Yesterday was reaffirming.

Progress is a hell of a thing, but you don't get there without the knowledge of where you started and tracking some sort of metric along the way. Yesterday was fitness test day and while I didn't post numbers that broke any records - maybe one or two of my own - it still feels good to have a few numbers in your pocket that you can track and potentially improve over time.

Which leads me to the concept of incremental gains. Tiny gains that build over time. Take my time in the gym recently for example: each time I hit the squat bar I'm adding at least 5 lbs to the bar. It's not much on it's own - and if I don't complete my full set or don't feel my form was as perfect as it could be, I keep that weight for the next time I do the exercise - but if you track it over time, within three months you're regularly squatting 200 plus pounds and a one-rep max that's heavier than you ever thought you could push. In three months. All from just tiny, incremental gains.

So lately I've been testing ways to add incremental gains into everything on the professional side of life: business planning, communications planning, management, leadership, etc; it what ways can I establish a system such that there is constant incremental gains towards an end point. It hasn't been overly easy, and largely I keep defaulting to the Four Hour Work Week's "Dreamlines" concept as the best way to attempt it.

Incremental gains in this forum require a little more work on the planning end, I've learned. With the squat rack, you kind of know, "Okay, lets add five pounds - if I complete the set without trouble then we'll add five the next time". It's easy to stack the gains because it's easy to find the two-and-a-half pound plate to throw on each side of the bar. In professional endeavours, you have no idea what that little plate looks like; is it a phone call, a business plan, tracking spreadsheet, you just don't know. And this is what I've been struggling with in terms of finding foot holds to help reach for the next target.

What is the knowledge-workers equivalent to the two-and-a-half pound weight plate?