I’m transitioning job roles within my company. For the past eight years, I served as a regional finance representative, overseeing our loan origination and debt securities raising in the northeastern United States.
In that time, I meticulous monitored my sales output, specifically on the loan side of operations. I’m ending this part of my career having originated over $130million in loans.
Part of me felt proud about that number. But I also tracked opportunities where I was unsuccessful—and that was an amount almost double my wins. I explored nearly half a billion of opportunities over the years, but obviously did not secure them all.
In the end, I batted .270.
Only three hitters made it into the baseball Hall of Fame hitting at a clip less than .270, and two of them played 100 years ago in the dead ball era. If you’re considering that, I guess I did OK.
To be sure, I’m not sharing this because I’m down on myself. Quite the contrary: I learned a ton over the years and was able to connect and pour into hundreds of leaders and ministries. The summation of this part of my career cannot be understood in two dimensions. There are things that numbers just won’t reveal.
But the reality is, we’re conditioned to obsess over statistics.
In this era of data analytics, we’re both blessed and cursed when considering our pasts. It’s far easier now to track the way we spend our time and how we perform. In the days of old, you needed to have a journal/diary and collect correspondence in files. Today, we have social media and smart watches to track the passing of time. When you have trouble remembering events of the past, you can go to your smart phone and conduct personal research to recall when/where/how something took place.
But at the same time, our failures are much easier to access than ever. Studies show that we more readily recall those lower moments in our life than our victories. If you don’t have a healthy mindset, you could find yourself in an endless cycle of reliving your letdowns far more tha you ought.
As a GenX’er, I was raised in an analog world but started my career in a digital one. I’m not a native, so I don’t necessarily feel a need to have my life fully digitized. I ran most of my marathons before ever buying a Garmin or linking my training to Strava. I love the idea of data collection, but will never swear allegiance to it.
Despite the resources at our disposal, it’s impossible to quantify our lives.
Just a little bit of transparency for you when don’t close the rings on your Apple watch. Cut yourself some slack.
Closing Rings