As I was walking home today following the Yankees'/Brave's game on my phone, filled with all kinds of useful sabermetrics, I thought to myself, "How could I best measure my life?" What are the advanced statistics that govern my day to day? If Synergy Sports were to evaluate my day to day what numbers would be brought up. How could I improve my life? This isn't a far stretch from the classic guy getting to second base with his girlfriend, though I hope to have a less virile approach.
Before deciding how to measure one has to decide what the objectives are. What things are equivalent to points if you will in my life. Unlike sports, life is multi-dimensional and so there has to be a division among life's facets. For me I'll break it up into work, play, and relations. Work is anything that can be seen as an investment in the future, play is anything meant to relieve in the moment, and relations is anything that involves others. The titles aren't perfect. For example if I go on a run, a common activity, it overlaps in work, keeps me in shape, and play, relieves in the moment, But I do it mostly for the moment so I would weight it accordingly.
Within each category we'll define an 'op' as an opportunity to advance in one of the three areas. The first statistic of interest would be an 'op' distribution. For example my 'op' distribution right now is probably a 43 work 37 play 20 relations. Right now my life is relatively heavy on work and maybe a tad on the play. I'm just in a zone right now where I don't step out of my well carved rut of studying and going home and doing things for instant relief. Even the activities that dip into relations weight heavier in play, for example to answer Nich's question of "Why is Eric always here?" It is mostly to be entertained (Not exclusively by the NBA but that doesn't hurt). The 'op's in relations are much less in my comfortable man cave but fun is to be had. I have more fun as I know the guys better and can interact with them more but our relations are pretty well established. I could stretch out and find those I don't know as well but could entertain me which would contribute to more op's, but that isn't necessarily ideal. Just as going 6-17 for 25 is different than 6-12 for 25 there is a completion percentage to life as well.
Going back to the man cave situation, though stepping out would lead to more 'op's I would not necessarily be happier doing so. The fulfillment or 'ful' percentage is much higher in the man cave. I know what I'm expecting and know inevitably that I will find myself belting out a cover of Parachute, Coldplay, Fun, or another from the MMNB (Mike, Mitch, Nich, Brantly) band. The alternative would be to step outside the box and go to another new friend's place to hang out. This may lead to more 'op's but the risk is to find yourself sitting on the coach on leg on top of the other trying to understand yet lost in a litany of unfamiliar jokes and dynamics. that will kill your 'op' percentage as so many are left unfulfilled.
Currently I may be playing my life a little too much like Tyson Chandler. I'm efficient in what I do but due to the limited fields on which I play (Bensen, Eyring, Strat 306, and James 27) I may be limiting my 'op's to a point where I can't make the impact I could if I had a few more. Yesterday for example I took a different approach and rather than go on a run or watch the entirety of OKC Miami, I went and played with little kids for a little while. How often do you play with young kids as a college student? My 'op's were way above average yesterday and while I may have struck out with a few kids, (Not a single one wanted to play with a ball! Can you believe that! Signs of the times.) it was worth it. I came out much more fulfilled than I would've otherwise. Mostly since my 'op' distribution took a dramatic shift to a .350 .250 .400 (Convention lists numbers as a Work/Play/Relations). Getting a new co-worker helped but my the main difference was playing with kids. I was rusty in the relation box so my 'ful' distribution came out close to a .375 .250 .375 spread. That is a nice change of pace for me. My total 'ful's were probably a 110 yesterday. I'll set the standard at 100 meaning an average day at this point in my life. The overall goal is to have long term even distribution and as many 'ful's as I can have. That means that stepping out had a FAR ('ful's above replacement) of around ten. Meaning I was twice as fulfilled those activities as I would have been simply sticking to the routine.
In short this is just a goofy way of me saying that it pays to step outside the bounds now and then and balance ones life. Going away and coming back has a way of making you evaluate what you really want and need in life. I like the numbers will probably list them in blogs to come if for no other reason than for me to track how I feel. And as always, love, peace, and a high 'ful' total.
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