Premise: we have set some good goals and want to measure progress against them
But: if we over-record and -measure it can literally paralyze our practice
Generally: more overhead, less fun (might apply to work-life too!)
Measuring (and thinking about it) during practice can keep us from getting into flow
Maybe (simple) measuring is also more something for the repetition stage, after having been focused on ingraining the basics for the specific movement (e.g. learn how to juggle => count how many w/o drop).
Trade-off for me: I'd like to record progress and findings, e.g. to see if I'm on the right track, what works, and what's re-produceable. So I'm not basing this whole thing on my subjective experiences and thoughts.
Problem is, once you're past something, you can't go back and re-create the experience (similar to only having one chance of a "first impression").
Now that I trained up the forehand on my weaker side to a decent level, I don't have any hands left to be a forehand beginner again :)
So the less I measure the more I'm missing out on capturing that experience and progress,
but the more I do there's a risk of having less fun and losing focus (=> what gets measured...).
Some ideas for less (perceived) overhead:
* Prioritize what and when to measure, e.g. practice 3x / week but measure 1x / week - e.g. hitting targets, speed, repetitions w/o error.
* Measure the target movement and not the meta movements that may help get there. For serves, having just consciously hit into the fence and into the net, eventually count the ones that were supposed to go into the service box. Based on the goals, maybe their speed, placement.
* If it feels right and somewhat accurate, make estimates. How good was X, 1-10? Better than yesterday? Last week? Why, why not? How many forehands hit today with the still weaker hand? What was the X:1? Need more next time? Against the wall, machine, partner - how many strokes per minute => minutes actively played => # of strokes.
* Measure at the end of a training block. Hit 2 baskets of alternating serves, now get 10 kick serves each into the court without error. How many attempts needed? How many repeats?
* Have someone else count and/or record (and alternate).
* Film and count what counts later. Maybe you'll also re-assess what to count next time.
These are just top of mind ideas to get started, I'm sure there'll be more...
Complementary, maybe even an alternative approach to measuring activity:
Breakthroughs are arguably more fun.
Keep track of those, the planned ones and the surprises. 1 per session would be great.
So it's less to measure and more memorable.
A simple table of date and breakthrough, e.g. in the phone's note app, may do for the day of. We can go back to add to it and organize those later...
For measuring purposes, hopefully not that many breakthroughs per session then :P
For the overall pursuit, as many as possible please!