<story><title>Ten Years of Logging My Life</title><url>https://chaidarun.com/ten-years-of-logging-my-life</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Netcob</author><text>A few days ago I finally stopped doing something very similar.&lt;p&gt;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 &amp;quot;event handler&amp;quot; attached to it.&lt;p&gt;I now just stick to one line a day in a spreadsheet as a sort of diary.&lt;p&gt;To anyone attempting it:&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;t just throw data into a black hole for years.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;s okay to use many times a day. Be aware that there&amp;#x27;s no good answer to &amp;quot;why do you keep reaching for your phone all the time?&amp;quot;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andreilys</author><text>A simpler solution is to embrace lazy tracking.&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;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.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ten Years of Logging My Life</title><url>https://chaidarun.com/ten-years-of-logging-my-life</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Netcob</author><text>A few days ago I finally stopped doing something very similar.&lt;p&gt;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 &amp;quot;event handler&amp;quot; attached to it.&lt;p&gt;I now just stick to one line a day in a spreadsheet as a sort of diary.&lt;p&gt;To anyone attempting it:&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;t just throw data into a black hole for years.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;s okay to use many times a day. Be aware that there&amp;#x27;s no good answer to &amp;quot;why do you keep reaching for your phone all the time?&amp;quot;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>medstrom</author><text>&amp;gt;Even if you just want some pretty graphs, create some random test data and set everything up so you can see these graphs. Don&amp;#x27;t just throw data into a black hole for years.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Avoid black holes&amp;quot; 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&amp;#x27;s fun and the habit will stick better.</text></comment>