insights for the quantitised self

you: how have you been?

me:

a bubble chart of the moods and states ive captured in my journals

self-snitching

i created a dashboard that shows random data related to my health, fitness, and daily routines.

here are some highlights:

the time in the day that i start journaling and work, as well as a score for my mood and energy

a byproduct of being an automation freak is this random data!

accurate sleep data from my apple watch. automating this data pipeline was a PITA.

workouts!

if you look closely, you’ll some pretty despicable exercise stats. lets be charitable and say i usually work out without my watch ok???

when you’re a hermit like me, you literally need a push to go outside.

“do you get anything useful from it?”

the short answer is no. the long answer is hell no—at least for now.

useful insights is a big reason why i built this—so expect it to get better over time.

fyi a high p value is BAD. it basically means the correlations found are likely due to randomness.

but again, no. the quality of the data is dubious and human beings are complicated. everything is multivariate.

hopefully as i learn more about statistics, and i improve the data collection systems, that will change 🌅

you may be wondering—why?

the initial reason was external accountability toward achieving my goals and taking care of myself. this idea was stolen from Atomic Habits.

Thomas Frank, an entrepreneur in Boulder, Colorado, wakes up at 5:55 each morning. And if he doesn’t, he has a tweet automatically scheduled that says, “It’s 6:10 and I’m not up because I’m lazy! Reply to this for $5 via PayPal (limit 5), assuming my alarm didn’t malfunction.”

We are always trying to present our best selves to the world. We comb our hair and brush our teeth and dress ourselves carefully because we know these habits are likely to get a positive reaction. We want to get good grades and graduate from top schools to impress potential employers and mates and our friends and family. We care about the opinions of those around us because it helps if others like us.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

this public dashboard lets me use my inecurity/desire to fit in for me.

and it worked! this morning i woke up and thought don’t stay in bed too long alex—everyone can see👀

i’m basically snitching on myself lol.

i know that nobody will ever check—nobody cares, nor should they.

but my subconscious doesn’t know that—not yet. when it does, motivation will no longer be on the cards 🙁

luckily, i have a great reason to keep this project alive: the sunk cost fallacy.

shit, now i can’t lie and say i was late because of the traffic—you’d be able to see that i was sleeping in 😂