What Gets Measured

One of my clients told me about an app that monitors the time you spend on your phone. She is 17 years old and has set a goal for the summer to keep her daily phone usage under an hour. She is spending more time reading, engaging with her family and friends, and being outside. My young clients give me so much hope for the future.

My husband and I both decided to try the app, in an attempt to consciously limit our screen time. Both of us are finding it tremendously helpful. We have talked before about wanting to put down our phones more, but it’s been hard to really asses how often we check our phones or how much time we actually spend on them. This app makes it perfectly clear.

It reminds me of something one of my mentors used to tell me when I was in high school. “What gets measured is what gets done.”

It is excellent advice, and I am probably the target audience. I love things that can be measured. I love my FitBit for tracking my steps and exercise, Goodreads for tracking reading, Mint for monitoring spending, and my planner. When I worry I am not drinking enough water, I track my ounces. I am nowhere close to perfectly organized or efficient (really, really nowhere close), but I do love anything that measures what I am doing and helps me see more clearly what choices I am making and how those choices line up with how I want to live.

So the adage “what gets measured is what gets done” makes perfect sense to me.

But I am also sinking into the reality that what really matters often cannot be measured. There is no measure for what happens to your brain and heart when you stare at a sunset. There is no measure for the value added to your life by holding hands, snuggling a wet, sun-screen scented toddler, or listening to a symphony. (Side note- my friends in neuropsych would remind me that these things can be measured, but I would argue that the act of measuring them detracts from the actual thing being measured. But that’s another blog.)

I can list for you the health benefits and drawbacks to my morning cup of coffee, but that doesn’t communicate anything about the beauty of that daily ritual. I can tell you that I burn more calories when I run for 45 minutes than when I walk, but I can also tell you that I feel healthy in a very different way after each experience. I can plow through two books a week to meet a reading goal, but it does something very different than when I sink deeply into a book and savor it slowly. These contrasts really aren’t about good versus bad, or even good versus better. Each scenario presents a different reality, and there is time and space for both what is measured and what cannot be measured.

Our productivity-driven culture tends to dismiss that which is inefficient. But I believe that there is a time for inefficiency, space for that which cannot be measured, and a deep need for that which can never be managed or produced. For some people this comes naturally, effortlessly. Some people need to grow in “time and life management.” But many of us need the reminder to pay attention to that which cannot be measured.

Many of us need permission to stop. To breathe deep. To pay attention to our bodies and what they are asking for, instead of only attending to our watches, our schedules, our habits, and our goals. To learn how to go to bed when we are tired, eat when we are hungry, and honor our physical and emotional needs. To pay more attention to how we feel than the number on the scale, to be more attentive to the health of our relationships than the quantity in our savings account. To worry less about being efficient and productive and more about connecting and being present, both with others and with ourselves. To pay attention to the things that cannot be measured, and to believe that very often, these are the things that matter most.

Paradoxically, what we measure can create space for that which cannot be measured. For example, monitoring how much time I spend looking at a screen helps create space for engaging the people around me in more significant and meaningful ways. It reminds me to be present with myself and the space I am in. The measuring can help, but the measuring should never be the point.

It’s true that what gets measured is what gets done. But let’s remember that not everything that matters can be measured.

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