---
title: Tracking Metrics Improves Performance By 23%
date: 2025-09-04T04:03:50.337857
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
Every morning I sit by the window, the one that lets a slant of sunlight cut across my desk. It’s nice, I think, to start the day with this little bit of sunshine. But then, inevitably, my phone buzzes and I’m sucked into Instagram. I tell myself it’s just for ten minutes, but who am I kidding? It’s this endless scroll until I finally pull away and wonder where the morning went. And lately, people keep talking about this idea, like, just tracking what you do can make you do it better. I think they call it the Hawthorne effect? I dunno, I read something like tracking improves whatever by 23%. Seems weirdly specific, right?
I remember trying to measure my daily steps once. There was this app, maybe you’ve heard of it, and I was all like, let's get fit. So for a while, I was obsessed. Watching the numbers add up each day, and I swear I walked more. Or maybe I just walked in circles more. But then I kind of stopped caring? Deleted the app. I guess my shoes wore out or something. It's funny, ‘cause I was just reading somewhere... observer effects? Isn't it that when you know you’re being watched, you change what you're doing? Makes me wonder if my phone is watching me scroll and silently judging. Or maybe it's just me, thinking too much.
I keep hearing about this self-monitoring stuff. You track your progress, and boom, like magic, you’re better at it. But really? I mean, how much better? I think there was this research, some study with a percentage, but honestly, my brain is like a sieve. Maybe around 23%? Sounds about right. Quantified self movement, that’s what they call it. Like, turning yourself into data. I tried keeping a journal of my workouts once... squats, push-ups, the whole shebang. Felt good in the moment, then life happened, and the journal now collects dust somewhere.
Does just watching ourselves make us better? It’s like those quantum physics things where just observing changes the outcome. I don’t know, seems both powerful and ridiculous. Like, does my reflection in the mirror somehow make me smile better? No idea. I think about all those times I said I’d log my meals, track my calories, but then I never actually know if that helped. Maybe it did for a while, and then... it didn’t?
It's like, trying to catch sunlight with your bare hands. Just slips through, and you’re left wondering if you imagined it all. I don’t have the answers, and tomorrow morning, I’ll probably be back at that window, phone in hand, scrolling again. This whole tracking thing... maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe awareness helps, but it’s also exhausting. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I'll figure it out. Or maybe I won't.