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I actually disagree with this heavily. It's feel good, for sure, but if you are looking for measurable results in almost any endeavor, then keeping metrics is a
by mattsfrey 8y ago
I actually disagree with this heavily. It's feel good, for sure, but if you are looking for measurable results in almost any endeavor, then keeping metrics is almost textbook in increasing the chance of success. "That which gets measured gets improved". Human beings are inherently flawed and subject to natural impulses, adding in objective metrics is a way of taming that. Intuition is not going to help you make linear progress in small increments over a long period of time. Studies of weight loss for example repeatedly show you need to be keeping some metric such as weight or measuring body inches etc to keep on track and be able to guide your decisions each week. "intuitive eating" is a new fad but there is virtually no data to back up that it works at all.
EDIT: To add,I speak as somebody who lost 160lbs over two years after years of yo-yoing. I find it very unlikely you would be able to do this without tracking progress and having metrics to guide you.
- jacobolus 8y ago> if you are looking for measurable results in almost any endeavor, then keeping metrics is almost textbook This seems like a tautology... What if you aren’t looking for measurable results?
- ben_w 8y agoIf you aren’t looking for measurable results, how do you know when you succeed? Perhaps you were already there before you started?
- michaelt 8y agoThey might be looking for results that can be detected, but only by subjective, noisy measures. You know, questions like "Am I enjoying a good life with my family?" and "Will I look back on this with pride in the future?" and stuff like that.
- douglaswlance 8y agoYou can journal those things and use sentiment analysis to detect if you're moving in the right direction.
- michaelt 8y agoAs I say, subjective noisy measures.
- testvox 8y agoBut he turned your subjective measure into an objective one.
- falcolas 8y agoIff your writing style is well aligned with the SA model. Sentiment analysis has always been a bit dodgy for individuals, but it mostly works due to sheer numbers. Sarcasm, for example, works very poorly with SA, and if you tend to write sarcastic prose, SA will be a waste of time at best, and counter productive at worst.
- michaelt 8y agoHe said he'd take a subjective measure - a journal - and take objective measurements of that subjective measure. I would say that's still a subjective measure; it sounds like you disagree?
- ben_w 8y agoI would disagree. “I love these chips” is subjective. Rate-of-saying “I love (.)!” is objective. The absolute rate may or may not be important (I’d guess low importance), but changes* to the rate can indicate that a life changing event had a much larger impact than one may be subjectively conscious of, especially if the change was gradual — a loved one becoming gradually more ill or more emotionally distant, for example, slowly enough that one does not realise that light and joy has begun to leave one’s life until after the recycling bin overflows with beer bottles.
- foop123 8y ago> how do you know when you succeed. Not everything is a competition.
- ben_w 8y agoNeither is all success. My mother has Alzheimer’s, I look after her, and I count any interaction as “successful” if both she and I are smiling afterwards.
- ben_w 8y agoSpecifically regarding weight loss in this blog, I suspect the alarm clock had more impact than the scales. I was recently linked to a 2-hour discussion with a sleep research specialist who claimed people who have insufficient sleep tend to prefer more excessive calorie foods than those with good sleep habits.
- mulletbum 8y agoConsidering you are awake for longer periods of time, this seems like a normal thing. If you are awake, you will experience the feeling of need for consumption.