Using OKRs to Stay Focused

We’re now comfortably into the second quarter of the year. For many, the goals you’d set for yourself at the beginning of the year have already begun to lose their sparkle — if they haven’t dulled and dusted completely. There tend to be two reasons for this.

First, we jump out of the gate so excited that we take on far more than is sustainable. A good example is the person who gets a gym membership, goes to the gym for an hour each day that first week, and pushes their body. At the end of the week, their body is sore and tired (if they’ve managed not to hurt themselves in the process). So, they take the second week off to recover and, well, you know how this story ends.

The second reason is that the goal isn’t tied to a bigger vision or why. This might be the person who decides that this is the year they are going to address the feedback they got in their performance review that they are not a team player. They think that the way to fix this is to say yes to everyone and everything. Soon, they find themselves overwhelmed and still getting the feedback that they are not viewed as a team player because they don’t deliver on their promises. Do either of these sound familiar?

Don’t lose hope! This is where OKRs can help you stay focused. The term OKR comes from John Doerr’s book, Measure What Matters. It stands for Objectives and Key Results. When working with clients, I typically try to start with what I call North Star OKRs. These OKRs span multiple years. Using myself as an example, my current Objectives are (1) Doing good work, (2) Making good money, and (3) Enjoying life. For each of these objectives, I have 2 or 3 key results such as establishing a variety of offerings and traveling.

With this longer-term lens in mind, I can now roll back to reality. What is possible, given my current constraints, that will see me making progress on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, toward this vision this quarter? This is where I can get real with myself because I have a good sense of my commitments in the short-term. Two of my objectives for the quarter are Getting healthy (tied to North Star Objective 3) and Preparing for the launch of a new offering (tied to North Star Objective 1).

I’ll dig into the Getting healthy objective a bit as I think it gives a good example of how to build sustainable momentum. The three key results associated with this objective for this quarter are: (1) Average greater than 6 hours of restful sleep per night; (2) exercise for 15 minutes every day; and (3) mindful eating at least one meal per day. Each of these is easily measurable. In fact, I have apps that log the first two.

These may not seem like stretch goals to you but, for me, they are. This is about creating consistency. I keep these OKRs in front of me. They sit on my desk so that I can review them each day. And, in addition to tracking my results, I have shared these OKRs with 3 accountability partners who all check in with me to see how I am doing. That is why, well into the second quarter, I am still focusing on, and making progress toward, my short- and long-term goals.