# Great example of Goodhart's law - measuring the number of emails in my Archive folder

**URL:** <https://forum.beeminder.com/t/great-example-of-goodharts-law-measuring-the-number-of-emails-in-my-archive-folder/7772>\
**Category:** Akrasia\
**Created:** [February 4, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/great-example-of-goodharts-law-measuring-the-number-of-emails-in-my-archive-folder/7772 "2021-02-04T00:01:13Z")\
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**Author:** ![zedmango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@zedmango](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/zedmango)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/great-example-of-goodharts-law-measuring-the-number-of-emails-in-my-archive-folder/7772/3 "2021-02-04T18:12:37Z")

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@oulfis raised another good example, along with a post describing additional Beeminder goals added to try to solve the problem:

> [@How to build a habit of finishing things?](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/how-to-build-a-habit-of-finishing-things/4816/21):
>
> Part of what this conversation has made me realise is that both “commits to a GitHub repo” and “total word count” _feel_ like they are outputs, but actually it’s possible to increase those numbers forever without getting closer to the _true_ output of “finished chapters”.

I would say Beeminder avoids the Goodhart-type problem where a manager or politician sets a bad metric and the people assessed by it can’t change it, since with Beeminder you are the one setting your own goals.

But any goal-oriented approach is going to be subject to the Goodhart-type problem where you set a goal that seems to make sense, but you end up unconsciously gaming it to some degree - which is why it’s so helpful to set up a regular review to see if your goals are actually working for you.

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