Adam Grant tweeted:

Many people chase wealth, status, and achievement because progress is easy to measure, failing to realize that the gains that count the most are the hardest to count. Real growth is building character—striving to improve in generosity, integrity, humility, fairness, or courage.

~ Adam Grant

If true, or if this resonates, how might we measure growth in the latter areas? You could pick one at a time, set a concrete goal – whether daily or weekly or annually – and then track progress towards that goal. For example, what does generosity mean to you in terms of concrete actions? And what do you commit to in the next year? How does that break down to daily or weekly action? Then simply track daily, even on days where you do not feel generous at all.

Jim Collins tracks his days in terms of happiness using a -2 to +2 scale. He keeps this in a spreadsheet so that he can then track his average over time periods. This same method might work in other areas of our lives where we wish to improve as we grow to be the person we seek to be. Recording a number each evening does not take much time, but allows for some sort of actual tracking. We are poor at remembering the past without recording it.