Toward Unlocking Insights with Self-Quantification: Practical Strategies for Optimal Results
In a world where ‘there’s an app for everything’ is more than just a catchy phrase, many of us are already relying on apps for help in everyday tasks, including those related to activity and health. But behind the apps, another equally important element is closely following to join the mainstream soon: sensors.
The Past and The Future
About a decade ago, I purchased a special sleep tracker watch that I would wear only at night. When I told my friend about it, he called it “the most useless gadget of the year”. At the time, it actually was a novelty item, something only a tech enthusiast would appreciate. But look where we are today; it’s a real challenge to find a smartwatch or band that doesn’t contain any form of sleep-tracking support.
Moving forward, personal sensors are set to become an even more integral part of our lives, just like apps, collecting a comprehensive data set from the metrics of our bodies and environment 24/7/365, gauging factors we’ve hardly even thought of measuring. When coupled with AI-powered apps built to decipher this data, the potential for revolutionary insights that drive self-growth becomes a reality.
This is the power of self-quantification, which we can already start harnessing today with the right tools and practices.
But composing a suitable data set isn’t as straightforward as gearing up with the latest gadget and linking it to everything we know. Instead, to maximize the potential, it’s crucial to start paying attention to the way our data is collected and managed, ensuring its integrity, applicability, and security over time.
The Foundation
Over the past 15+ years, I’ve explored numerous self-quantification tools, discovering many exceptional ones on the way but repeatedly also stumbling upon a common problem: the struggle of both inputting and interpreting data, making it challenging to derive anything else than frustration from the chaos.
That’s why I’ve since acquired a set of guiding principles for refining my Quantifying Stack:
1. Build a Stack to Support Your Goals, Not Vice Versa
To harness the power of self-quantification effectively, it’s essential to first define our desired outcomes and goals. Without this clarity, there’s a great chance we’ll get caught up in the excitement of the latest apps and gadgets, incorporating them into our stack even when they don’t align with our needs, consequently losing focus and money. (I know I’ve fallen into this trap before.)
So, after setting clear goals, what’s next?
Whether we want to improve our sleep, reduce stress levels or train for a marathon, these goals can only be realized through a series of concrete actions — habits — that align with our aspirations. The key lies in identifying the most effective yet sustainable habits that push us toward our goals while simultaneously reducing the impact of those that hinder our progress. Furthermore, we should never try to change more than three habits at a time, focusing on the most effective ‘low-hanging fruits’ first.
But how do we know what they are?
Self-quantification tools can excel precisely in this process of habit identification and modification. They can provide the answers to the questions relevant to our goals, e.g.
- How effectively am I recovering from my daily activities, and what factors might be impacting it?
- How can I optimally balance physical exertion and rest to enhance my overall health and performance?
- What are the real effects of my lifestyle choices, such as caffeine consumption or the occasional beer, on my sleep quality and overall well-being?
With the right tools, we can track and visualize each of these factors and more, but it’s essential to consider doing so only when
- it genuinely contributes to our chosen goals and is somewhat temporary or
- it can be done with minimal effort.
Because tracking stuff that has no known use but requires effort is impractical, which brings us to the second point.
2. Keep Tracking Effortless
Whatever our goals are, a wide passive tracking surface is highly beneficial. The more metrics we can passively capture (accurately), the greater the accuracy of our data analysis and insights becomes without any additional work from our side.
Biometrics, including Heart Rate (HR), Resting Heart Rate (RHR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and recently also Skin Temperature (C/F), Respiratory Rate, and Oxygen Saturation (SPO2), are tracked, at least partly, by most modern wearables. These metrics combined with movement data from the wearable and phone allow us to effortlessly monitor sleep, workouts, activity, location, and even stress.
However, capturing other aspects of our lives often requires manual effort. Tracking things like habits, behaviors, and especially nutrition can easily become too burdensome, hindering the very act of tracking. Yet, it is precisely these contextual factors that hold the key to unlocking the true insights hidden within our other metrics.
To ensure effortless tracking, we should strategically select the most suitable apps, wearables, smart devices, and integrations between them. By maximizing passive tracking and ensuring automatic data flow from one app to another as required, we create a seamless experience that conserves our energy for tracking the few important and carefully selected manual attributes that will take our insights to the next level — provided they’re tracked consistently, which leads us to the final point.
3. Never Compromise on Data Integrity
With the extensive selection of self-quantification tools, it’s unlikely we’ll immediately find the perfect combination for our needs. Furthermore, as times change, new tools emerge that might offer better features or compatibility. To preserve the valuable data we’ve collected over months or even years, it’s essential to establish a robust data management strategy right from the start.
An essential part of this strategy is choosing a reliable platform for data consolidation and storage. In the Apple ecosystem, Apple Health is a comprehensive choice for syncing and storing the data we track over various apps and wearables. By selecting tools that integrate with Apple Health, ideally in both directions (read + write), we ensure that our data remains secure and accessible within a unified repository. Simultaneously, we also reduce the need for direct app-to-app integrations as most data can flow through Health instead. Similarly, in the Android ecosystem, Health Connect is a corresponding repository for health-related data.
With such platforms in place, we also need to consider how to avoid duplicate or conflicting data (unless the goal is to track everything now and worry about filtering later). When multiple apps are tracking the same metrics, it’s preferable to designate one app as the master source authorized to write quality data into the chosen repository. This is yet another step in ensuring the integrity and applicability of our collected data.
By prioritizing data integrity and employing long-term data repositories like Apple Health and Health Connect, we protect our self-quantification efforts over time and lay the groundwork for uncovering revolutionary insights that can shape our lives in the future.
Toward The Insights
Empowered with this knowledge, we now have a solid foundation to start collecting a data set that will remain coherent over the years.
While there already are tools capable of extracting meaningful insights from our data today (that we’ll go through in other posts), I can’t help but anticipate what the future holds for us. Because who knows if a year from now, The Greatest Insights App Ever will be released, equipped with revolutionary features that will unlock even deeper secrets within our pre-existing data that we’ve diligently collected.
By sticking to the principles outlined in this post, we’re equipping ourselves for the future. No matter what technological advancements are on the horizon or how our personal goals might evolve over the years, we’ll stand ready to unlock the true power of self-quantification, transforming data into actionable insights to drive personal growth.
Have you started your journey into self-quantification? What tools and techniques are you using? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
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