Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman was the Bloomberg cover story in February this year….if you haven’t read the article, it’s worth reading. One of the most fascinating habits he talks about is what he does every day…..even at his level.

“JG:  Funnily enough, I have three sheets of paper that I try to run the business by. Which sounds ridiculous, but it’s actually what I do. One is to record every night before I go to bed the numbers of our businesses from around the world and then to use that to engage with managers about why we’re doing well or not doing well in certain areas.

I’m very focused on our daily numbers. What you see over many, many quarters and years are patterns, seasonality, aberrations—aberrations caused by good things happening, aberrations caused by bad things happening, taking losses in a certain part of the portfolio. That gives you a tactile feeling for how we’re doing on a day-to-day basis.”

So simple…even old-school. Writing something down?  Every night?  But here’s what I think it does:

1. The discipline: every night. Repetition drives mastery….it’s not about the number itself, but what story the number is telling in the context of the current environment and trends.  It’s real time…but because of the frequency, it’s about trends, not a knee jerk reaction to a bad number.
2. Writing it down. I am always surprised when people walk into meetings without paper and pen. I write things down, but funnily enough, I often don’t re-review my notes unless I’m looking for follow ups. But when I write things down, they’re important…it’s what I want to remember.
3. Keeping it simple: masses of data don’t help. Yes, if you need to deep dive, you want to be able to take the issue apart and go down deep. But I’ve found that when there’s a lot of data, people aren’t focused. They’re assuming either 1) someone else is looking at it, or 2) the accomplishment is producing the data…not understanding it.

One habit I have at a personal level: every day, I write down my numbers: how much I have in cash, asset values, and a total net worth number. I have a daily expense journal, monthly cash flow tracker, and a 15 year tracker.  Why? Yes, I have some control freak tendencies, but I also want to make sure I hold myself accountable to the facts…it’s too easy to think you’re ok when you’re not.  And I do want to be really good at managing my numbers.