It’s funny how people forget how much they really eat in a day or how much they exercise in the course of a week. It is easy to leave out a few donuts here and there and to distinctly remember going to the gym twice last week when in fact the pass hasn’t been used in over a month.

What gives? Are we simply lying to ourselves? Not necessarily.

We remember doing things a certain way because we started off with such a great plan. Even if we veer off course, there can be significant lag time in realizing we aren’t always doing what we tell ourselves we’re doing. Often we inflate our efforts in our own minds and it takes a reality check to force us back from la-la land.

On the personal side of life, eating too much and not exercising has the obvious result of weight gain and related health issue, regardless of the original plan for healthy living.

On the professional side of life, we also tend to overestimate the degree to which we stick with our business plans. For the person working from home, the challenge is exponentially more complicated because there is no supervisor to get us back on track once the lapses are noticed.

It is a challenge to self-monitor one’s own adherence to a business plan. However, the secret to doing so effectively is not all that complicated. A tracking system makes it impossible to fudge the cold hard facts.

Step one, is to identify your top money making activities. What are the core activities that improve your bottom line? If you are in sales, chances are the answer is simple: making calls, setting appointments, and closing deals. Period.

Step two is to use a monthly calendar to track your top money making activities. Use a simple system such as a tally mark for every call, an x for each appointment and a check mark for each closed deal. ( I print a monthly calendar page for each month and keep the page right by my computer.)

Step three is to analyze the data at the end of each month. There will be a direct correlation between the actual completion of top money making activities and your bottom line.

Wishing you a productive day,

Lisa Jo