A Goal Tracking and Measurement Tool: IRUNURUN

As a time management expert, I was recently invited to try a free on-line tool called IRUNURUN. This tool is not about running or sports, as you might guess from the name.  Instead it is the developer’s method to build upon lessons learned from such high performance environments as professional sports and elite military units.  The founders say their system is not about goals or time management; rather it addresses a key factor in long term achievement to create recurring behaviors.  They quote Aristotle, who said “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”  IRUNRUN is a simple tool to help develop and sustain positive, high impact habits.  Habits can be very hard to develop. 

I feel this tool is great for business goals as well as personal resolutions.  The tool is fairly simple to use once you get started and have entered your first week of data.  You should review the short set-up documentation to get started though since it was not immediately intuitive.

IRUNURUN.com Screen Capture of Daily Tracking Dashboard and Weekly Chart

Steps for using the tool:

1. First you need to set up an account using the link above.  You will get a confirmation/welcome email directing you to helpful information.  Check your SPAM folder if you do not see the email within an hour.
2. You need to determine what your goals are and the timeframes for them.  I’d suggest using the SMART format to write them down before putting into system.  Goals may be set for personal or professional reasons.  I did both a personal exercise goal and a professional writing goal.  
3. Break up the primary goals into weekly measureable actions to put into the IRUNURUN system.  The actions should align your behavior with your goals. Note that if you want to update your actions after the first week, your new actions will not show up on your dashboard until the week after they are added.
4. After actions show up on your dashboard, start tracking which are accomplished each day and the system will let you know where you are in achieving your weekly goal.  The system is set-up to send you daily or mid-week email reminders to log your progress. 
5. At the end of the week, you will email your overall score for accomplishing all goals that week.  This email can be turned off if desired under the Setting option.   You may also check on-line to see a chart showing up to 24 weeks of scores to measure your progress against prior weeks of performance.  If you are working on things that really matter, don’t be surprised if it takes 12-24 weeks to see measurable results.
6. The tool lets you invite team members who use it together, and your performance will be visible to one another.  If you want to be more accountable for completing your actions or you want to work with others on a specific goal, you can invite others to be on your team.  I did not set-up a team, so if that option is of interest, check the help documentation for more details. 

Since I wonder about the name, I was told the IRUNURUN name comes from the story of David and Goliath – “just as David ran at Goliath, so should we run at the things that matter most in our work and lives.” 

If this post has not convinced you that you might want to try out this tool for yourself, then read Kevin Eikenberry’s Leadership and Learning blog post on it too!