How Do You Measure Progress In Writing?

I've been thinking a lot about how much I've written since I started writing 200WordsADay and the progress I've made. But I'm also curious about the benefits writing consistently has for my writing.

I'd like to become a better writer. I'd like to write pieces that move the readers. My grammar could use some improvement too. I use Grammarly a lot to help me become more conscious of common grammatical errors I make and I can see the difference it makes.

So I wonder how can I measure improvement in writing quality? The quality of any piece of writing is subjective and what's considered "good writing" varies from person to person. But we still need some measure to quantify improvement.

Should it be judged by the number of views it gets? Or the number of comments it inspires? Is clickbait good writing because it gets a lot of attention? In some sense it is. It's good for the purpose it was created.

Just like startups, maybe writing needs a clear problem it intends to solve. Journalists seek to shed light on important issues. Poets might be seeking catharsis. Clickbait writers are seeking clicks.

Maybe that's the way we define how much our writing has improved. Start by defining a clear goal for it and then measure how well it achieves that goal. If you write for personal pleasure then as long as you feel satisfied after writing, your job is well done. If you seek to help others, then how many you've helped is how you can measure your success.

So how do you measure progress as a writer? And is it aligned with your goals for writing?