Be Cautious What You Measure

Final week, Wells Fargo fired a bunch of their distant workers.

It seems that these workers have been “simulating keyboard exercise” (with a program/system that robotically typed keys or jiggled their mouse after they weren’t at their laptop).

Why?

As a result of that’s how these workers have been evaluated:

Not by what number of shoppers they introduced in, nor what number of relationships they fostered, however by what number of hours they have been lively on their computer systems.

In order that’s precisely what these workers gave them.

Bear in mind, this is identical financial institution that advised workers again in 2017: “Enroll as many consumers to further banking companies as attainable.”

The outcome?

Tens of millions of unknowing clients had bank cards and financial savings accounts and brokerage accounts created illegally of their names, a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in fines, and destroyed goodwill for Wells Fargo.

Why did each of those comically dangerous lapses in judgment occur?

Bloomberg’s Matt Levine mentioned it properly:

Two fundamental rules of administration, and regulation, and life, are:

You get what you measure.

The factor that you just measure will get gamed.

Actually that’s only one precept: You get what you measure, however solely precisely what you measure. There’s no assure that you just’ll get the extra common good factor that you just thought you have been roughly measuring.

If you need laborious staff and measure hours labored, you’ll get a number of staff browsing the web till midnight.

I stumbled throughout this story final week, and instantly thought how this precise incentive-and-unexpected-results performs out on a regular basis in our lives.

We obtain Duolingo to study to converse with a local speaker of their language. Months later, we’re checking in every day so we don’t get yelled at by the Owl, we’re determined to maintain our every day streak lively…and we will solely say “I discovered a blue ostrich on the library.”

We lie in mattress, waiving our arm above our head like a madman, as a result of our FitBit says we want 500 extra steps to hit 10,000 for the day. (Right here’s the historical past of the 10k step rule by the way in which…)

I as soon as “meditated” each single day for six months in order that I might construct my meditation streak in Headspace. Typically I might even open the app and simply let the meditation play so I obtained credit score for it, although I wasn’t meditating…THE WHOLE REASON I HAD DOWNLOADED THE APP.

We inform ourselves that we wish to “learn extra,” however then we observe what number of books we learn. This incentivizes us to learn books shortly (with out retaining any of it), as a substitute of tackling greater challenges like Battle & Peace or rereading our favourite books to glean extra classes.

WHY can we wish to learn extra? To study stuff or to be entertained! The variety of books, or WHICH books, doesn’t matter:

Social media started as a solution to join with buddies. Nowadays, social media is large enterprise and the solely advertising software for a lot of creators. As a result of these corporations observe “time on app” and “consideration”…social media is now a hellscape of concern.

Probably the most attention-grabbing content material filters to the highest: outrage inducing, factually incorrect, terrible content material designed to enrage and worry monger. Even most of my favourite wellness creators as of late spend their time making response movies to essentially the most vile wellness misinformation, as a result of that’s the one sort of content material that positive factors any traction.

(No marvel so many individuals are avoiding the Darkish Forest of the Web!).

All of these items weave an enchanting tapestry of how the human mind works, and simply how good our brains are at taking a metric and studying the unsuitable lesson from that metric!

What are you measuring?

The vast majority of folks go to NerdFitness.com to “shed weight.”

That is the one metric that everyone is used to monitoring. Each advert talks about the way to shed weight quick. They see the quantity on the size and let that quantity decide how they really feel about themselves that day.

That is the unsuitable metric to solely deal with:

We don’t actually wish to “shed weight.” What we would like is to lose fats whereas retaining the muscle we have now (or constructing muscle).

If our ONLY purpose is weight reduction, extreme calorie restriction and limitless cardio would possibly end in a decrease quantity on the size. BUT! If we don’t change our relationship with meals, and eat sufficient of the best macronutrients and micronutrients, we’ll find yourself feeling torpid, starved, and depressing…after which gorge ourselves as quickly as life will get in the way in which.

If we power practice whereas consuming sufficient protein and in a caloric deficit, we’ll really shed weight slower than if we simply starved ourselves and did hours of cardio. BUT, we’ll be shedding fats whereas sustaining muscle.

The size ought to solely be ONE a part of how we consider our progress:

In any case, the quantity on the size goes to fluctuate from daily:

If we went out to dinner final night time.
if we ate an excessive amount of salt yesterday.
If we’re carrying further water weight.
If we’re on our interval.
any variety of causes.

So, as soon as we all know that what we select to trace is necessary, how can we use this to our benefit?

What to Monitor, What NOT to Monitor

Bear in mind, that which will get measured will get improved, so let’s be sensible about what we’re monitoring.

We will ask, “What do I REALLY wish to occur? Is that this the best metric for that purpose?”

Making an attempt to “eat higher”: Monitor your protein consumption and variety of fruits/veggies eaten every day. If these are the primary two issues in your plate for every meal, your weight will begin to shift with out your deal with it.
Making an attempt to construct a “seaside physique”? Nice, let’s construct some muscle. Monitor your exercises, and write down precisely what number of units and reps. Then, do ONE extra subsequent time. The purpose? Progressive overload for the win! Get stronger,
Wish to learn extra? Don’t observe “books learn,” which could end in you selecting shorter books or velocity studying, however as a substitute observe “time spent studying.” This could embrace audiobooks, rereading outdated books, no matter. Deal with your studying checklist like a river, not a to-do checklist!

Lastly, there are numerous issues we most likely DON’T want to trace, or we needs to be cautious about when monitoring.

There’s a complete neighborhood of biohackers who’re prioritizing monitoring the tiniest of particulars throughout a wide range of metrics, a lot of which don’t matter, or would possibly end in opposed outcomes.

Right here’s one thing we get requested about rather a lot:

Except you’re a diabetic and have been suggested by a health care provider, you do not want to put on a steady glucose monitor. Momentary glucose spikes after consuming a meal are completely regular.

(This podcast from my good friend Dr. Spencer Nadolsky does a very good job explaining why you don’t want a glucose monitor except you’re diabetic).

Right here’s one thing I used to trace however deserted:

I used to trace my sleep religiously with an Oura ring and AppleWatch, however then I might get anxious in the course of the night time and fear that I used to be ruining my “sleep rating”…which negatively impacted the very exercise I used to be attempting to enhance via monitoring. Nowadays, I fear far much less about monitoring “good sleep” and simply do what I can to be in mattress for 8ish hours, asleep or not.

And on an even bigger, life philosophy query:

Be cautious of how social media is warping the scorecard you’re utilizing to trace your progress in life! It’s very easy to get sucked into: “Work laborious to earn cash to spend it on issues we don’t have to impress folks we don’t even like” Life success isn’t measured within the measurement of our home, or worth of our automotive, or the quantity in our checking account.

Bringing all of it collectively:

On the subject of private growth or well being enchancment, it helps to ask: “What am I optimizing for, and does that really assist me get the outcome I actually need?”

We will then resolve if we’re even taking part in with the best scorecard and retaining our deal with the best metric.

I’d love to listen to from you: what’s a metric you USED to prioritize, however now not observe? And what’s the necessary metric that you just’re selecting to prioritize as of late?

Hit reply on this and let me know!

-Steve