500 Words a Week - Hidden vs Observable Metrics
Chris Williamson talks about hidden and observable metrics, and how we place too much value on observable metrics to deem a sense of self-worth or success. Observable metrics are our salary, the car we drive, or the clothes we wear. However, it’s the hidden metrics that are ultimately more important for our life satisfaction. Our ability to spend time with those close to us. The amount of stress we carry from our career into our life beyond work. Chris talks about our proclivity to trade hidden metrics for observable metrics. We trade time with those close to us for higher pay. We trade peace of mind for higher job titles.
This links into something I heard from Charles Duhigg on the Rich Roll Podcast around habits. Many habits we think about are those that are easy to track and are staring us in the face. They are easily measurable. How many times did we exercise this week? How well did we eat? How much alcohol did we drink? What was our screentime?
In reality, the more important habits to us are those that are more internally based. These are habits that aren’t so easy to track. How many times did you get angry today? How many times did you find yourself lost in your head after a comment was made? When talking with someone, were you actually present or were you daydreaming of your evening plans? A large one for me stems around, how many times do we create the time to pause, reflect and then respond rather than jumping straight to a reaction from what someone has said.
Charles recommends us to take a minute to ask ourselves are we making the right choices now rather than just being on autopilot. These mental or internal habits are much more important than the other habits listed above. Sure, they are harder to track, but when we do look to track them, we can feel a benefit in our life. Charles recommends how we begin to track them is by talking to other people about them. We don’t learn about ourselves till we describe ourselves, our thoughts, our motives to other people.
These mental loops or habits dictate the world around us, they are our framework for how we act, and interpret the world around us.
My recent increasing revelation is life stems from the quality of our relationships, our connections. This can be a taboo topic as so much of what we see of success is in the external, but if we can look to change our measure of success to the quality of our relationships. I think we will find more fulfilment and lasting benefits. In turn, to help us improve the quality of our relationships we can focus on these habits that are not so easy to track, the internal based ones or the hidden metrics.
