There is a lot of measuring on a roof – so, my workers will answer “…with a Stanley 8 metre tape…”

If a life coach asked you this question, it may take a while for you to compose an answer.

There are many ways in which a life can be measured.

• Age. The number of years you have lived is a handy measurement. If I sent a message to a complete stranger telling him that I was 57 years old, he would instantly have a picture in his mind of an old guy.
• Money. How much money you have is a measurement that many women seem to fall for. Go ask a “gold digger”. But men like to compare themselves with each other using wealth as a yard stick also.
• Education. Intelligent people use their degrees to measure their smartness. Although the basis of using education to measure intelligence is quite faulty.
• Toys. My 20 month grandson likes to grab a toy and say “MINE”.  Somehow, he has already learnt that life is measured in the number and value of the toys that one owns.
• Job. As an organisation gets larger, the number of managers grow. The most effective way of putting a worker in their place is to demand “…I want to speak to your manager!”. Managers have status.
• Star. A person gifted in the art of lying (that is what acting is all about) rises to start status and the world is at their feet. Tom Cruise just an ordinary bloke doing his groceries at Walmart, but put him on a movie screen and he is above most guys…

Back in the days when we were cave people, the ‘Stanley 8m’ had not been invented. Nor all the ways that we use to measure how we stack up. But we still had fun and lived life as human beings.

Measurement is an invention to help us explore another dimension in life (and that is not a play on words…). Measurement is not what life is about. Don’t get carried away by the measurement and forget about the ‘being’.

I used to have all sorts of measurement data for my bike riding. Nowadays, power measurement is the craze, Your Garmin will give you heart rate, cadence, speed, gradient, temperature, altitude, Strava, etc. It will also tell you the time.

Now, I only use my bike computer to tell me the time. I do not need to measure anything else. I ride and race just for FUN.