#026 From Numbers to Meaning: Why What You Value is Wrong
If you are in you mid-30's and your parents are in their 60's, we could be optimistic and say you at most have 30 more years together. That means when you left home you had already spent 93% of your face to face time together. You are now in your last 5% of your time with your parents.
This week we are going to talk about what you can see and what you can't see.
Like most people, for the longest time, I put value on things I could see and measure.
But I've come to realise that there is an asymmetry in value between that which we can measure and that which we cannot.
Once you see this asymmetry you can't un-see it.
It reveals the flaw in our thinking that makes us waste what little time we get on this planet.
"I'd give you everything I got for a little peace of mind." - John Lennon, I'm So Tired
Seen Metrics
A seen metric is anything that you can measure: the money in your account; your qualifications; your followers online. Typically these metrics are conflated with happiness or success. More money must mean you have material comfort. More qualifications must mean you are intelligent. More followers means you have something the power to influence.
This conflation is patently false. More money, beyond a point, will not make you happier. If you're on the Hedonic Treadmill chasing the next dopamine hit, you're happiness will always be found in the tomorrow. And we all know that tomorrow never comes.
The more qualifications you have does not mean you are more intelligent than the average person. It does mean you can navigate the educational system. Intelligence is complex and multifactorial. Intelligence is in part made up by Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient. If I had to chose between a high IQ or a high EQ I would take EQ everyday.
Raw book smarts will not help you to navigate the world. I've joked with a friend that I'd love to run an experiment one day. Give £100 to 10 university lecturers and the £100 to 10 ex-prisoners. The winner would be whoever make the most money from that £100 in a day. I think the results would be surprising.
More followers online does not mean you have authority or influence. If your audience is not engaged in what you have to say, then whatever you create will fall on deaf ears. A bot will not champion your ideas.
So why do we pay so much attention to seen metrics?
Because we can see them, and see them easily. One click and you can check your bank account. Number getting bigger? Good. Getting smaller? Bad. Easy to measure and easy to interpret.
The same hold true for social media. Get a letter from Professor Big Wigg PHD MBA MBBS MA and you pay attention. But if you get an email from a South African who you learn finished university but dropped out of his PhD, you might send it to junk. Unless you know who the sender, "Elon Musk", is.
Because seen metrics are by nature so visible and easy to measure, we mistake them as having value above all else.