How do you measure success?
Metrics - a set of figures or statistics that measure results. What figures or statistics should you use to measure if you’re going in the right direction? Businesses rise and fall based off metrics. Sometimes a business fails due to the people in charge, are monitoring the WRONG metrics.
Lately, with researching more about Game Development, I’ve been addicted to learning more about Bethesda. I love the Fallout Universe; from the quipy dark humor to the horrific atmosphere. When I play the games I get lost in the world and look forward to every encounter that meets me. But as of the recent years, I feel as if they have started looking at different metrics on what made their games magical. For Fallout 76, they advertised “16 times the detail”! For Starfield, they advertised “over 1000 planets to explore!”. I think Bethesda looked at “more detail” and “more landmarks” as their metric for success. But that truly wasn’t what their “customers” were looking for. Fans were really just looking for an open-world game where their choices mattered. The player-based loved the games for the RPG elements, not for the FPS-side. I hope if I am fortunate enough in the future to have my own studio, that I can learn the lessons that my favorite video game IP had to face.
But then I started thinking, how am I measuring my success? I started thinking of things like money, relationships, career, health, etc. I realized that there are so many areas in life you can track your success - and I decided that what matters most is: being engaged. No no no, not like being married, but being engaged in your surroundings. By engaged I mean those moments when you see your socks on the floor, next to the hamper - you pick it up instead of walking by it. Not letting messes pile up. Doing our best in all facets of life. There will be ebbs and flows, where one “pillar” (money, relationships, career, health, etc.) of our lives can fall apart - but ensuring all other areas are in tip-top shape can help ensure we are still keeping ourselves afloat. All of 2025, I was mostly focusing on my fiance and moving up in my career. But I realized I wasn’t doing anything for myself. I lost track of myself and my passions for a bit. But this year, I’m trying my best to stay engaged in my own life and not letting my life pile up on me. I’m investing more this year, to be more engaged in my finances. I’m getting back in the gym, to be more engaged in my health.
I’m taking more ownership of my life. The good and the bad. How will you be more engaged this year?
