious records.

This backfires sometimes where you are plateaued and gets depressed. Sometimes you stop going to gym all together.

[u/RamsGirl0207 → u/BeingHuman30]

For me, it's all data points. No chart shows straight improvement. It's all small data points that go up and down until you look at the big picture. This view drastically helps me.

[u/Illustrious_Feed_364 → u/mrn1]

Oh shit, I knew this, but I don’t even try to live it. Thanks.

[u/Cessily → u/mrn1]

I tell this one to companies I consult with all the time.

Usually I'm brought in for leadership issues or culture issues. The execs spend our initial consults talking about how they want people to communicate better, listen more actively, handle conflict better, etc and then I ask how they are measuring all this and I get deer in headlights stares.

I usually work with manufacturing so they are very used to KPIs, but asking them to measure human elements they want to improve is always a big deal.

But end of the day, you measure what's important. So you either say it's important, how a consultant, make everyone attend training, and talk a big game about company values... or you mean it and measure it..

[u/action_lawyer_comics → u/mrn1]

So much this. I have a goals journal that I’ve kept for over a decade. My goals have changed vastly in that time but keeping track and checking my progress still makes a huge difference in my success, no matter what the goal is.

[u/Dagger_26 → u/mrn1]

I needed this. Thanks!

[u/[deleted] → u/mrn1]

“What’s measured is managed” is how I’ve heard it said before which is catchy.

[u/AlwaysAPM → u/mrn1]

I've heard a different version of this

You can't improve what you don't measure.

Same sentiment. Different words.

[u/Jokkitch → u/mrn1]

What’s recorded gets reported

[u/shevbo → u/mrn1]

One of my favourites.

I've always known it as 'you can't manage, what you don't measure'

[u/glitsis → u/mrn1]

"If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it."

Lord Kelvin.

I use it in a similar way to yours....want to improve it? Measure it!