It is a method for measuring progress against a known standard.

Artists, Craftsmen, Engineers and anyone else who has to rely upon a set of established standards uses benchmarking as a means of analyzing their progress. With benchmarking you can identify problems early on when it’s easy to make corrections.

A properly executed benchmarking system allows you to fix any new problem by simply stepping back to the last benchmark.

A ruler is a great example of a benchmark. With it you always know that a measurement of distance is accurate and repeatable.

Applied to your personal growth, benchmarking is a standard of excellence by which effort and accomplishment can be measured against. A properly executed personal benchmarking system also allows you to correct any problem (you identify) by simply going back to the last benchmark. It gives you the ability to directly observe what is now different and make the necessary adjustments.

Benchmarking gives you the freedom to experiment and explore.

There is always a known point you can return to if your trial and error does not bring you the results you hoped for. You could say that a personal benchmarking system is the ultimate form of “trusting yourself”. You are always grounded and have yourself centered upon a known and trusted benchmark.

This provides a level of confidence about pondering new ideas and embarking upon new possibilities. When you are aware of what your current benchmark is you are in the best position to quickly asses whether or not any new opinions, attitudes and actions are moving you forward, backward or keeping you in the same place.

Your personal benchmark is not static.

As you explore new and better ways of thinking and doing, these “best practices” become integrated into your personal benchmark. This means your personal benchmark is always evolving… Yet retaining the best of what you’ve learned and experienced through the years.

-Bob Baran