It’s a bad habit I’ve held with many different stats over the years: One of the first things I’ll do in the morning is look at the numbers. It could be any kind of number, and there’s no shortage to choose from.
Views, reads, comments, claps, likes, shares of my writing on a given platform. Words written on a project. Time estimates for upcoming tasks. Time already spent writing on a project. I can check my stock portfolio, crypto portfolio, or Pokémon card portfolio. I can open the news and see the latest market data.
The point is if I want to look at a number, I most certainly can—but it’s rarely a great start to my day. As soon as I see a number, my natural inclination is to want to make it go up, and that’s a job I’m always behind on. The more time I can pass without worrying about the numbers, the better.
Your alluring numbers might be different, but everybody’s a numbers person as long as it’s the right digits they’re looking at. Our world is full of data, and we’ll bump into it everywhere whether we like it or not. We used to be short on numbers, but now, usually, we’re short on thinking. On making decisions the numbers can’t make for us, and then let the data evolve as it may.
Numbers are a key part of life, but unless they’re in your cereal, your morning routine is likely better off without them. Think first. Arrive in the day. Check the dashboards later, when you might actually benefit from the information. Don’t start by injecting yourself with numbers.
