Suppose you are driving from Bangalore to Chennai, which of the following do you generally prefer to know ?
I have driven 100 kilometres
or
I need to drive 240 kilometres more
If there was an indicator, which would you prefer?
A indicator showing
1,2,3, …..
or
340,339,….
If you get onto a treadmill on a regular basis (not the hedonistic one) what program do you chose ?
Do you press the start button and wait for it to reach your desired number or do you set the desired number and wait for it to become zero ?
Have you ever wondered about this ?
As for me, I am most comfortable with a step down counter
I prefer 240 KMS to go , rather than 100 KMS done.
In the treadmill, I have seen my motivation level increasing with a decreasing counter.
I have noticed that in case of a step up counter, I feel a sense of relief, when the number is reached and in case of a step down counter, I feel a sense of achievement.
Even when launching satellites, you would have noticed a step down counter.
I wonder is it because, how much more to go is a far better representation than how much ground has been covered .
or
Is it because, how much more to go is a future focused function, whereas how much has been covered is a past focused!
What are your biases ?
Just do this as a curiosity experiment, in any of your endeavors and see what pumps you up more and share your findings. Why do you feel the way you feel ?
My biases are strongly towards the step down counters.
Unfortunately my bank balance seems to be aware of my biases !
Enjoy Maadi (Have Fun)
Zunder
Fascinating question. I hadn’t really contrasted the two counters before. I will do the experiment. But, intuitively, things which are possible to stop before reaching a goal (or exceeding it, for that matter) work best with a step up counter. Think annual sales targets. Think hours of walking every day. On the other hand things which are meaningless without completion benefit from a count down. Like your driving distance. It is not likely you will return back after covering 220 KMS. So, perhaps, psychologically it would be good to use a count down for things which you really want to complete and a count up for things which you are relatively blasé about. Experiments needed to be done. Soon. This is hour one of 240 …. 🙂
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Interesting View. It does mean we need not finish everything we start !.
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