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LM: #302: What gets measured gets mangled
All day, we’re measuring:
- The time
- Number of steps
- Speed we’re driving
- Weights, reps, sets
- Net worth
- Calories
- Macronutrient breakdown
- Price
- Air Quality Index
- Sleep score
- UV Index
- Amazon rating of one widget vs. the other
- Letterboxd rating of movie we might watch
- And on and on…
I went on a birdwatching tour and our guide insisted on counting the number of species we saw. I thought birdwatching was supposed to be relaxing!?
It’s hard to argue that measuring doesn’t make civilization run more smoothly, increase our standard of living, or increase life expectancy. Which makes what I’m about to say even harder to explain.
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I challenge you to, for one week, stop measuring things. This will probably be impossible, but for sure you will notice how every facet of our lives is ruled by measurement.
Measuring gives us an illusion of control and having an answer, often at the expense of whatever we’re not measuring. How many backpackers who were measuring the weights of their water bottles by the gram are now estimating the quantity of microplastics they’re consuming through their Nalgenes?
Choreographer Twyla Tharp sometimes spends a week telling herself, “stop counting.” She avoids looking at anything with a number on it, such as bank statements, bathroom scales, clocks, and royalty reports. “The goal,” she explains, “is to give the left side of the brain – the hemisphere that does the counting – a rest and let the more intuitive right hemisphere come to the fore.”
Yes, measuring allows us to set goals, formulate plans, and evaluate our attempts to achieve those goals, but measuring also distracts us from experiencing life. It numbs our powers of observation and teaches us to distrust our senses.
There’s a maxim in business, “What gets measured gets managed.” Sometimes, what gets measured gets mangled.
Aphorism: “Paint what’s in your head, what you are acquainted with.” —Georgia O’Keeffe
Cool: These Chicago Skyscraper Playing Cards feature beautiful drawings of famous Chicago skyscrapers.
Best,
David
P.S. One way to reach ideal solutions without measurement is to employ desire paths.
