the lure of the measurable

In the process of transitioning from my primary occupation being student to my primary occupation being software development, I have realized that I play computer games not primarily because they give a simplified view of reality or a sense of control, but because they consistently give feedback on any progress. There is a goal, even if it is one the player chooses within the game, and there is always information available on how one is progressing towards that goal, or failing to progress as the case may be. This is thrown into stark relief against what life seems to consist of at the moment...
friends... there's not really any goal there... no numbers measuring time spent or well, that should be another post, but at any rate, if friendship is quantifiable numerically, something is wrong
housework... sure, it's clean or it isn't, but there are all manner of degrees of progressively grimier, some of which I don't really notice, and it's really only spotless for about a day after it's been cleaned...
laundry... ok, it should fall under housework... but it's a particularly insistent cycle of clean and clean again
work... probably the most nebulous of all... short term there are things we're supposed to do, and it gets reviewed, and hopefully improved, but longterm, we're building on what we're doing now and even the stuff that was done previously keeps changing and sometimes I question if what I do today is going to have to be undone very painfully later on