How to Build Your Own Feedback Loops

Measure

Compare

Adjust

Let's break down each step of this framework.

Measurement is the foundation of every feedback loop. All feedback loops have one key characteristic: the output from one cycle becomes the input for the next cycle. In other words, all feedback loops measure something and that measurement becomes the starting point for the next cycle of behavior. Data improves awareness and awareness is the first step to behavior change.

Comparison is essential for making sense of your feedback loop. Measuring something is useless if it's not relevant to you. Remember the “Your Speed Is…” sign from earlier? That reading of your current speed is only relevant when compared to the actual speed limit. It is the comparison between where measurement says you are and where you want to be that makes the next step clear. Effective feedback loops help you make comparisons that are personal and relevant.

Adjustment is the action that closes the feedback loop. Adjustments should be made as quickly as possible. The more rapid the change, the tighter the feedback loop. In the words of Seth Godin, “The best way to change long-term behavior is with short-term feedback.”

Why Some Feedback Loops Work While Others Fail

One bad habit that commonly frustrates physicians is when a patient doesn't take their medications as frequently as prescribed. A few years ago, a company called Vitality launched a new product called the GlowCap, which was intended to help solve this problem.

Here's how WIRED Magazine described the product:

“The device is simple. When a patient is prescribed a medication, a physician or pharmacy provides a GlowCap to go on top of the pill bottle, replacing the standard childproof cap. The GlowCap … connects to a database that knows the patient’s particular dosage directions—say, two pills twice a day, at 8 am and 8 pm. When 8 am rolls around, the GlowCap and the night-light start to pulse with a gentle orange light. A few minutes later, if the pill bottle isn’t opened, the light pulses a little more urgently. A few minutes more and the device begins to play a melody—not an annoying buzz or alarm. Finally, if more time elapses (the intervals are adjustable), the patient receives a text message or a recorded phone call reminding them to pop the GlowCap. The overall effect is a persistent feedback loop urging patients to take their meds.”

—WIRED 

When feedback loops fail, it is often because of one of these three problems:

Measurement isn't automatic.

Comparison is irrelevant.

Feedback is slow.

The GlowCap solves all three of these problems and that makes it an excellent feedback loop. First, it tracks your consumption and reminds you when to take your pills automatically, so you don't have to worry about measurement. Second, it is specifically tailored to your prescription, which makes it instantly relevant to your needs. Third, it provides feedback quickly when you get off track: first the light, then the music, and finally the text message or phone call. Solving these three problems is essential to building an effective feedback loop.

Rapid Feedback Leads to Rapid Change

Here's a simple fact: most people, most of the time, don't know where they stand on the issues that are important to them.

People want to lose weight, but don't know how many calories they eat each day. People want to learn a new language, but they don't know how many hours they practiced last month. People want to write a best-selling book, but don't know how many words they wrote last week. People want to build a successful business, but don't know how many sales calls their team made yesterday. People want to get stronger, but don't know how much weight they lifted at the gym last week. Most people don't measure things, and a feedback loop can't happen without measurement.

My argument is that we should spend less time letting feedback loops shape our lives in invisible ways and more time designing the feedback loops we want and need.

In the unexamined life, it can be easy to slide into a downward spiral of bad habits and unproductive behaviors because of poorly designed feedback loops that trigger us to eat more, smoke often, and worry too much. Thankfully, the reverse is true as well. Carefully designed feedback loops can help us stick with good habits and regulate behaviors that would be unhealthy if they spiraled out of control.

Feedback loops influence everything from the bodies we live in to the choices we make on a daily basis, but most of the time we are victims of the feedback loops that surround us not the architects of them.

I would like to offer a simple three-step method for building feedback loops in your life.