I raid Clarity’s corporate kitchen 10 to 12 times a day to snack – veggies, fruit, cereal, beans, yogurt, milk, cheese, nuts. It’s great to get up from the desk.  Bursts of flavor in mouth are soothing. Small snacks sustain even energy. And, since I committed a year ago to weekly calorie and content targets (e.g. enough protein, enough calcium, etc.), frequent servings facilitate target achievement.

Except that I love hummus.  I have delightedly eaten a pound or more of hummus in a day, with or without pita chips.

I thought I was “eyeballing” things well, keeping everything in balance, eating healthy. But, after I collected data for several months (thank you, MyFitnessPal), I noticed that “heavy hummus” days correlated with WAAAY too much:  Too much fat, too many calories, on and on. Chickpea comfort consumption crowded out choices needed for calorie and content goals.

So, I started measuring portions… For example, instead of dip-dipping pita chips into hummus ‘till it felt right to stop, I’d measure a quarter cup of hummus, eat that, enter the snack on my app, and return to my desk. That way, I could track and manage consumption. Balance of calories, content, and comfort restored.

Balance restored is a critical element of sales process and goal achievement, too.  As there is a certain quantity and  balance of foods that fuel us best, there’s a certain amount of time and a certain number and mix of sales and marketing activities that, in general, helps us meet our account coverage, new business development, and sales goals.

In eating  wisely and in meeting sales goals consistently, memory and perception are notoriously unreliable guides for most of us.  The key is capturing and analyzing the data – looking back and forward with facts rather than feelings – then setting targets we strive to meet every week, every month. For some people, a weekly point system works well. For others, tracking conversations, or outbound calls, or other sales statistics works well.

While we might vary our mix in a given month due to opportunities or circumstances, our monthly and daily measures point us to ‘home’ from which we can make adjustments.