Dashboards for Daily Life

Yesterday, as I kicked off my Activa and started driving from home to office, I noticed a problem almost immediately: the fuel indicator was showing zero. Can’t be, I said to myself, for I knew that I had filled up four litres two days ago, and I’d have moved maximum 15 kms after then – office is so close by. I had to conclude that the indicator was not working. Another thing to fix ASAP, sigh.

What left me thinking was not the issue with indicator, but my absolute dependency on “indications”. I needed to know how much more I can go with my bike, I needed to know how much money is left in my bank, I needed to know how many person days are left in my project’s budget, I needed to track so many things. But for indicators, my life would surely be miserable.

Hey, do I have indicators for the real meaningful aspects of my life? How do I measure how much I’ve progressed towards my next position at work? How do I measure how much I’ve improved in my emotional intelligence? How do I measure how well I’ve learned to react to situations appropriately with instinct? How do I rate how well I talk and connect to my friends? When do I know if I’m ready to mentor a child? How do I measure how far I can go on before feeling the urge to retire?

Guess the real things in life aren’t friendly to numbers and scales.