Are You Looking at the Right Numbers?

Look around you and it is not hard to see numbers all over the place.

Numbers make people want to compare - some of us have our ego boosted just because we have "better' numbers.

Need examples? Check this out:

What much salary increment did you get last year compared to the year before?

How much did you spent on your Prada bag that makes eyes turn when you walk down the street?

You created a post on Facebook and how many shares or likes did you get?

Numbers can be deceiving

Most of us look at numbers and made our judgements based on them. Some of these numbers affect our states of emotion, our motivations and so on. But are we looking at the right numbers to help improve ourselves?

You are feeling sore throughout the year because you got 1% lesser increment compared to last year and the year before. But did you know or check out how much losses the company has incurred over the last year - and how many staff have been laid off?

Do you still feel sore had you knew these numbers?

Numbers do not ALWAYS represent the real state of life

Numbers alone does not mean anything until they are being looked at from a different and more holistic perspective.

Someone who made 1 million dollars a year may not have time for his personal health, families and friends. You are envious of the income he made but did not know the sacrifice that have been made.

A stay-at-home mum quit her high salary job to look after the school-going kiddos at home. To most people it is a negative figure in terms of household income but if you care to look from a different perspective, you may appreciate the fact the kiddos are well taken care of, both academic and physical well-being.

Look at the Right Numbers

It took me many years to learn to look at the right numbers. Someone who have better income than you may not be necessarily a happier person. He or she may have huge mortgage burden, big family of 8 to support and so on.

Instead of looking at numbers from a superficial level, why not try look at them from a self improvement standpoint?

Marathon runners have to constantly look at their timing, body weight, heart beats etc to optimize their chance of winning the race.

Top students who look at the right numbers know how many hours they need to set aside each day for revision and they are the one who breeze through exams after exams...

These people are looking at the right numbers. Are you?

Are You Listening Hard Enough to Your Customers?

It does not matter if you have your own business or working your butt off someone else's - we all have the chance to listen to customer feedback.

Almost everyday.

Not all customers will leave a feedback. And not all feedback are nice.

How do you handle negative feedback?

To me, there are essentially 2 types of feedback.

Customers Who Are Really in Pain

Those who are suffering because of the inefficient ways we (our companies) handle things have the type of feedback that we should LISTEN to.

They are the one who will make us see what's outside the jar (from their perspectives). Most companies have almost never taken a look at what's 'outside the jar' - they spent too much time inside the jar, sorting out loose ends, fire-fighting day to day operations and have never taken feedback from customers to heart.

It's not hard to imagine such companies usually close shop within 5 years.

Customers Whose Last Name Are Trolls

It is inevitable that we will get customers who will call and troll the living day light out of us. These people who may be mentally ill are out to making our life a living hell - and while they are only a small minority in most cases, their words are enough to make a good employee quit.

We have faced trolls before, listened to the colorful vulgarities from their very mouth but why are we entertaining them again and again and again? Feedback from these people are never beneficial and most of the time it is a pure waste of time listening to their rants.

We can choose not to heed both types of feedback and NOT learn anything on what's outside the jar.

Or we can choose to listen and filter away the negative ones and learn, rectify and work on what's not working well from outside the jar.

The choice is ours.