Hello and welcome back to the Tiny Pod.
This week I want to talk about how we quantify our tendency as
humans to want to measure everything.
Time, money, relationships. To assign value through numbers,
to find meaning in how we live, love and experience life, even
though life isn't a numbers game.
The word quantify comes from the Latin quantifacare, Qantas, How
much and fakare. To make, to do, to create.
Literally, it means to make something measurable, to turn
creation into something countable, taking something
abstract, life, love, time, effort, and forcing it into a
measurable form, to make the immeasurable tangible,
trackable. And that offers us a sense of
control. If you can say this much or that
many, suddenly life seems predictable, understandable,
manageable. But the truth is, not everything
that matters can be quantified. Love, presence, impact and
growth. To quantify, we look at quality
and quantity. Quantity comes from quantitas,
the same Latin root as quantify, meaning how much, and is
inherently about measurement, size, extent or number.
It is external, countable and objective.
Quality comes from the Latin qualitas, meaning of what kind,
what type. So it is inherently about
character, essence and nature. It has an internal quality,
subjective, and reveals A truer value.
Quantity measures the more you have.
Quality measures the what it is you have.
Quantity is the surface measurement.
Quality is the depth and integrity beneath it.
Modern culture worships quantity because it's easy to measure,
easy to compare, to compete, and it gives us a sense of control.
Quality is harder to measure. It requires discernment,
patience, responsibility, and attention.
Quality is what actually shapes life, relationships, and legacy.
As humans, we instinctively measure to create control,
certainty, and comparison. Counting gives us a sense of
power over chaos. It's how we say, I know where I
stand. But measuring doesn't equal
meaning. Numbers tell us how much, but
they rarely tell us what is it worth, and we can see this in
church or in our spiritual life. Quantity is how many services
you attend, how many scriptures you can quote.
Quality is whether your heart is present, whether your actions
reflect the truth of your devotion, and whether your
devotion transforms you and your community.
You can attend every service, but if your presence is absent,
the more counts for nothing. My Church has as a hierarchy.
You are entrusted on the service committee based on how many
years you attend, not how deeply you internalise and embody the
faith in your daily actions. And yet, belief is not measured
by repetition. It is measured through the
integration of the teachings into our daily life and how we
live in alignment with our spiritual values.
In relationships we celebrate the quantity of years married,
but if you never notice each other's hearts, then time is
just a number. 20 years married. 30 years married.
And yet it is obvious how deeply disconnected, unhappy and often
unkind they are to one another. We can feel comforted by having
a large number of friends. You can fill a room of
sycophants who will say what you want to hear.
But quality is found in the depth of listening, the
attention to each moment, and the care and authenticity in
small gestures towards one another.
Real relationship is found in the quality of connection, in
people who hold you accountable when you misstep and hold you up
when you fall. Length does not automatically
equal depth. The real measure is in how
present, kind and attuned you are, not the time served in
money, the quantity in the bank balance, the portfolio, your
income. People love to display their
wealth, their quantity. But quality is how we use money,
how it nurtures our life, supports freedom, or creates
impact. It is not the quantity of money
you have, it's the quality of how you use it.
Billionaires hoard enormous sums.
They could solve world poverty and still be generationally
wealthy for eternity. But they choose not to because
they profit not from money, but from fear.
Because their currency is power and control.
True wealth is aligned with purpose and ethicity.
This year my sons and I had very little.
I chose to give my time away and therefore in the summer we did
not travel or have money for expensive activities.
But what we had was time making bread, picking wild berries,
playing games. And when friends and family
returned from their expensive holidays, they'd speak about how
wonderful the resort was but how difficult the family was.
The kids were saying, oh, you know what kids are like.
And I'd think, no, I don't. And I'd think how fortunate I
was. The resort sounded lovely, but
meaningless if you're not actually enjoying who you're
with. Most people obsess over how much
they have, but the real power is in how intentionally they move
it, where it goes, and what it creates.
That is what multiplies wealth and impact, not the accumulation
for the sake of numbers. We measure time in minutes,
days, years, but it is the quality of that time, our
presence and attention, that defines how time passes.
Time flies when you're having fun.
When we are fully present, time expands.
You can have decades of life but waste them or spend one hour
fully alive and create more meaning than a lifetime of
distraction. Time spent consciously stays in
our hearts as treasured memories forever.
It is easy to quantify the return of time when we get paid
in money, but giving my time away freely, even at the expense
of having the heating on or eating fresher food, has
satiated my heart and soul in ways that money never did.
The world respects certificates of learning, evidence in
degrees, titles, achievements, but quality is comprehension,
integration and lived application.
One insight applied deeply often outweighs 100 studied ones.
I coach people out of survival and into alignment through
wisdom I have gained from lived experience using the blueprint I
created in order to heal myself. Not something I read in a book.
Embodiment is living in integrity, not intellectualising
the concept. People chase quantity of
followers. Likes, reposts, volume, but
quality is found in trust, alignment, resonance, and the
way people's lives are actually changed.
Millions may see a post, but what truly matters is if that
post transforms, inspires, or encourages others.
I turn down brand deals that could cheapen my work and I
choose integrity overpayment. Energy is our greatest currency
and how consciously we spend our energy on what matters.
Choosing where to invest and ensuring our energy uplifts
instead of depletes is far more important than how much energy
we expend in long hours, tasks and constant effort.
You can work 12 hours a day and achieve nothing transformative,
and you can work one hour with full focus and change
everything. Energy is the currency of life
and quantity alone is wasted if quality is absent.
Our attention is valuable. We can spend hours scrolling,
listening to podcasts, watching shows, but meaning is found in
the depth of our attention, truly listening and being
present. Relationships, learning and life
are attention driven. If our attention is shallow, the
bond remains superficial no matter how many years we invest.
It is how profoundly our actions change someone's life that
counts, because one life changing interaction is more
valuable than a million superficial ones.
Aligned actions are felt, integrated and remembered and
can transform another's perception and inspire growth.
Silence is a currency. Hours spent alone or in
contemplation can be empty, and a single profound moment of
clarity in quiet can last a lifetime.
Depth of insight, connection and presence achieved in that
silence matters far more than the duration. 1 deeply lived
hour can be worth 1000 distracted ones.
We imagine our freedom is found in having choice, choosing how
we spend our time, where we travel, how mobile our lives
are. But freedom is actually how
authentically you live where you are, how aligned your actions
are with your soul. Unlimited options can actually
be quite stifling without knowing ourselves what we value,
and a single aligned choice can liberate infinitely more than
endless indecision. We measure the quantity of
calories, grammes, portion sizes, not the quality of the
nutritional value, vitality, the love and enjoyment.
Eating enough for life, not over stuffing for ego is discipline
of the soul. Our human flesh desires more.
Our soul knows what is more than enough.
We can get overwhelmed by the quantity of hardship, the years
we have endured pain, the number of obstacles we face, and the
size of our losses. But we find meaning in how the
quality of our response to trauma, the lessons we learn
shape our character, resilience and compassion, enabling us to
turn suffering into insight, empathy and wisdom.
The quantity of forgiveness, how many times you attempt it or
declare it does not matter. You can forgive many times
superficially, but only deep, real forgiveness transforms your
life and your relationships. Forgiveness is found in the
quality. How fully we release resentment.
That is the forgiveness that restores peace to our self and
our heart and our legacy. Some people think legacy is the
quantity of things left behind, Property, money, accolades.
But really, people will remember your presence, your courage, the
transformation you inspire in others, the wisdom and
encouragement you leave behind. The way your love touches those
around you lasts far longer and means more than any bank account
or trophy shelf at Christmas. We can see the dichotomy between
love given and love felt. Quantity of gifts, words,
gestures pales in comparison to the quality of love experienced.
You can flood the world with gestures but not move anyone's
soul. One deeply felt act can echo
forever. 1 Thoughtful gift. And the depth of resonance
reshapes hearts far more than an expensive handbag ever could.
When we measure consciously, not compulsively, we turn quantity
into a tool for wisdom, quantifying our life in ways
that honour our soul and our purpose.
Knowing what is enough is spiritual mastery.
It's not about human scarcity or desire for approval.
It is about alignment with what truly matters.
In a world that praises quantity over quality, the revolution is
quantifying quality instead of just counting quantity.
I choose to quantify my life not by how many relationships I
have, but by how deeply I connect.
The closeness with my children is unquantifiable.
It is built in the moments where there is no return.
All those years staying awake in the night, changing nappies,
being present even when I was exhausted, created a deep and
lasting connection and lasting foundation and sustain our
connection today. And we see the same consistent
devotion in successful sports people.
All those times they wanted to give up, all the early mornings,
the pain, the repetition is where greatness is really made
in the unmeasured, unseen and unquantifiable moments.
Not the glory on the podium, the medals and the records.
Legacy is immeasurable. Purpose is immeasurable.
Learning to balance the human impulse to quantify with the
spiritual wisdom of honouring quality over quantity without
trying to measure the immeasurable.
The same with life. Oh, he lived a long life, poor
man, he had a short life. We are not looking at the
quality of their life. We're just saying because he was
old he had a good life. Quantity Shields us from the
truth that actually it is the quality that matters.
More, we find peace in cultivating consciousness of how
we live in the things we already have.
When we approach life with awareness, not counting our
relationships, purpose, legacy and peace expand.
I'll see you next week.