"Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so."
-Galileo Galilei
"The person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance."
-William Julius Wilson
It hit me one day when I noticed that some people do lousy work. For whatever reason the quality of their work is bad. However, you can't always write bad work off to just laziness or stupidity. If this is true then why are smart, hard-working people producing lackluster work? It is all in how you measure success.
Everyone has a different standard they use to measure success. Your boss, your significant other, your coworkers, and yourself might all have different opinions on what doing good work looks like. The key is understanding what all of these different measures look like. Only then can you determine if you are going to be successful in your current situation.
It's not necessarily that one measure of success is better than another, or that there is a right and wrong. Just make sure that the scales of success are generally similar between yourself and the ones that matter when times count. If your boss or client uses a totally different measure to gauge success than you do it could spring a surprise failure on you if you are unaware.
Everyone has a different standard they use to measure success. Your boss, your significant other, your coworkers, and yourself might all have different opinions on what doing good work looks like. The key is understanding what all of these different measures look like. Only then can you determine if you are going to be successful in your current situation.
It's not necessarily that one measure of success is better than another, or that there is a right and wrong. Just make sure that the scales of success are generally similar between yourself and the ones that matter when times count. If your boss or client uses a totally different measure to gauge success than you do it could spring a surprise failure on you if you are unaware.
