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The Metric Mirror
You become what you measure. So... what are you measuring?
Justin Glover
October 20, 2025
“If you want to make some money, sell products and services…
But if you want to GET RICH, you must create and control markets”
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Today’s Perspective Shift
From: Metrics = success
To: Metrics = mirrors
Theme for the Quarter: Intelligent Innovation
Theme for the Week: Measure What Makes You Free
Quote of the Week:
“What gets measured gets managed. But not everything that matters can be measured.”
✨ In Today’s Episode:
Why most metrics shrink your identity
The 3 Levels of Measurement (and how to evolve them)
A prompt to audit your current scoreboard
The hidden danger of scaling the wrong numbers
The Metric Mirror
You become what you measure. So… what are you measuring?
🧠 ONE Smart Idea
Metrics feel neutral.
They’re not.
Every number you track:
Narrows your attention
Nudges your decisions
Reinforces a narrative
And without noticing, you start chasing outcomes that were never yours to begin with.
You’re not just scaling your business.
You’re scaling whatever you measure.
📖 Story Spark
A founder I coach scaled to $1.2M in 18 months.
On paper: crushing it.
But he confessed:
“I wake up every day checking Stripe.
And I go to bed thinking in MRR units.
I don’t even know what I actually want anymore.”
So we ran a simple question:
“What do I want to feel successful about that isn’t currently measured?”
His answer?
Energy after sales calls
How many deep work hours he protected
Time spent present with his kid before 8am
We reframed his scoreboard.
He’s still making money.
But now he's also making sense.
⚙️ Tactical Application: The 3 Levels of Measurement
Let’s break this down.
1️⃣ Ego Metrics – “Do I look like I’m winning?”
Revenue
Follower count
Headcount
Views
Problem: Feeds comparison, creates pressure to grow even when it’s misaligned
2️⃣ Efficiency Metrics – “Am I optimizing well?”
Time to complete tasks
CAC / LTV
Cost per lead
Automation %
Problem: Can improve the system… even when the system is wrong
3️⃣ Essence Metrics – “Am I becoming who I want to be?”
Time in flow
Energy before/after work
Optionality score
Sovereignty index (freedom to say no, delegate, disappear)
Solution: Start tracking these, even if they’re messy or qualitative.
Self-Audit Prompt
Drop this into ChatGPT:
Here’s what I currently track in my business: [list your metrics]
I want to feel more aligned with energy, clarity, and freedom.
Suggest 5 custom success metrics I could begin tracking to reflect who I want to become—not just what I want to achieve.
Then ask:
“If I only looked at these numbers for the next 90 days…
Would I become more me, or just more busy?”
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🧭 Intelligent Elevation
Default metrics produce default lives.
You’re not here to scale faster.
You’re here to scale in a way that reflects your truth.
So look closely at what you measure…
Because those are the numbers that will shape your next identity.
“Sovereign founders don’t just track performance. They track alignment.”
🧵 What’s Happening in AI
Catch up on the #AI + business news over the last 24 hours!
⚡️ @OpenAI co‑founder Andrej Karpathy says the era of fully autonomous agents is still a decade away — despite 2025 being dubbed the “Year of the Agent,” he warns current technology lacks multimodal understanding, continual learning and reliable execution.
🔥 AI startup 1001 AI raises $9 M seed round to serve critical industries in the MENA region — the company, founded by a former contractor at @ScaleAI, will focus on aviation, logistics, and oil & gas in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
🚨 New research warns of a potential #AIBubble as ~US$20 trillion in market‑cap is tied to medium‑to‑high AI exposure — nearly half of the S&P 500 may face hearing the crash if “hyped vs. delivered” swings the other way.
⚡️ Enterprise tech gets agent‑ready: @Amazon launches “Quick Suite” and @Microsoft expands “Copilot Actions” into Windows 11 — agents are being built into business workflows, combining LLM reasoning + task execution.
🔥 Kyndryl releases its 2025 Readiness Report — AI shows early returns but many firms are stalled by infrastructure & talent gaps — 90 % believe they can scale innovation, but less than 30 % say their workforce is truly ready.
🚨 NTT DATA Group crawls ahead in sustainability consulting: named a Leader & Star Performer in Everest Group’s Net‑Zero Consulting Services PEAK Matrix® 2025 — highlights how AI is now intertwined with ESG and decarbonization frameworks.
⚡️ Generative‑AI is transforming data maturity models: firms using modern cloud platforms like @Snowflake & @Databricks rethink how data → insights now with conversational access — BI is shifting into natural‑language territory.
🔥 Influencer marketing next frontier? AI is poised to reshape how brands and creators interact, personalise and monetise across social platforms — early adopters are already experimenting with creative‑AI workflows.
🚨 Big Tech warns: The more we automate, the bigger the run‑rate risk for commoditisation — Karpathy, again, cautions that aiming for “humans replaced” may hamper ecosystem quality and competitive differentiation.
💬 Closing Insight
Revenue is easy to measure.
So is reach.
But how do you measure freedom?
Start by asking:
“Do my metrics reflect what actually matters to me?”
If not—change them.
Because metrics aren’t neutral.
They’re shaping your becoming.
🧠 Run your own metric mirror prompt in ChatGPT today
💾 Save this issue to review your KPIs each quarter
➡ Forward to a founder still chasing old numbers
✍️
AiScaleTips is your founder clarity compass.
Most scale with chaos. You scale by design.
— Justin Glover
