Entrepreneurs: How to lie, lure and lead yourself to success!

Discovered this by chance. On my morning walk.

I walk. Every morning. 30 minutes. Minimum.

My version of Pay Yourself First.

2 loops around the park. 30 minutes and Bob's your uncle. Done.

Only that's a lie...

I'll explain...

Couple of months ago, decided to shove my ipod nano into back pocket.

Blue. Fully loaded with favorite songs. Surprise gift from daughters. No occasion.

Has a fitness counter. Simultaneously measures kilometres (it's Canada), steps and minutes walked.

BEFORE, I measured only minutes. 30.

Or 2 loops around the park. 2.

NOW, I notice that I cover anywhere from 2.56 to 2.94 km in those 2 loops.

So, decided to bump myself up to 3 km, minimum.

Round number. Respectable. Nice.

So, had to go a bit more than 2 loops.

But then I noticed I was at 3.14 km.

Unsettling. So, I walk till 3.25 km.

That's respectable.

But I notice the steps counter is not a round number. 4796 steps?

So I walk a few more steps till it hits a round number.

But then the minutes are off.

38.6 minutes? Surely, I can walk another minute and a half and get to 40 minutes.

And so it goes.

I reach 40 minutes, but then a few more steps and I'll be at 4 km.

What's a few steps?

And by jumping from measure to measure, loops to km to steps to minutes, I keep increasing the amount of exercise I get until I am ready to stop.

Each time, I tell myself, I'll just go to 3.75 km, but I check and I'm already at 3.91, so...

I go to 4km, but then it's 4.14, so I'll do 4.25 and before you know it, I am anywhere between 3 and 5 km or more on any given day.

Anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour all by luring myself from measure to measure to keep leading myself farther and farther, i.e. closer and closer towards my goal, which is not a number at all. Those are moving targets. The goal is to be active. Healthy. Alive.

Often, I'm on my front doorstep, about to turn off the ipod, when I notice that I'm at 4.67 km. Or 4890 steps. Or 47.5 minutes.

Seriously?

Off I go again, to make it an even 5. Or 50. Or whatever.

Got me thinking about how we can do this in our businesses.

Instead of having ONE measure, often money, can we stagger 3 measures?

• ____ dollars per month
• ___ clients per month
• ___client sessions (or billable hours) per month

and keep trying to get round numbers there?

• $8950? What can I do to make it $10,000 before month end?
• 9 clients? What can I do to make it 10 before the month is up?
• 18 client sessions? What can I do to make it 20 before the month is up?

How this might work for you?

What measurements do you use in your business?

How do they motivate you to keep pushing to the next marker?

Tell me in the comments below. Go!

Tsufit is the author of the irreverent marketing book, Step Into The Spotlight! : A Guide to Getting Noticed

Wanna get noticed in just 30 seconds? Grab Tsufit's 11 free Spotlight Secrets series at www.SpotlightSecrets.com