Grab the slide rule
By the numbers
Let’s consider a world without numbers for a minute. Actually, that’s using a method to measure, and this task is supposed to abandon that. This will be difficult. As a toddler, your height really didn’t matter much to you. But since birth, others were constantly weighing and checking your length to compare you to the gazillions of humans who came before you. The comparison game began. The efforts of that process brought thoughts to your original family. There are bragging rights associated with how humans physically grow. And it doesn’t stop there. The judging continues as you mature and gets heated up in adulthood. Humans create an opinion on the various aspects of those we see. We don’t even have to know them. As a lab rat in the human race, our fellow runners make us feel a few ways. Humans literally can’t help ourselves. We want to feel connected, to feel like we fit in and that we aren’t too different. Maybe we can walk away a little bit from that. What if there were no numbers or descriptions to even use to rank anyone else? Try and reduce the digits from your world for half a day. I know, that’s a number of hours. But give it a go. If you can look in the mirror and agree that you are just who you are right now, agree that you look just like you are supposed to, agree that all of the numbers that represent you are just right, you are on your way. Measuring less and meaning more is a mindset. Give it a day or two.
Where do you land on the scale?
Option #1: Do you think you are able to give up measuring yourself a little?
Option #2: Can you change your propensity to count and compare?
Option #3: What can you do accept well?
That’s it. After you choose the option that best describes how you see yourself by the numbers, take a few minutes to describe why you chose that option and what action, if any, may come next.
