On Day 2119 of my daily run vlog, I want to talk about weekly milestones. If you have goals, ambitions or targets, the way you measure progress matters more than how hard you push.

I have run every day for 2,119 consecutive days. Today's total stands at 16,289.91km of the 40,075km I need to complete a lap of the world, barefoot style. That leaves 23,785.09km. The run is part of a mission to raise £1M for children's causes. I do not get through that distance in big bursts. I get through it one day at a time, and I have learned the same applies to every other target in my life.

Why a quarterly target is not enough

For the last nine months I have focused on my property business. It has been with me for over 20 years, and it is the business that has had the least attention over the last five to seven years. It had become inefficient. It was not optimised for profit. I made a difficult decision to give it my full focus until it was right.

When you are that busy, it is hard to tell whether you are trending towards your target or away from it. I set quarterly targets, and a quarter is a 90 day sprint. A lot happens in 90 days. If you do not track closely, you can end up well off target with no realistic chance of recovering before the quarter closes.

Monthly stepping stones help. Each quarterly target gets a monthly milestone, so I know where I should be at the end of each 30 day block. For a business with daily operations, though, even a month is a long gap between checks. A problem can sit unnoticed for three weeks.

What a weekly milestone does

A weekly milestone shortens the gap. At the end of every week I ask one question. Did we achieve what we set out to achieve?

The quarterly target stays fixed. The monthly stepping stones move a little, but not much. Weekly milestones move far more. One week you get ahead. The next week you fall behind. I treat that movement as useful, because it tells me where I am in time to act.

My current quarterly target is to increase profit. Every task is measured against two questions. Does it reduce our costs? Does it increase our revenue without increasing our costs? If the answer to both is no, it does not belong in the week.

Each week has a structured objective. I normally plan at least a month ahead, which means four full weekly chunks with a clear objective for each. I adjust them when I need to. What I do not do is wait until the end of the quarter to find out whether the work was pointing the right way.

This week as a test

This week was hard. There was a lot of travelling and a lot of work. At times it felt like blood, sweat and tears. When I reviewed the week against the milestones, we had achieved more than we set out to achieve.

That felt good, and I will be honest about why. The feeling did not come from effort. It came from evidence. I could see on paper that we were on track, and in some areas ahead. A hard week without a milestone is just a hard week. A hard week measured against a milestone tells you whether the effort was pointed at the right thing.

The same method protects you in a bad week. If you fall behind, you find out within seven days. A seven day gap is small enough to close by adjusting the following week. A 90 day gap is not.

How this connects to the streak

Running every day works the same way. I do not set out on Day 1 to run 40,075km. That number is too large to act on. I run today, then tomorrow. The daily run is the smallest unit, and the distance is the long term target. The weekly view sits between them and keeps both honest.

Consistency over intensity is the principle. A steady weekly check beats a burst of effort followed by a long silence. It also stops me from drifting, which is the real risk over a streak that will take many more years to finish.

How to set weekly milestones

If you want to try this, here is the structure I use:

Start with the longer term picture. I hold 12 month, three year and five year targets, but I look mainly one year ahead and then work in quarters as the time gets closer.

Break each quarterly target into monthly stepping stones.

Break each month into weekly milestones. Write down what you expect to achieve in each week for at least the next four weeks.

Review at the end of every week. Record what you achieved, what you missed and why.

Adjust the next week. Do not wait for the month end.

Keep the quarterly target fixed unless the facts change. Let the weekly milestones flex.

What I took from today

Weekly milestones keep your finger on the pulse of a long term target. They give you time to correct, and they give you honest evidence of progress. More often than not, that is how I reach my targets.

Why this matters to the mission

This vlog is part of a fundraiser to save the lives of children by attempting the ultimate ultra marathon: a lap of the world, run barefoot style on consecutive days, with a goal of raising £1M. The more people who see it, the more we can raise. That is why I show up every day.

If this was useful, subscribe, share it or leave a comment with how you track your own progress. I read and reply to what is relevant. I will be back tomorrow for Day 2120.

Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/EKV3suP-nEo