When a language app starts running your day instead of helping you learn, something vital is off. In this episode of Rhythms of Focus, we explore what really helps a wandering mind learn—and where streaks, scores, and mascots quietly get in the way. We look at why traditional metrics like lesson completion and streak counts so often backfire for adults with ADHD and wandering minds. We then explore how to shift from checkbox-driven learning into a more playful, embodied relationship with language, work, and creative practice. Along the way, we rethink what it means to “make progress” when our real goal is connection, not just completion. • Redefine success with measures that actually matter to you, like having a warm, real conversation instead of just hitting 80% on a quiz. • Bring play, feeling, and immersion back into your learning so that words—and work—start to flow instead of fight you. • Use milestones as gentle trellises rather than rigid rulers, so your attention can grow in its own, more natural rhythm. This episode also features an original piano composition, “Petty Walk,” a title born from a happy mistake that became its own small act of creative discovery. If this resonates, we’d love for you to subscribe and visit rhythmsoffocus.com to continue exploring calmer, more humane rhythms of focus. Transcript Okay, so if I get 10 in a row, correct, complete the next two lessons and score 80%. Three times I'll be done with studying Spanish today. Wait, how long have I been using this app and why can't they speak Spanish yet? If I can speak a single sentence in Spanish without my Cuban mother-in-law looking at me funny, I'll consider it a success. Other reasons for the funny looks notwithstanding. Meanwhile, I've been using this language app for years now, and I continue to struggle. Curiously on various forums and subreddits, i've read similar concerns. Hey, this app is no good. I haven't learned the language yet! The Real Problem Isn’t the App – It’s How We Measure ProgressI don't believe though that the trouble was the app. Certainly it's not the be all, end all of education. It is crafted quite well, presents things very nicely, and I speak and understand a heck of a lot better than I did before using it. So what's the trouble? When Metrics Backfire – Goodhart’s Law in Everyday Learning The trouble's, the measure. In studying and work and whatever endeavor we engage in, we'd like to have a way to step forward. Complete this. Do that move from here to there. Whatever it is, some measurement comes into play. The trouble with measuring, though, is how it can disrupt and sometimes even destroy the very thing we are trying to measure. There's a lovely quote, also known as Goodhart's Law, which says, "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." I would even argue that most of what is meaningful cannot be measured, whether that's about an idea, a diagnosis, a set of symptoms. But because completion, time, characteristics, these can be measured, they become our default. Whether in learning and communications and our business transactions, we often function through measures. How much did this make? How much did you do? When will it be done? Checkboxes, Burnout, and the Death of Meaning at WorkMeasurements are not bad, but they are tools, and the more powerful the tool, the more caution it requires. When we're not cautious, we don't recognize the potential negative effects, we do so at our own peril. In fact, it may even be abused. For example, what happens at work when we only check the boxes but do nothing else? We could argue, well, we're getting the work done. What's missing is the spirit, the sense of meaning, what builds from vision and life into a living result, whether product, service, or simply being...
