Measurement! I just love measurement. That’s because it tells you how you’re doing and how much progress you’ve made. Progress checks can motivate you, help you catch yourself when you’re slacking, and tell you when to change course. Without giving thought to how you define progress, however, you can measure the wrong thing, or measure the wrong way. You might end up demoralized for no reason, or falling behind unknowingly on a project, or missing opportunities. So if you’re going to measure progress, do it right! Turn off auto-pilot “gut checks” and measure progress thoughtfully. Measure process goals If you’re…

I always wanted to be a spy! It seemed like fun. You’d meet a shadowy figure at night. “The cumquats are ripe this year,” they would say. “Yes,” I would respond, “Jackie Onassis would approve.” We each had the right password, and we could do our Sneaky Spy Stuff. When you only have to remember the names of obscure fruits for a single shadowy encounter, passwords are great. How to Remember Your Passwords Unfortunately, now that we have the Interwebs, we have dozens of encounters, shadowy and not, and every single one of them wants a password. For some sites,…