Erin Tumbled....

** Disclaimer, I am a massive dork.

So I spend my work days toiling over data trying to find patterns and do my job a little better. I look at it this way, I uncover trends, hopefully early, and exploit those trends to my advantage. I refer to this as big data - taking all the information you have about something as your disposal and use it to your advantage. This year, one client experienced positive results in response to embracing this method.

So it got me thinking, what if I do this for my personal life. Keep track of everything I do and try to make changes, for the better, as a result. Maybe I always have bad workouts on Thursdays in the morning or perhaps if I don’t eat cereal on Tuesdays before 10 am I can’t focus at work. Maybe I am not really sleeping as much as I think I am or perhaps I eat a lot more junk food than I really think. Maybe a day I crochet I work out longer or maybe a day colder than 35 degrees means I eat more calories.

So, being the massive data geek that I am, I am starting big data, personal edition. It’s actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

• All food is tracked using the Weight Watchers app. I also use it to track daily vitamins and liquid intake. I use the Weight Watchers bar code scanner to check the points value of food at the store.
• My new FitBit tracks activity including number of steps I take, stairs climbed, calories burned and how well I sleep at night. My FitBit is also synced with Health Month to keep me motivated and make sure I track my biggest fitness goals. (In January that includes only two alcoholic drinks a week, exercise 30 minutes a day 5x’s a week and a multi-vitamin daily)
• My Nike+ chip is tracking workouts. 

Notes are being included in all apps to track my mood, hunger level, etc.  I am also using a Google Doc calendar to track other things like hobbies, meetings with friends, etc. along with the day’s weather. I am pretty much dependent on my iPhone and a few other do-dads to make this successful.

Who knows where this will all go but I am interested to see if I can find any trends at the end of January. Who knows, maybe I will make an infographic.