Just the other day I went for a short run around the neighborhood. Recently, I’ve been using an app to track my distance and time while I’m running, and before this run, I adjusted the app’s settings to notify me more frequently of my current distance and pace — i.e. instead of getting an update every mile, I was getting one every couple minutes.
As I finished up that first run with the updated settings, I realized that getting these more frequent updates helped tremendously. Since every couple minutes I was getting an update, I was always aware of whether my current pace was OK, or whether I needed to pick it up a little. And the result was I was able to better maintain the pace I wanted. In the end, I found the regular feedback helped me run a little faster and at a more consistent pace than I typically do.
In hindsight, this whole experience reminds me of the power of regular feedback in our lives. It could be in the marketplace, or in our relationships, or in various areas we’re intentionally working on. Whatever the area, being able to get regular and immediate feedback can help keep us on track — it can help us change course or address issues when we need to, or it can give us the satisfaction of knowing we’re heading the right direction.
Sometimes just knowing we’re on track is a tremendous motivator to keep on going. And in those cases when we do get off track, it’s much better to know sooner rather than later. Because the longer it takes to find out that we’re off course, the longer it is to get back on the right path. And sometimes the things that are now difficult to correct, could have been easily addressed if we had known earlier.
The more regular feedback we can get, regardless of what we’re trying to do, the better off we’ll be. So any extra time or energy it takes up front to figure out what kind of feedback we need, and how we can get it regularly, is well worth the investment.