What Gets Measured
At this time of year 29 years ago, I embarked on a new phase of my athletic career. My sport, whitewater canoe slalom, had recently been added to the 1992 Olympic program in Barcelona. Everyone in the sport was ecstatic.
My doubles canoe partner, Scott Strausbaugh, and I had seen our international results improve — and with our sport’s inclusion into the Olympic family, we decided this was the moment to go “all in” on the Olympic dream.
We moved from our big city lives to a remote part of western North Carolina. We aimed for simple surroundings and lifestyle. It was there where the attributes of Appalachia and the Nantahala River could help us to zero in on the most important elements required to perform our best.
It didn’t take us long before we tried to *improve* on the simple attributes for which we had loaded the trailer and moved.
This was about the time that personal heart rate monitors were starting to grow in popularity and were affordable to athletes such as ourselves.
Scott and I purchased ours directly from the United States Olympic Committee. We wanted to make sure that we had every tool we thought necessary to receive professional level feedback.
Our version was a monitor that snapped on to an elastic band worn around the chest and seamlessly transmitted heart rates on a predetermined interval to a wrist watch. Our particular wrist watches were waterproof.
With these devices, Scott and I could plan for, and measure, different levels of intensity and output throughout an entire one-hour training session.
And the best part was, we could wear them any time we wanted, which would quite quickly become every training session.
The moment our river workout wrapped up, I would quickly take off my monitor, strap our doubles canoe on top of my small Ford Escort, switch into dry clothes, and drive back to my rental house where I would chart out my heart rate with a pencil on graph paper.
Over time, these measurements became like a game, perhaps an obsession. My spiral notebook filled up with numbers.
After a season of training and charting my heart rate results, an interesting change happened: I found that I did not need to wear the heart rate monitor at every workout to understand that I was doing the right work in order to make progress. I also figured out that counting metrics is complicated and can cause blindness to other, more important elements.
On the water, the focus on a gadget made me overlook the correction of a paddling technique flaw. Or a strategic improvement through a slalom gate. Or a connection with Scott. Or a mindful moment to appreciate my surroundings.
Metric Obsession
This week is the time of year when many of us are concerned about creating change. Goal-setting gurus tell us ad-nauseum that if our goals are not specific and measured, those goals will not be reached. Believing this, we invite online dashboards into our pursuit. There are the Fit-bits, phone apps, and other devices that spit out metrics back at us.
Metrics can add interesting insight into the creation of new habits. But when metrics become an obsession, then you are pursuing change with:
Too much specificity.
Too much technology.
Too much measurement.
Metric-obsession should never be allowed to replace the purest form of activation and engagement.
We have powerful attributes at our disposal to increase the probability we will sustain our pursuit — to do the work with less — so you can:
Connect to the essence of your activity.
Enjoy your process.
Share your experience with real people in real time.
Our most powerful measurement app is the one named *Focus on Simplicity.*
It will increase the probability that you will sustain your pursuit with more space, connection, and improvement.
With gratitude,
-Joe
Do you know somebody who would benefit from reading this post? Consider sharing What Gets Measured using THIS LINK and the hashtag #SimpleMetrics.
Hi, I’m Joe, the owner of 5 With Joe Performance Coaching. My clients are leaders, organizations, and teams who utilize my Olympic Gold Medal performance strategies and 40 years of navigating whitewater river rapids to streamline decision making and actions when engaged in complicated river currents of business and life.
The best way to interact with me is through Sunday Morning Joe, my weekly newsletter that explores the art of improving performance, overcoming challenge, and aligning with purpose for Sunday readers in search of more depth and motivation. Subscribe HERE for free.
