If you don’t measure it, you cannot improve – this principle holds good not only for sportspersons, organisations, and governments but for each of us as well. From experience, we know that the goals we have set, whether it be losing weight, achieving a financial milestone, or getting something done, we have always been more effective when we measure our progress to help us stay on track.

However, when we step back and reflect, are we really clear how we are measuring our life? If it is by our achievements, it does not mean we have failed when results were not favourable due to circumstances beyond our control. If it is by the way we are perceived by others, we become overly sensitive and vulnerable to opinions that will keep changing. If it is by the way we feel, we know that moods keep changing.

It may well be worth considering three aspects of our life, which if we regularly measure, can significantly improve the quality of our life.

When we measure the depth of our relationships, we realise that as we build, sustain and strengthen strong relationships, we build ourselves as well. Very little compares to the connections of love and trust that we have in our life.

The experiences we give ourselves become our true wealth of memories and joy. When we measure the things we have done and want to still give ourselves, we start making different choices, where being and experiencing becomes more important than only having.

When we measure, with humility, the difference we may have made in someone’s life, it gives life a different meaning and we start understanding the true meaning of life.

The world will measure us by what they see, but we know that the true measure is what we see and experience within. It is not how big we become in life, it is about measuring how big the spirit of love, joy, and service is within us – that’s what truly matters.

(Picture – Lake Muskoka, Ontario )