Measuring Progress

We all crave progress. That craving distorts what and how we work on things. Vital pursuits with less tangible progress are frequently sidelined for trivialities we can check off a to-do list.

It's like waiting for a computer task to complete. Wouldn't it be harder if the progress bar weren’t even there?

Progress itself is good. But it is more easily measured in some pursuits than others. This leads to Tractability bias—the tendency to focus on pursuits with more conspicuous progress.