3 ms·

Why benchmark at all? Benchmark yourself against people "lower" than you, you feel unsatisfied; against people "higher", you feel depressed. Why not just do w

by noirman 14y ago

Why benchmark at all? Benchmark yourself against people "lower" than you, you feel unsatisfied; against people "higher", you feel depressed. Why not just do what makes you happy?

PakG1 14y ago
Some people use benchmarks for various reasons other than simply measurement of personal growth or achievement. In especially those other cases, this needs to be considered seriously. For example, I have a friend who keeps wanting advice on how to get better at things. One thing I've been telling her a lot recently is to stop making assumptions. She makes an astounding number of assumptions in everyday life, and it leads to poor decision-making. Case in point, she asked me if there was anything she could do to recover a document when her word processor crashed, but she hadn't saved yet. Then she assumed that it was an impossible task and set about writing a brand new document. I stopped her and got her to think about her problem. She was able to figure out that autosave functions existed in modern word processors, and she was able to figure out how hers was configured. Bam, there's the autosaved document. She was ecstatic. But then I reminded her to stop making assumptions, and she got really frustrated with me and asked, "Don't you ever make assumptions?" If you're benchmarking your personal achievement against others for the sake of personal satisfaction and happiness, yes, you can have the results that you discussed above. But if you're doing anything else with your benchmark, such as making excuses for why you can't or won't get things done, then OP's point about benchmarking is a very good one. There are many reasons why one might benchmark against others. And in some of those cases, OP has a very valid point where everyone should take heed.

3 ms·

Why benchmark at all? Benchmark yourself against people "lower" than you, you feel unsatisfied; against people "higher", you feel depressed. Why not just do w

by noirman 14y ago

Why benchmark at all? Benchmark yourself against people "lower" than you, you feel unsatisfied; against people "higher", you feel depressed. Why not just do what makes you happy?

PakG1 14y ago
Some people use benchmarks for various reasons other than simply measurement of personal growth or achievement. In especially those other cases, this needs to be considered seriously. For example, I have a friend who keeps wanting advice on how to get better at things. One thing I've been telling her a lot recently is to stop making assumptions. She makes an astounding number of assumptions in everyday life, and it leads to poor decision-making. Case in point, she asked me if there was anything she could do to recover a document when her word processor crashed, but she hadn't saved yet. Then she assumed that it was an impossible task and set about writing a brand new document. I stopped her and got her to think about her problem. She was able to figure out that autosave functions existed in modern word processors, and she was able to figure out how hers was configured. Bam, there's the autosaved document. She was ecstatic. But then I reminded her to stop making assumptions, and she got really frustrated with me and asked, "Don't you ever make assumptions?" If you're benchmarking your personal achievement against others for the sake of personal satisfaction and happiness, yes, you can have the results that you discussed above. But if you're doing anything else with your benchmark, such as making excuses for why you can't or won't get things done, then OP's point about benchmarking is a very good one. There are many reasons why one might benchmark against others. And in some of those cases, OP has a very valid point where everyone should take heed.