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On Life: Measures and Measurement
I have started writing this article so many times I’ve lost count. I never quite know how to start or develop the concept I want to present. There are so many different aspect of this I keep going off on tangents and never quite get to the point I really want to make. So perhaps I’ll just keep it short and sweet.
People almost always measure their success or failures based on financially related measures. The size of their house, the amount of money they have or owe, the cars they drive, the social class they see themselves a part of. When I mentor people who feel they are failing they virtually always reference financial metrics. They chase the financial measures with much thought and vigor. It is from these which much of life’s stress is about.
Oddly enough when I ask what is most important to them the never quote any of those measure. Instead of finances they will always point to family, love, hope, charity, honesty, integrity, and the such as being the most important things in their lives.
Why do we insist that one set of things is important in our lives but measure ourselves based on things which we state are so much less important.
Are we measuring the things that are important, or are the things we measuring becoming important?
Posted by Paul Gernhardt on Sunday, January 18, 2009