Personal Analytics For 21st Century People

The 10 questions to ask yourself

Deep inside everyone wants to be a winner but, something stops us. Is it that gap between where we are and where we want to be or is it something else? I believe it's something else. Think about this for a moment. On the other side of whatever you want, chances are there is someone already there. That literally means the problem is never about what you want, it is always about who you are. And when you begin to appreciate it is about who you are, three things will occur you. First, the people on the other side of whatever you want are not super people, they are just people using a different strategy and system than you. Most times those people are running algorithms unique to themselves, they are seeing, thinking, talking, practicing and doing things differently and if you learn to see and do as they do you will eventually get a similar result. It is as simple as that. To get on the other side of what you want you have to become someone different and that requires that you change. Researcher Phillipa Lally of City College, London did an interesting study on change and she found that on average it takes between 18 and 254 days to change; with the change sweet spot being 66 days. Change is all about behaviors that are automatic. Third, you begin crunching your own data and once you start to analyze the data you collect; we call that data analytics. What's interesting about analyzing your own data is the personal insights that come from it. Most people can start their personal analytics project by asking themselves a 10 questions; 1) what do I want? 2) who am I? 3) who can I model? 4) why am I doing this? 5) why am I going to be successful? 6) how am I seeing things? 7) what's my daily practice routine? 8) which tribe or group is joining me on the journey? 9) who is my coach? and 10) where am I on the habit/automaticity spectrum? Data analytics starts with what you want alongside a model and your process of going about getting it. Think about it. 

Lester R. Cox, MA, LL.M is a leadership guide and host of Lester LIVE who shows business owners and executives how to extend their possibilities through better personal leadership