The Only Miletsone That Matters…

By Rajesh Setty on Sat 04 Apr 2009, 10:37 AM - 8 Comments

Milestones or the pursuit of them can mess you up big time, especially if you are going after the wrong ones.

Social networks can blur the line, really. Take any social network and one of the easy metrics to measure is “quantitative” rather than “qualitative.”

On LinkedIn, it it is the total number of contacts
(It is easy to miss how many of these contacts really matter and it is also easy to miss for how many of these contacts you really matter)

On Facebook, it is the number of Friends
(Again easy to miss, how many are “really” your friends and it is also easy to miss, how many consider “you” as their real friend)

On Twitter, it is the number of followers
( It is easy to miss how many are following you just because you are following them. It is easy to miss how many quality Tweets do you actually write)

For me, the only measurement that matters is:

“Your capacity to contribute to make this world a better place.”

You can set appropriate milestones to measure this metric. Tools like social networks help but if these tools don’t contribute to help you with this metric, it really does not matter.

Have a great weekend!

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Nagesh Belludi on April 4th, 2009

Spot on Rajesh. People tend to place too much emphasis on the means to a goal. They forget that the only justifiable purpose of an endeavor, short- or long-term, is to achieve its objective.

One remarkable characteristic of successful people is their ability to eliminate distractions and stay focused on their ultimate objectives — on the end to the means they have identified.

Phil Gerbyshak on April 4th, 2009

Focus on impact, not on numbers, and your quantity will truly mean something.

Even 1 is a BIG impact!

Thanks for the impact you’ve had on me Raj! I hope to see you at SOBCon in May!

Rajesh Setty on April 4th, 2009

Nagesh, thank you for your comments. The tricky thing is that there is so much of noise about the “means” that will make it look like it is the “end.”

Phil, thank you for your kind comments. Can’t wait to see you again at SOBCon. Booked my tickets and everything – only a few days more

Thanks again.

Best,
Raj

Tim Bursch on April 5th, 2009

Raj,
Great point. Numbers only take us so far. It still comes down to relationships and people. The cool thing is that these tools allow us to multiply our impact. Cheers.

Dimitar Nikolov on April 5th, 2009

Very accurate thoughts you shared here, Raj!

It’s not quantity that matters. It’s the value you create and the people that it’s going to impact. This is a universal success rule if you ask me

Tanmay Vora on April 6th, 2009

A few years back, I met a sales manager who was heavily focusing on number of cold calls his team would make. With this intense focus on numbers, he lost focus on objective (generating prospects). Quantitative approach failed with no prospect after hundreds of calls. When he gave targets of calls to be made per day, the calling team would get into mechanical calling mode to “any how” meet the target which was least effective.

Another sales manager in the same team who would do a thorough research on each company before calling and would himeself do only a few calls a day. His success ratio of generating prospects was much higher. So, being qualitative and focusing on adding value has now become a universal truth (for social networks, technology, tools and people) specially in these tough times. Thanks for this interesting insight!

Arlin on April 6th, 2009

Great reminder; this is one of the many things we already know and often forget. Thanks for the reinforcement.
I like your criteria for what is worth investing time in. For me there is no higher purpose or more fulfilling thing to do than making the world a better place to live by helping people be successful Human Beings.
Have a fun and rewarding day, Elder-Dude