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A few days ago I finally stopped doing something very similar. As fascinating as the data could be (I never managed to transform it like this), the constant re
by Netcob 5y ago
A few days ago I finally stopped doing something very similar.
As fascinating as the data could be (I never managed to transform it like this), the constant recording of every single thing made me stop enjoying things. It made me hyper-conscious of everything going on in my body as the primary goal was to figure out some health issues. Everything I felt or did seemed to have an "event handler" attached to it.
I now just stick to one line a day in a spreadsheet as a sort of diary.
To anyone attempting it:
1. Figure out what you want to do with the data first. Even if you just want some pretty graphs, create some random test data and set everything up so you can see these graphs. Don't just throw data into a black hole for years.
2. Make sure recording the data is as easy and comfortable as possible. That android app from the article looks good, but you have to be absolutely sure it's okay to use many times a day. Be aware that there's no good answer to "why do you keep reaching for your phone all the time?".
- medstrom 5y ago>Even if you just want some pretty graphs, create some random test data and set everything up so you can see these graphs. Don't just throw data into a black hole for years. "Avoid black holes" is a good tip when you struggle with forming the habit of logging. If you have a graph that auto-updates as you add data, it's fun and the habit will stick better.
- cableshaft 5y agoWhat types of data do you store in that spreadsheet one-liner, out of curiosity?
- Netcob 5y agoHow I feel (e.g. sick) / What I'm trying (e.g. some new exercise, medication) / Anything noteworthy that happened. It's intentionally non-machine-readable. Just to see the past weeks at a glance.
- pkrotich 5y agoForget the data - I’m just amazed by the act of sticking to an activity. I’ve attempted “never break the chain” trick to try to build good habits but I always come short. Saying all that to say I truly admire people like you!
- travisjungroth 5y ago> I’ve attempted “never break the chain” trick to try to build good habits but I always come short. Chains are unstable[0]. Usually you miss a habit because something has gone wrong. This time, when something has gone wrong and you most need support, is when you lose all the support of the chain. In fact, you also have to deal with the shame of breaking your streak. "I always come short" is the inevitable outcome! There's no goal! They're good for taking 95% compliance to 99%+ (days without an accident counters, the best of the best at their activity), but not good for taking 20% to 80%, which is what most people need for most habits. I had some good success (but not perfect) with what I call Fibonacci Streaks. You go for 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc. in a row. When you hit a goal, the counter starts over and you go for the next goal. If you miss, you start over at the first 1 and get some goals to hit again quickly. You could also have a variant where you try again for the goal you missed. In this system, the counter starting over is a normal part of things. Why Fibonacci? I considered doubling, but the jumps are a bit large. 1.5X seemed right, but gives fractions. Fibonacci is ~1.6X each step. I made a free sort of add-on app for tracking it in Todoist[1]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitudinal_static_stability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitudinal_static_stability [1]https://habitsfortodoist.com/ https://habitsfortodoist.com/
- joyeuse6701 5y agoI think these are good points, I’ll try this out
- pkrotich 5y agoThanks for the feedback - I’ll give it a try.
- iamacyborg 5y ago> This time, when something has gone wrong and you most need support, is when you lose all the support of the chain. In fact, you also have to deal with the shame of breaking your streak. I find this stuff really fascinating. About a year ago, Garmin added a new feature to “pause” the Training Status measurements the watch takes. Apparently when folks where getting sick they became incredibly disheartened by their watch telling them their lack of activity is not conducive to improving their fitness. It’s almost reinforcing the bad habit instead of trying to frame it in a more productive way.
- andreilys 5y agoA simpler solution is to embrace lazy tracking. Apps like RescueTime (time spent online) and Withings (sleep and steps) are simply running in the background of your life, with no additional input needed from the user. I'm always impressed when I see people who maintain these massive data-entry systems, I know personally I would never be able to maintain them which is why I opt for lazy tracking. The less data entry I need to do, the better.
- kirso 5y agoPretty much this. If the app requires me to insert stuff manually - I am out... There are plenty of basic trackers for sleep / exercise today where you literally have to just wear the device...
- lijogdfljk 5y agoI'd be really curious if there was an API to consume data my watch tracks on my health. Such a wealth of lazy tracking data i imagine.
- rsanek 5y agoI've found the Fitbit API to be pretty usable.
- omarelnaggar 5y agoWe've been building part of this at https://mana.ai https://mana.ai! Our goal is to provide data that's even richer than Chronofile effortlessly using integrations (as you mention) and AI. We currently support desktop agents (Windows, MacOS), Calendars (Google Calendar, Outlook), health monitors (Apple Health, Google Fit), as well as Chrome, Slack and a few others. We're big supporters of MyDataGlobal and the OpenHumans movement, and have a few features for export in the product already. Happy to chat if you'd be interested in a way to feed out just the API data we're already managing so you can use it elsewhere, DM me or mail support@mana.ai and I'll see it!
- andreilys 5y agoOne of the frustrating things about wearables is a lot of them are closed down and the export data options are pretty limited. Oura ring however has an open API, I don't own one or use it but worth checking out - https://cloud.ouraring.com/docs/ https://cloud.ouraring.com/docs/
- lars512 5y agoI would add that it’s fine to track something very important in an expensive and manual way, you can simply do it less often (e.g. weekly)