One of the fastest ways to boost your productivity and results is to implement a system of daily accountability with yourself. There are lots of ways to do this, but the easiest way is to simply track your key numbers every day.

“Key numbers” can mean different things to different people, and you can decide what your key numbers are, using the key result areas as a starting point. A salesperson could track number of calls made. A writer could track number of hours spent writing, or number of pages written. A business owner could track the number of sales efforts made, or number of customer to-do items completed. A bodybuilder would track number of calories consumed.

The old rule, “what gets measured, improves” is very true. If you simply force yourself to write down your key numbers every day, no matter how terrible they are, they’ll start to get better automatically. You’ll start to get angry with yourself, and you’ll get your numbers up.

This is why it’s important to track a small amount of numbers, if possible. Make them important, but keep the number of things you track small and manageable.

I started tracking my daily numbers several years ago, and the results where nothing less than shocking. I forced myself to do it daily, seven days a week, forcing the daily activity through the 3 levels of habit formation. My average monthly income has more than doubled since I started doing this.

Today, tracking my daily numbers is simply a habit; I just do it automatically, no willpower required, and I feel “weird” if I don’t do it. It’s probably the single most profitable habit I’ve ever formed.

You can do it too.