The Ostrich Effect: When Not Knowing Feels Easier

We're often most tempted to stop measuring something at exactly the point when measuring it would be most useful.

There's actually a name for this: the ostrich effect.

It's the tendency to avoid information when we suspect we might not like what it tells us.

You've had a very social few weeks — big meals, a few cocktails, maybe a holiday thrown in — and suddenly you're finding reasons not to step on the scales.

Work's been manic, you've barely trained for three weeks, and somehow you've stopped opening your training app too.

Or perhaps you're due another blood test, but keep putting it off because part of you would rather not find out whether your cholesterol has improved — or gone the other way.

You know the information is there. You'd just rather not look at it right now.

And I understand why.

When things are going well, feedback can feel reassuring.

When they're not, that same feedback can feel like judgement.

But avoiding the scoreboard doesn't change the score.

It just removes your opportunity to do something about it.

Regular check-ins

This is one reason I think having a few useful metrics can be helpful.

Not because you need to turn your life into a spreadsheet.

And certainly not because you need to measure everything.

But because it's difficult to know whether something is changing if you never look.

Some of those things we can monitor fairly regularly: bodyweight, waist measurement, blood pressure, daily steps, training frequency or how consistently we're following the habits we've set ourselves.

Others might only be checked occasionally.

A blood test can tell you something about cholesterol, blood glucose and other markers that you can't necessarily see or feel in everyday life.

That's an important distinction.

Not everything worth keeping an eye on is visible in the mirror.

The metric itself isn't the goal. It's information that helps you make better decisions.

Trends over data points

If you've ever consistently monitored your weight, you'll quickly learn that it can fluctuate a decent amount from day to day.

A 1kg increase from Tuesday to Friday doesn't mean you've suddenly gained a load of body fat.

One week of poor training doesn't mean you've lost all your fitness.

One cholesterol result gives you information. Several results over time give you a much better idea of which direction things are heading.

That's why we're usually more interested in patterns, trends and the bigger picture than any individual number.

Zoom out.

What's been happening over the last few weeks, months or even years?

That gives you a much better picture of whether you're genuinely drifting or you've simply hit a bump in the road.

Adjusting earlier

This is the whole point of checking in.

Not to judge yourself. Not to bring shame to your family name. But to decide whether anything needs adjusting.

Think about navigating with a compass.

If you're just five degrees off your intended bearing, after walking 1km you'll be around 87 metres away from where you wanted to be.

Not ideal, but not tragic either.

But travel 10km without checking your bearing and now you're nearly 900 metres off course.

The original error hasn't got any bigger. But the distance between where you are and where you wanted to be has.

That's the value of checking in regularly.

It gives you the chance to make a small course correction before a small drift becomes a big one.

If you've ever seen me navigate, this example will read as a tad ironic.

• If your steps have gradually dropped, start taking that lunchtime walk again.

• If your weight has been slowly creeping up for a few months, look at what's changed in your eating and make a couple of adjustments.

• If a routine health check highlights something worth addressing, discuss it with the appropriate professional and decide what needs to change.
  

The cruel truth of the ostrich effect is that we avoid information because knowing feels uncomfortable.

But knowing is often what gives us more control — and helps us avoid a bigger discomfort later.

So don't stop measuring something simply because you don't like what it's telling you.

---

Thanks,

Jamie