Lagom is the Swedish concept of "just the right amount." The Numeric Gazer is addicted to the all-time high. But the all-time high is a trap. Aim for "steady." Aim for "boring." A flat line is not a sign of death; sometimes, a flat line is a sign of mastery. The best pilots are not the ones who fly the fastest; they are the ones who land smoothly every time.
Don't leave the dashboard open. Don't put the app on your home screen. Decide that you will look at the numbers for 15 minutes, once a day, or once a week. Outside of that window, the numbers do not exist. You are a ghost to them. If the business is going to burn down, it will do so without your gaze.
When you stare at your step count, you start shuffling your feet while brushing your teeth to cheat the algorithm. When you stare at your website traffic, you start writing clickbait headlines that you despise. When you stare at your stock portfolio, you sell low during a panic and buy high during a mania. numeric gazer
The Gospel of the Spreadsheet: Confessions of a Numeric Gazer
Why we stare at charts, count the un-countable, and how to stop worshiping the dashboard. Lagom is the Swedish concept of "just the right amount
And that feeling—the one that refuses to be counted—is the only number that ever mattered.
The numbers are servants. We have let them become tyrants. The best pilots are not the ones who
The gaze doesn't just observe reality; it distorts it. The act of watching changes the actor. You stop being the person who makes the thing, and you become the person who reports on the thing. You become a spectator in your own life. If you are a recovering Numeric Gazer, you know these stages intimately: