"For what shall it profit a man if he gains all the world, and loses his own life?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?"
- Marqos (Mark) 8: 36-37
I used to think that as long as I was tracking numbers, I was on top of my business. More revenue, more clients, more engagement—it all seemed to mean I was moving forward.
But the truth? Not all numbers actually matter.
It’s easy to get caught up in the data we think is important—social media followers, email open rates, website traffic. But at the end of the day, do those numbers really tell you if your business is thriving? Do they reflect the impact you want to create?
If you’ve ever felt like you’re tracking everything but still don’t have clarity, you’re not alone.
The difference between data and clarity
We track numbers because they make us feel in control. They give us something tangible to look at, something that tells us we’re making progress. But progress toward what?
I’ve had months where my revenue increased, but my stress levels did too. I’ve seen email lists grow while real engagement stayed stagnant. I’ve hit business goals that looked great on paper but left me feeling completely disconnected from my mission.
That’s when I realized: tracking the wrong metrics is just as bad as not tracking anything at all.
The numbers you measure should help you make better decisions, not just fill up a spreadsheet.
Finding the metrics that actually matter
The question I started asking myself was:
“What number truly reflects whether my business is moving in the right direction?”
For some, it might be client retention rates—because returning customers mean strong relationships. For others, it’s profit margins, because revenue means nothing if expenses are eating it up.
Maybe it’s something less conventional, like the number of personal referrals, because that shows how much trust your clients have in you.
There’s no universal answer. But your answer should align with the work you care about and the success you want to build.
Track less, align more
In business—and in life—it’s tempting to think that more always means better. More data, more tracking, more goals. But sometimes, less is more.
When you stop tracking numbers that don’t serve you, you free up space to focus on the ones that do.
So, take a moment to reflect on what you’ve been measuring in your business. If you need help tracking what truly matters in your business, subscribe to my monthly newsletter, where I shared a Business Metrics Tracker this month.
Are your numbers giving you clarity—or just noise? And if you had to pick just one North Star Metric to guide you this year, what would it be?
Shalom, everyone!