Close Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Articles
  • News
  • Events
  • Tech
  • Start Up
  • Spotlight
  • Marketing
  • Strategy
  • Management
  • Profitability
  • Interviews
  • Leadership
  • Entrepreneurship

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest business news, articles, tips and interviews to develop your business IQ!

What's Hot

Oyedele Flags 70% Tax Collection Gap, Calls for Overhaul of Nigeria’s Fiscal System

May 15, 2025

World Bank: Nigeria Must Accelerate Growth Fivefold to Reach $1 Trillion GDP by 2030

May 15, 2025

Dangote Refinery Cancels June Maintenance After Early Repairs

May 15, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn TikTok
  • Home
  • About
  • Articles

    Oyedele Flags 70% Tax Collection Gap, Calls for Overhaul of Nigeria’s Fiscal System

    May 15, 2025

    World Bank: Nigeria Must Accelerate Growth Fivefold to Reach $1 Trillion GDP by 2030

    May 15, 2025

    Dangote Refinery Cancels June Maintenance After Early Repairs

    May 15, 2025

    Nigeria’s External Reserves Sink to 8-Month Low, Signs of Recovery Emerge

    May 15, 2025

    Dangote Group Fuels SME Growth Across Nigeria with N5 Billion Support Initiative

    May 15, 2025
  • Contact
    • Login
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube TikTok LinkedIn
naijapreneur™
#40Under40NaijaCEOs
  • News

    Oyedele Flags 70% Tax Collection Gap, Calls for Overhaul of Nigeria’s Fiscal System

    May 15, 2025

    World Bank: Nigeria Must Accelerate Growth Fivefold to Reach $1 Trillion GDP by 2030

    May 15, 2025

    Dangote Refinery Cancels June Maintenance After Early Repairs

    May 15, 2025

    Nigeria’s External Reserves Sink to 8-Month Low, Signs of Recovery Emerge

    May 15, 2025

    Dangote Group Fuels SME Growth Across Nigeria with N5 Billion Support Initiative

    May 15, 2025
  • Events

    Founder Institute Lagos Presents: Angels & Demons – Surefire Tips for Raising Your First Angel Round

    May 3, 2025

    May 2025 Nigeria Business Events Roundup

    May 1, 2025

    Sunday Ozomah Launches Groundbreaking Book on Oil and Gas Insurance in Nigeria

    April 14, 2025

    MarkHack 4.0 Introduces the First Ever Nigerian MarTech Awards

    April 10, 2025

    Lagos Leadership Summit 2025

    April 10, 2025
  • Entrepreneurship

    15 Books Recommended by 15 Billionaires

    March 5, 2025

    Embracing the Growth Pipeline for Long-Term Business Success

    March 1, 2025

    Securing the Bag: Founders’ Tips for Getting Grants and Investments (Part 1)

    February 21, 2025

    iOS vs Android: The Backstory of The Greatest Tech Rivalry in History

    January 27, 2025

    Adidas VS Puma Backstory: The Rivalry That Shaped the Sports Shoe Industry

    January 26, 2025
  • Marketing
    1. e-Marketing
    2. View All

    A Christmas GIFT For Entrepreneurs!

    December 17, 2013

    Free Website CONTENT Review: Does your website SPEAK the language of your TARGET customers?

    September 30, 2013

    e-Commerce FAQs: 8 Frequently Asked Questions About Selling Online

    July 15, 2013

    CASE STUDY: How I Made Close To 1Million In Sales Within 3 Months Of Selling Online!

    May 13, 2013

    The Conversational AI Marketing Showdown: The Future of Marketing or Just Smart Hype? Balancing Innovation with Tradition.

    March 11, 2025

    From Jollof Rice to Joyful Sales: How to Captivate Nigerian Customers This Christmas

    November 20, 2024

    Catching Them Young: A CSR Guide for Brands Building Lifelong Connections with Youth

    October 28, 2024

    Visibility Blunders: 5 Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your Business Growth

    October 5, 2024
  • Start Up

    Securing the Bag: Founders’ Tips for Getting Grants and Investments (Part 1)

    February 21, 2025

    Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Company in Nigeria

    February 6, 2025

    FG Launches iDICE Academy: Unlocking Youth Potential in Nigeria’s Digital Economy

    January 18, 2025

    FAILING FORWARD 003:10 Times Bill Gates Took a Big Swing (and Missed)

    December 14, 2024

    FAILING FORWARD 002: Lessons from Elon Musk’s Entrepreneurial Setbacks

    November 13, 2024
  • Management
    1. Profitability
    2. View All

    5 Strategies for Reinvesting Profits to Grow Your Business

    March 20, 2015

    The MOST IMPORTANT Word In Business

    March 31, 2014

    5 Ways To Reduce Inventory Costs And Boost Profitability

    February 21, 2014

    How To Save Your Business From Self-Inflicted Financial CRISIS!

    June 17, 2013

    Compliance in Nigeria: Data Protection Directives for Businesses

    April 10, 2025

    The Science Behind Recruitment

    September 24, 2024

    Effective Decision Making Checklist for Every Entrepreneur

    July 1, 2014

    Outsourcing Checklist For Entrepreneurs: How To Know When To Outsource

    December 9, 2013
  • Strategy

    How to Stay Competitive in the Digital Era

    March 25, 2025

    Nigeria Cement Market Review 2019-2024 and Forecasts 2025-2029.

    March 14, 2025

    Eight prudent ways to invest your 13th-month pay

    January 6, 2025

    Catching Them Young: A CSR Guide for Brands Building Lifelong Connections with Youth

    October 28, 2024

    The SHOW UP Strategy: How to Attract Paying Clients in Tough Economic Times

    October 15, 2024
  • Leadership

    LEADERSHIP CHECKLIST: 4 Critical Things Every Leader Needs To Do For Their Team

    November 25, 2013

    Business Mastery: The Unusual Qualities Of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

    October 31, 2011

    The Golden Rule Of Business

    July 18, 2011

    EAGLE EYE LEADERSHIP: the Principle of Focus and Priority

    November 15, 2010

    How To Create A Compelling Vision For Your Organization

    August 29, 2010
  • Interviews

    Nwoke: How Technology Can Restore Market Pricing Integrity for Small Businesses.

    March 14, 2025

    Unusual Entrepreneur Interview with Connor Gillivan of eCommetize.com

    June 13, 2016

    Unusual Entrepreneur Interview with Michael Fratkin of ResolutionCare.com

    August 3, 2015

    Unusual Entrepreneur Interview with Walter Emiedafe of SapientVendors.com.ng

    June 1, 2015

    Unusual Entrepreneur Interview Questions With Dave Schneider of NinjaOutreach.com

    May 18, 2015
naijapreneur™
Home»Articles»Progress Evaluation For Entrepreneurs
Articles

Progress Evaluation For Entrepreneurs

Tito Philips, Jnr.By Tito Philips, Jnr.January 13, 20111910 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Copy Link LinkedIn Tumblr Email Telegram WhatsApp
Follow Us
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn TikTok
How well are you progressing as an entrepreneur?
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email Copy Link WhatsApp

How well did I do last year?

Being an entrepreneur, I’m sure this question has crossed your    mind lately. At the start of a new year like this, a lot of progress related questions like these goes through our mind;

How well did I do last year?

Did I make any significant progress?

Was year 2010 any better than the previous year?

You’re not alone on this! Every one of us asks these sorts of questions at the start of every New Year. I guess it’s part of what makes us human. Ingrained in our DNA as humans lies a key factor that significantly separates us from all other mammals placed on earth. That factor is self awareness.

We have what it takes to conduct a personal assessment of ourselves. While we all share this key trait as humans, not everyone knows how to effectively conduct this exercise of self evaluation. Not many can muster the personal discipline and patience required to go through such a mentally demanding task. This is when an unusual article like this becomes very handy.

Year 2010 in Review

The year 2010 has gone taking with it 8760 hours, 365 days, 52 weeks and twelve months.  In case you haven’t also noticed, today is the 13th day of the New Year, which means another 13 days, gone! One of the reasons why accounting has become a good measure of a business’s performance is because numbers don’t lie; they say it as it really is. Take a second look at those numbers again, but this time, try to attach a particular event, activity, achievement or experience to each number. Here is what I mean; what did you do, say, or accomplish in every hour of the 8760 hours you used up in year 2010?

Where did you go, what did you do, say or achieve daily out of the 365 days you lived in year 2010? I know these are very tough questions, which are often left unasked by most of us. But here’s the truth; whether asked or unasked we can’t deny one fact: 2010 came and now it’s gone, but you are still here!

Still alive, left behind to fill up the missing pieces of your life. You are still here, left behind to balance up the books, to reconcile your account with life. You are still here, left behind to match up your days with your deeds; to measure the present against the past and weigh your performance and progress in relation to the future.

This is the reality of life, whether we are prepared for it or not, life will always go on irrespective of our involvement or not. Life will happen, most times faster than we ever anticipated. The problem is not whether another year of one’s life is going or gone, but rather, the fact that one cannot possibly lay hold of the progress made during the year or that the progress made is not commensurate with the days gone by. It seems as though the days in the year has speedily gone by but the deeds of the year are hardly noticeable. So one wonders,

“how come we know precisely the number of days gone by, the exact hours spent, but can’t seem to measure the extent we have come or gone?”

The answer is not far fetched and that is the essence of this article to state authoritatively that:

Progress does not come as a result of merely ‘doing something’; it comes as a result of ‘doing only the right thing’.

Doing ‘something’ is simply being occupied or engaged. Doing ‘something’ is what it means to be ‘busy’. For the most part, a lot of people would have been ‘busy’ all through the year 2010. Now don’t get me wrong, doing ‘something’ is good but doing the ‘right thing’ is best.

Doing the ‘right thing’ is what it means to make progress. Real progress is not found in being ‘busy’ (doing something); real progress is found in being ‘effective’ (doing the right thing). This is important because quite a number of people are just about ‘anything’ and on the long run they expect to accomplish the ‘right thing’.

This article will distinctively clarify the difference between

  • ‘motion’ and ‘progress’;
  • ‘volume’ and ‘values’;
  • ‘quantity’ and ‘quality’;
  • ‘activity’ and ‘productivity’;
  • ‘faithfulness’ and ‘fruitfulness’;
  • ‘execution’ and ‘contribution’;
  • ‘engagement’ and ‘accomplishment’.

For we cannot accurately measure progress without its corresponding elements; progress is not measured in a vacuum. It is measured against something which could either be a goal, an end, a vision, a purpose, a destination etc. As Abraham Lincoln rightly said, “It’s not the ‘days’ (quantity) in the years, but the ‘life’ (quality) in the days that matter.”

In other words, “it’s not the ‘number’ (length) of days gone nor the ‘number’ (amount) of things done that accounts for our progress in life, but rather, the significance (essence) of the things done in relation to our life’s ultimate destination, purpose or vision”.

Firstly, the aim of this article is to clarify once and for all that ‘doing’ is not necessarily the same as ‘achieving’. The problem of measuring our progress comes when we begin to confuse progress with some other things, such as confusing progress as motion or regarding activity as progress. The two are not the same and will never be the same. They are entirely two different concepts.

So I will be making the distinction between progress and some of its common misconceptions. Secondly, the aim of this article is to suggest the principles against which our progress in life or within a given period can be measured. This is going to be a series, so that you wouldn’t miss out on anyone of the articles in this series, click here to subscribe to receive them via email or RSS feed.

Having said that, let’s begin!

Some Misconceptions about Progress

What in your own opinion is progress? Do you often find yourself caught up in the continuous trap of activity without productivity? Do you often get anxious and worried with each passing day or hour wondering how far behind you are in life? We all go through this phase in life, when you wonder what exactly are you getting at in life? Most of the time, what we consider as progress or lack of progress is often misinterpreted. So, I am going to start by debunking every misconception you might have about progress.

Motion as Progress

A lot of people confuse motion as progress simply because they think progress is measured in relation to what we do or have done only. What we fail to understand is that motion is simply the act of moving. It is one of the elements of progress but not what progress completely means.

Meaning, progress truly does involve movement, but it doesn’t end at that, it entails much more than merely moving. Progress is concerned about the direction of your movement and not the mere act of simply moving. “Where exactly are you moving to?” Or put another way, “where is your movement leading you?” For progress to really happen, your motion [movement] must have a direction [focus].

Volume as Progress

Viewing progress in terms of the volume or number or amount of work done is incomplete and absolutely wrong. Progress is much more than the mere quantity of task or work completed. For God’s sake, you could be doing all the wrong work or performing the right task in a wrong way! That you have written 5000 words length of article doesn’t make the article valuable. It is not the quantity of the words written that counts as progress, but the quality of the information presented in the article.

Progress is more interested in the ‘value’ of work done rather than the ‘volume’ of work done. The value of the work done is what determines if you are making progress or not. For instance, “what good is in the number of trees cut if all you were supposed to do was count the trees?” or “what good is in the number of trees cut if all you did was cut the wrong trees?”

Activity as Progress

The mere fact that you are engaged in performing an activity doesn’t determine whether you are making progress or not. Activity is not necessarily productivity. Activity simply means what is being done. It looks at one part of progress and discards the other, because activity [what you are doing] could be either right or wrong.

Progress measures productivity which is the result or outcome of an activity and not just merely the activity. Who cares about what you are doing? What matters and counts as progress is the result of whatever it is you are doing. Progress examines the very nature or essence of what is being done (activity) in relation with what is achieved (productivity).

Faithfulness as Progress

Another popular misconception of progress is faithfulness, which means dedication or commitment to a particular thing. Being faithful in carrying out a particular task is not equivalent to progress. Progress is measured in terms of fruitfulness; which means the results of your being faithful.

The essence of your faithfulness [commitment] is in your fruitfulness [achievements]. Who cares how many years you’ve spent in the service to someone or to the service of something if your years of service produced no fruit [result]? All you’ve succeeded in doing is serving your time and being of service to no one, but yourself. If your faithfulness yields no result, it is as good as foolishness.

Execution as Progress

Execution is simply defined as the art of getting things done. It is closely related to activity except that while execution is an ‘art’ of getting things done; activity is the ‘actual’ thing being done. Execution is the completion of activities. It is the process of performing activities in order to get things done.

The problem with regarding execution as progress is that simply getting things done doesn’t account for one’s progress; you could as well be getting the wrong things done. Until your ‘execution’ becomes a ‘contribution’ towards something worthwhile; towards a preset goal, vision or objective, it cannot be regarded to as progress.

Engagement as Progress

Finally, quite a number of people think being ‘busy’ is the same as being progressive. Research has shown that not all of our ‘engagements’ turn out to be ‘accomplishments’. In fact, according to the 80/20 principle which states that 20% of our efforts yield 80% of our results, clearly shows that what we are engaged in most of the time yield little or no result.

So, ‘engagement’ cannot be viewed as progress because progress is measured in relation to results and not in terms of busyness or merely being preoccupied. Again, over to you; do you find yourself having some of these misconceptions about progress? Apart from these popular misconceptions discussed above, what other ones are you familiar with?

PS.

This is going to be a series, so that you wouldn’t miss out on anyone of the articles in this series, fill the form below to stay updated.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Email Copy Link WhatsApp
Tito Philips, Jnr.
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)

Hi! My name is Tito Philips Jnr, an unusual Nigerian that is MAD – Making A Difference. I'm the Chief Community Leader here and this is where we raise the bar of entrepreneurship. We are a TRIBE of Unusual Entrepreneurs, we are not your every day entrepreneurs who go into business to put food on the table and pay bills. For us, business is more than making ends meet [survival]. It is our means of doing what we love [passion], changing the world [purpose] and being financially rewarded for it [profit]™. Want to become ONE of us?

Related Posts

The Fascinating Story of Kimbal Musk: Elon’s Forgotten Brother Who’s Saving the Environment

March 6, 2025

15 Books Recommended by 15 Billionaires

March 5, 2025

Embracing the Growth Pipeline for Long-Term Business Success

March 1, 2025
View 19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Jk Allen on January 14, 2011 1:41 pm

    Hi Tito – your breakdown of the misconceptions of progress were excellent. Each offering an applicable red flag for one to quickly recognizing the effectiveness in their own patterns of acquiring progress. One misconception that I’d like to add is this…One must be willing simply thinking that progress is being made isn’t enough. Progress should be measurable. Anytime you set to progress in something specific, be sure to create a point of measure so that true results can be revealed. Thanks for the info Tito.

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on January 14, 2011 2:01 pm

      Thank you JK for pointing out the need to have a yardstick for measuring progress, actually that doesn’t fall under the misconceptions treated in this post, it will be addressed in the following post under this series. There I will be pointing out the elements of progress, factors which must be considered in your evaluation of progress.

      Reply
  2. Dia on January 14, 2011 9:52 pm

    Hi Tito,

    Nice job on judging our progress. We all progress, some people progress fast, others slowly. We all have to review what worked and what didn’t, so we can use that to our advantage. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on January 15, 2011 6:12 am

      Thank you Dia for your comment. Progress really is important and we should all be paying close attention to how we evaluate it. Hopefully, by the time this series is over, we would have all gained a better perspective to our evaluation of progress as entrepreneurs.

      Reply
  3. Sibyl - alternaview on January 15, 2011 8:44 pm

    Tito: What a great point. It is not just about moving, you really do have to be effective and making certain that you are going in the right direction. I really like this message and this post. I am definitely looking forward to the series.

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on January 16, 2011 7:34 pm

      Hi Sibyl, Happy New year.
      Yes, progress is definitely larger than motion. In the next article, we shall be discussing more why this is so. Thank you for your comment.

      Reply
  4. Brenda Freeman on January 15, 2011 8:45 pm

    I especially liked your paragraph about Motion being confused with progress. There are many busy people in the world who get nothing or very little done. Completing those steps and knowing where you are going is the key.

    2010 was an awesome year for me and my family, and 2011 is steam rolling ahead too. Enjoying each day with PROGRESS

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on January 16, 2011 7:36 pm

      Hi Brenda,
      Happy New year to you. Glad to have you join us here and contribute your own views about Progress. Hope to see you around throughout this series? 🙂

      Reply
  5. Elise on January 19, 2011 5:06 am

    Well, I definitely fall victim to a few of these, particularly activity as progress and faithfulness as progress. It’s easy to convince myself that things are getting done by distracting myself with so much around me that’s happening, until I realize at the end of the day that I didn’t really accomplish very much.

    2010 was an OK year. A lot of growth for me and figuring out who the heck I am. 2011 needs to be all about ACTION… not mindless motions.

    Really enjoyed this article, thanks Tito.

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on January 19, 2011 6:24 am

      Glad to see that you were able to learn a few things about yourself and how you work Elise. We all just have to be self aware more often in order to pick out the subtle misconceptions of progress in our entrepreneurial lives or else we would only end up beating around the bush. Thank you for the comment and the retweet. I’m grateful.

      Reply
  6. Monex on January 29, 2011 6:47 am

    This is an important strategy for success but oddly enough it s one that a lot of people overlook..Why is it so important to have an expectation that you can accelerate your progress? I don t want you to ask How can I questions because that leaves open the possibility that your answer will be Um I don t know. Instead I strongly suggest you phrase your questions in a way that assumes the answer is there and fairly easy to see already so that your focus will be tuned to picking the best answer rather than wondering if one exists at all..The first question deals with looking at things from an outsider s perspective which I ve always found helpful because it takes the personal baggage out of the equation..Question One If someone were to tell me how to change one thing about the way I m currently tackling a project that would double my rate of progress what would it be?.No matter what you re working on chances are there s a bottleneck that you either haven t consciously noticed or simply chosen not to work on because you ve been too busy doing things. By asking the question this way you re focused on something big doubling your progress rather than just a little tweak..Asking the question this way can also strengthen your resolve to take action.

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on February 1, 2011 6:35 am

      WOW!

      Thanks for the awesome contribution Monex. The bottlenecks that can hinder progress is what I will be discussing about in the 3rd episode of this exciting series. I hope you join us!

      Reply
  7. Michael Pedzotti on February 5, 2011 4:52 am

    Hi Tito, I too have been trapped for short periods of time in the misconception that movement = progress only to snap out of it some time later when nothing actually gets done. In a way it is like have the motor running in a car and it is neutral. No matter how much you put your foot on the gas and how much noise the engine makes, it isn’t going anywhere.

    2010 was a productive year as I hit $1000 sales on one of my products and got good feedback from my customers. I have several other projects in the pipeline and I will be applying what I learnt in 2010 to my promotion of the new products in 2011.

    Michael.

    Reply
    • Tito Philips, Jnr. on February 5, 2011 7:27 am

      Hello Michael,
      Thank you very much for dropping by naijapreneur and being so kind to partake in the discussion. I like the analogy of having the car on neutral and pressing the gas pedal … very accurate description of movement without progress. Thank you for this valuable addition.

      I strongly hope you would be joining us more often as we continue to share entrepreneurial and business development tips together?

      Reply
  8. Tito Philips, Jnr. on February 15, 2011 8:26 pm

    Hi Iroko,
    Thank you for joining us here and being a part of the discussion. Finance is a good yardstick for evaluating progress as an entrepreneur.

    Reply
  9. Bereket W|giorgis on July 26, 2013 3:57 pm

    Hey there I love it very much! As an entrepreneur I have seen myself asking such questions all the time and it really hurts when being busy or whatever without being RESULT oriented.

    Reply
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Business Events in Nigeria
Nigeria Business Events Roundup
#40Under40NaijaCEOs
Demo
Latest Posts

Oyedele Flags 70% Tax Collection Gap, Calls for Overhaul of Nigeria’s Fiscal System

May 15, 2025

World Bank: Nigeria Must Accelerate Growth Fivefold to Reach $1 Trillion GDP by 2030

May 15, 2025

Dangote Refinery Cancels June Maintenance After Early Repairs

May 15, 2025

Nigeria’s External Reserves Sink to 8-Month Low, Signs of Recovery Emerge

May 15, 2025

Dangote Group Fuels SME Growth Across Nigeria with N5 Billion Support Initiative

May 15, 2025
1 2 3 … 320 Next
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest business news, articles, tips and interviews to develop your business IQ!

Most Trending

#40Under40NaijaCEOs: Meet The 40 Under 40 Nigerian CEOs in 2024

September 2, 2024

10 of Elon Musk’s Friends from PayPal and Their Groundbreaking Startups

August 20, 2024

Wema Bank Launches MOWA-SARA Accelerator Program to Empower 500,000 Women

October 11, 2024
1 2 3 … 534 Next
Latest Posts

Oyedele Flags 70% Tax Collection Gap, Calls for Overhaul of Nigeria’s Fiscal System

May 15, 2025

World Bank: Nigeria Must Accelerate Growth Fivefold to Reach $1 Trillion GDP by 2030

May 15, 2025

Dangote Refinery Cancels June Maintenance After Early Repairs

May 15, 2025
1 2 3 … 534 Next

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn TikTok
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Start Up
  • Strategy
  • Management
  • Profitability
  • Leadership
© 2025 naijapreneur™. Powered by Differentiate.Online.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.