Samuel Seibert

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to speak in front of new audience.

It was part of a high school education day to introduce the young women and men to the tantalizing possibilities of what awaits them in job roles and career paths. Being a statistician, I wanted to gather post presentation survey data on how the audience felt I did. One survey question was, “Was there anything you would have liked to hear more about in the presentation?” Reading this response caught my eye,

“…does knowing more about stats help you in everyday life?

Are you more satisfied with things you by because of your ability to analyze things?“

I typically think about the benefits of my work in terms of, enjoying what I do, solving puzzles, and having the ease of manageable stress. Boring adult stuff. A highschool student looking ahead decades wanted to know, am I more satisfied? (We’ll assume here that the “more” is a > the average satisfaction a career provides in life.)  

I hadn’t pondered much, how the worldview that I’ve gained through this work has heightened my satisfaction with life, and how the analysis tools I apply to an enterprise are used when shopping, having a conversation, or planning a date night. Having thought about it, here are three ideas from stats that have given me “>” enjoyment in life: (Support, Extreme, Traverse).

1.) Support

I don’t have data to support that.  What an incredibly freeing statement! Starting in undergrad, I started to feel mounting pressure to take a side on everything. Coming from a stats standpoint, if I’ve not gathered any data, I don’t have any basis to take a strong stand on something. I don’t want to whack people pool noodles of opinion. I can sit back when questions come like, “Don’t you think it’s awful when…” or “Can you believe they made such a terrible choice?” Consider something like parenting methods, where someone can feel very strongly about precisely nuanced points. I can sidestep an argument because of lack of data and adopt a gracious view.

2.) Extreme

When planning something I immediately think of the worst case and the best case. Since I spend my days working to predict, I appreciate how hard an accurate prediction can be to produce. This results in my life of trying to predict less and prepare more.  Rather than wondering “when will the car breakdown?” I know a car breakdown will happen, and set the funds aside for the worst case and drop it from my mind. There are jokes about statisticians thinking in averages; drowning in a river that is “on average” 2 ft. deep. In life a good statistician thinks in distributions for the full spectrum of potential events, and can approach the unknown with humility.

3.) Traverse

More and more predictive modeling analysis has becoming integrated with all other disciplines. Statistical Learning emerges as a common vocabulary for medicine, business, writing, agriculture, sociology, and economics to discuss results. Since I enjoy learning, statistics has given me a side door to dive into other disciplines and understand what’s being studied. This opens many conversation for me where I can related to more people because their work in one spot high fives mine.

Challenge

How does the special knowledge from your job help you enjoy everyday life?

Are you more satisfied with your life because of the abilities you have because of your work?

Mulling this question uncovered a lot of gratitude I have towards my vocation. Increasing the amount of gratitude multiplied my general satisfaction with life. I hope you’ll take the time to ponder this too from the perspective of high school student trying to pick a vocation.

-SRS

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