Week 37 - "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" - Marilyn Strathern
In an increasingly data-driven world, measurements and specificities govern so much of our lives. From our screen time to our heart rate, it’s easy to hyper-focus on everything we can measure. But after recently learning about Goodhart’s law, I’ve started to think about the implications of always being so quantitative.
Goodhart’s Law - When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
Normally used in the context of performance management, Goodhart’s law generally cautions against incentivizing measurements because they can lead to performances that “game” the system. For example, if you had a company that made nails and were to measure employees on the number of nails they could make, they would make thousands of tiny nails. But if you measured them on the weight of the nails they could make, they would make a couple of giant nails.
I believe the law also extends to the pursuit of personal goals and the way we look at growth. Although there are things that can be measured that have an influence on our ultimate fulfillment, hyper-focusing on external validation instead of what makes us fulfilled never pans out.
Because things like fulfillment or personal relationships can’t be quantifiably measured, we often shift our goals to adjacent benchmarks. For example, because there’s no way to quantify the quality of relationships, it’s not uncommon to hear people saying they have a goal of finding a significant other in a set time frame.
But by doing so, they reduce the profound nature of human connection to a mere number and deadline. Rather than seeking genuine compatibility or connection, there's a risk of just ticking a box to feel a superficial sense of accomplishment. And just like the example of nail production, in trying to "hit the numbers", the actual quality of what one produces or seeks can diminish significantly.
While it's easy to get swept up in the data-driven currents of our time, it's imperative to remember that not everything that counts can be counted. Ensure that your pursuit of personal goals is guided by genuine fulfillment because at the end of the day, life's best moments often lie beyond numbers.
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