What Is Your Track Record?
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on May 13, 2010
I've talked enough about this concept of "track record" that I figured it was finally time to write about it.
Basically, track record is what your normal patterns are barring something extreme happening, unless extreme things occur in your life all the time. For instance, you could have a track record of always being late. Or you could have a track record where strange things just seem to always be happening to you; trust me, I have friends like that.
Earlier today I was talking to someone who said she was going to start doing something as soon as she had the time. I told her it was never going to happen based on her track record. When she asked me to explain further I told her that she'd been telling me the same thing for more than a year, that she was always on the go doing other things and wasn't going to slow down to start doing that particular thing since it had nothing to do with business, and that her other habits showed that the only reason it was on her mind me because people like me tend to talk about it all the time but she really didn't care to do it. That's because I've seen things she's cared about doing, and nothing gets in her way of doing those things when she really wants them.
Most people have no idea what their track record is like. This follows up well on my last post When Other People's Opinions Matter because, unless you're fairly introspective like I am, you may not know your reactions to common stimulus. When playing poker, for instance, every once in awhile you get a read on someone because every time they're bluffing, they do a certain behavior that they can't see, and the same goes for when they get good cards. Those people wonder why they don't always do well when playing the game; they don't know their track record, or "tell' in this particular case.
Of course, knowing what your track record is doesn't always mean it's easy to change things up. There are a couple I have that I just can't break for whatever reason. If I felt they were important enough to break, I'm sure I'd either figure it out or ask for some help. Actually, I have asked a friend about a continual habit of mine, and he gave me some great insight that no one else could have ever given me. And that's something I have listened to, and try to work on since he laid it out for me.
Sometimes that's what friends are for, whether you know what your track record is or not. Do you know what your track record is? Are you ready to change it, if needed?
Mitch —
I’ve never thought about this as a track record before but it’s a great description. We all unconsciously do things that form patterns, but the signal to noise ratio of our own lives prevent us from detecting them. Not true for our friends, families, and colleagues! They’re pattern matching machines that hone right in on our behaviors and file them away as part of our record.
Two thoughts on how to discover what your track records are and how to break the bad ones:
1) Use Rypple Insight to discover your tracks (http://rypple.com/tour#insight_slide). You can ask a group of people (colleagues, friends, etc.) for *anonymous* advice, which means they’re free to be entirely honest. There’s no better way to find out what people really think of you! I’d suggest a short, focused question that asks about one thing, e.g.: “What’s one repeated behavior — or track record — you’ve observed about me that I probably don’t know about myself?”. I did a somewhat similar exercise about 10 months ago, using Rypple to get my teammates to run through a Johari Window for me (http://rypple.com/blog/2009/09/29/johari-window-blind-spots/).
2) Once you’ve identified your track records, use Marshall Goldsmith’s nightly questions technique to help you conquer them. There’s a video interview he did with Diane Sawyer about it here: http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/. We were lucky enough to have Marshall host a Rypple Leadership Series webinar recently and he provided us with some resources related to his nightly questions, which you can download (for free!) from here: http://rypple.com/webinar/marshall-goldsmith
[Full disclosure: I work for Rypple, but I really do think it’s a great solution to this problem]
Keep up the great posts!
I appreciate your disclosure, Jay, as I almost didn’t allow this comment. However, I decided it offers a legitimate tool that people might want to explore to help them figure out their patterns. I hope to hear from someone else who decides to give it a shot.