Inspired by a recent issue of Wired Magazine dissecting the subject, I began taking greater interest in self-tracking, or Living by the Numbers.

“In the past, the methods of quantitative assessment were laborious and arcane. You had to take measurements manually and record them in a log; you had to enter data into spreadsheets and perform operations using unfriendly software,” declares author Gary Wolf. “Now much of the data-gathering can be automated, and the record-keeping and analysis can be delegated to a host of simple Web apps.”

Its not as easy as it sounds.

tweetwhatyoueat.com is a major step forward from fitday.com, the site we (read jessica) used to use to track our calories. TWYE is simple to update, making progress with social aspects, and utilizes CrowdCal to guess calorie values of entries based on values used by the crowd.

We have officially switched! I even have my own account. The only problem- I still have a hard time posting.

Jessica is diligent with hers, and most of the time we eat the same foods, so I think I feel like if I miss a meal, its not that big of a deal. I have been a bit more constant since she is abroad, but not been complete.

I also have a hard time going back, retro-dating foods. If I miss it, then it is too late. I realized early that if I have to worry about back-posting, then I will never post at all because I don’t want to have to think back on what I ate yesterday.

Living by numbers is hard. tweet by Jeff Long

As Wolf points out in the Wired article, athletes have long been at the cutting edge of self-documentation. The beauty of Nike+ is that it is pretty damn close to being automatic. Any more steps beyond syncing one’s devices require some serious motivation.

On the other hand, my friend Tim has the opposite problem.

Living by numbers is hard. tweet by Tim Borbely

The tools have improved, but they are still a long way from where they need to be. If the task of data-tracking is creating a decrease in quality of life, is that decrease made up for in the increase of quality of life derived from analyzing said data?

Retired Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) has kept a notebook of his daily activities for years. When the CIA claimed they briefed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about water boarding, and she disagreed, Senator Graham was able to prove that the CIA has some questionable book keeping.

Maddow somewhat condescendingly reads from Graham’s notebooks- holding such information as daily weight, foods eaten, social encounters- but I find the information fascinating. We should all be as lucky to have this man’s self-discipline.

I’ve found the methods of self-documentation have not come much further than Graham’s little notebooks. Yes, we can send moblie updates to a database, but success is based heavily in self-discipline.

Wolf describes the data-tracking process as a path to self-knoweldge, but one has to obtain a certain degree of self-knowledge to be able to self-track in the first place. Self-knowledge and Self-tracking must occur concurrently.

On my trek to track more things about myself, I was intrigued in particular by the notion of tracking aspects of my life that “had always seemed inaccessible to quantitative methods.”(wolf)

Pleasantly surprised to find that daytum.com is co-created by designer Nicholas Felton, of whose annual reports I have long been a fan, I dove in.

Daytum can track anything I want. I began by adding a bunch of erroneous items, later realizing I had no reason to track most of them. Then I started thinking about it more as a self-help tool.

As you can see, I have not been very succesful in tracking my anger management data.

That is largely attributed to a lack of both self-discipline and self knowledge. I have a hard time pulling out my phone and posting when an instance of anger occurs. What is more difficult is figuring out how to describe it. Rather than just enter a number for the anger level, I am attempting to categorize the outbursts by what is really causing them. This will then cause me to ask myself, what am I really mad about?

As Jessica helped me realize in the past, I manifest most of my (negative) emotions into anger. The hope is that by attempting to define the root of the problem, I will find a solution.

“The key to self-discipline is finding an easy re-entry point,” advises Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk.

The value of the system remains, even though it has been temporarily abandoned. Ms. Trunk goes on to explain that perfection is the enemy of self-discipline, and the key to getting back on track can be to take small steps.

The challenge in self-tracking is not tracking as much information as possible, but figuring out a way to make it a part of your life. Bob Graham’s little notebooks are a part of his life. He doesn’t see them as a nuisance, rather a great resource. As Gary Wolf notes on The Quantified Self, Senator Graham was very disciplined in other aspects of life as well.

5 Goals for Self-Tracking

Tracking for the sake of tracking does have value in that other people may someday be able to analyze my data. However, if under or over-tracking are a problem, setting goals helps define priorities.

Don’t try to do it all at once. Maybe start by just tracking one thing. Jessica and I learned this when we were trying to lose weight. We couldn’t give up pizza and ice cream and beer all at once, but one was doable.

In the beginning, you will fuck up. Is inaccurate data better than nothing at all? I now think it is, because over time, I will get better and more persistent about my tracking. I now realize I have to start somewhere.

The unquantifiable don’t necessarily have to be quantified. Tracking emotions and moods may not be best served by a number. If you are tracking something for self-help reasons, attempt to track the cause rather than the effect.

If you haven’t tracked a data set in awhile, don’t give up. Start back up where you are currently and don’t worry about the time you missed. Think about ways that you can prevent yourself from falling off the wagon again.

Does data have value if not analyzed? tweet by Oblivion Ratula

Today, for the first time in my life, I will attempt to address a bad habit that has plagued me since junior high school. It is a disgusting habit, and I can’t even believe I am writing about it, but I have finally realized that it is worse to not attempt to deal with it. I think self-tracking and daytum.com may finally give me the chance to break free.

It has been 18-minutes since my last infraction.

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