Counting Everything

There is a trend today that I’m not only aware of, but I am guilty of participating in. We measure EVERYTHING. We get up in the morning and check our Sleep Score. Then it’s time to start counting steps. My Fitbit makes certain that I walk at least 250 steps an hour, and I get a reminder for that. I keep track of how many Spanish lessons I have taken. How many books I’ve read. I measure my glucose and my ketones. I count the number of reps of each exercise I do on workout days. And yes, I count the number of workout days in a Sprint.

To some degree, it’s beneficial to see how you’re doing compared to your goals, but as I look at what I just wrote, it can become a little ridiculous. And it creates a certain amount of stress in your life that probably deters from enjoyment. On the other had, I do feel pretty good when I see that 10,000 step banner full of fireworks wave across my Fitbit. And Scrum for Your Life is designed to measure what you accomplish in a given Sprint. As I’ve said though, what you plan in your Sprint should allow a buffer so that you can do other things, including spontaneous get togethers with friends, or an unplanned day off of work to do - nothing!

So while it’s possible to count nearly everything, I’d say let’s relax a bit. Your health won’t suffer if you don’t get those 10,000 steps every day. In fact, it might be good for you to miss them once in a while.