Day #101
Measuring
We measure things in both absolute, and relative, terms.
If today is ‘better than yesterday’, then we’ve made a relative judgement, one day against another. Yesterday may have been good too, but we have subjectively rated today one step higher.
If today is good because i worked three hours less than yesterday, then it’s an absolute one, measured in the common scale of hours. I worked nine hours yesterday and six today, so i can quantify the difference.
This can give us a mixed message: i may work more hours today, but still feel that today is a better day, so whilst by one scale i ‘lose’, by the other i ‘win’.
Untangling this web of measurement is valuable, because it can help us understand the gap between feelings, and harder truths.
We often describe the difference as qualitative (thoughts and feelings) or quantitative (things which can be put into numbers), but there is a slippery middle ground where we cheat, and quantify the qualitative: so i rate today as 8/10, which is a number but still a relative and subjective judgement!
Use your sixty seconds today to ask yourself this:
What do you measure in relative terms? See if you can identify one aspect of your leadership that you measure like this.
What do you measure in absolute ones?
Was it easy, or hard, to think of these things? If you wish, now think what you do with this information: do you act on it, find comfort in it, or deny it’s validity?
We could ask ourselves in measurement has any value if we don’t act upon it, or simply rationalize it against our current mantra and carry on as usual.
On 24th January i have a new Quiet Leadership journey setting out to explore leadership in the smallest of actions. It’s a four week journey, one hour a week, completely free. You can read more and sign up here.