A couple of people I know have a terrible aversion to knowing how much they weigh. It doesn’t matter that they’ve been slim all their life, there’s just too much value judgement tied up in that number.

When a nurse or doctor insists that they get on a scale, they will get on it backwards so they don’t see the number. They’ll insist that the number not be said aloud.

It doesn’t matter what the number is, they know it will do their head in.

So, they’ve removed the number from their world, and they have better mental health as a result.

I think this is ace.

Gathering data has a cost.

In business, we often focus on the monetary cost or the staff time of data collection. And we definitely need to think about those.

But sometimes it has a mental health cost, too.

This is why I always encourage clients to be clear on why they’re gathering any data.

If you will use it to improve something – your offerings, your service, your profitability – then brilliant, have at it.

But if you can’t find a way for that piece of data to help you improve or steer, then it’s likely to simply become a whip to beat yourself with, to make you feel bad. To do your head in.

We attach value and judgement to so many numbers. Revenue. Profit. Followers. Comments. Likes. Shares. Views. Reach. Number of clients. Quantity sold. Number of locations. Square meterage. Turnaround time. Uptime. Journey time. Number of employees. Range of offerings. Postcodes served. The list is endless. 📃

Tracking some of these will directly help you meet your current goals.

Tracking others could simply do your head in. Or your team members’ heads.

As the person forming the strategic vision for your company, it pays dividends for you to take the time at the beginning of any data project to get clear on what data is necessary to collect.

Sometimes, you may find that there’s data that is necessary or extremely useful that could also end up steering you into poor mental health. When you spot this, you can put something into place to protect yourself.

Maybe someone else can review that metric for you and tell you how it’s headed?

Maybe it’s necessary for a calculation, but you only really need the end result of that calculation?

Maybe you can even delegate the entire data project to a team member, and simply get high-level updates?

This is the sort of thing you should tackle as part of your data strategy at the beginning of any data project.

Empower yourself!

Using your numbers to help make your business better

Do you wish you understood how to use your data to make decisions more confidently?

That's what I'm here to help with.