Taking Vacation from a Metrics Driven Life

I have a confession to make: I’m a metrics junkie. Every waking moment, my head is swirling with metrics I hold myself or my team accountable for. Like so many other Silicon Valley Tech execs (surely well beyond SV & tech!), my days start before sunrise, with objectives measured in miles run or laps swam. While running or swimming, my mind calculates all the core business metrics that gauge my results: new leads generated, accounts won, average days to close, bookings generated, accounts churned, employee engagement, customer support case trajectory, etc.
The metrics of our lives are ruthlessly tracked on smart watches and executive dashboards. We track, trend, and outline plans to alter their trajectory. As I headed off on a summer vacation, I had a challenge of breaking from this swirl. In fact, it was a new objective altogether: taking a vacation from my metrics driven life.
Research about taking breaks is becoming increasingly clear. Jon Levy, a behavioral scientist recently wrote 4 Ways Going on Vacation Increases Your Productivity, where he outlines the critical nature of sleep (I never get enough!) and the benefits on your creativity and perspective. Ferris Jabr wrote a similar piece in Scientific American where he outlines the information overload and progress digression white collar workers undergo, which often devolves into a simple processing state.
As a result of these new perspectives, using scientific research as I enter my own refresh. During the coming week I intend to make a few personal commitments that aren’t traditionally measurable, but focused on fulfillment and renewal. Here are a few of my non-metric objectives:
- Read fiction, better yet, a full book in a day
- Sleep past 5:00AM
- Avoid counting steps taken, miles run, or laps swam
- Play cards with my kids
- Take canoe rides with my wife
- Take a nap
- Let my mind wander without purpose
As those who know me would expect, I’ll still capture my ideas and thoughts. But for this exercise, I’ll do so via my Evernote personal account. My commitment will be to avoid (or minimize) my time in Evernote Business, as I know my mind will otherwise spin back into a swirl of works metrics.
The most positive, and refreshing, part of this is that my company (Evernote) actively encourages employee refresh. In fact, we go to the extent of paying a bonus for taking off at least five consecutive days.
When I return to the grid in a few days, I expect to have a focused perspective on my teams, my personal goals, and the ever-challenging work life balancing act.
