The quantified self, or self-tracking
The quantified self, or self-tracking, is today’s major step forward in helping us better understand ourselves and what truly benefits us.
We are only at the beginning—the potential is enormous, the risks are real of course, but in my view the movement is unstoppable. And to quantify ourselves, we don’t necessarily need a watch on our wrist, a sensor on our belt, or one under our mattress. The goal is to collect objective information about ourselves—our body, our personality, or our professional qualities. This data can come from connected devices, but also simply from feedback given by colleagues, managers, or clients. That’s exactly what Uber has done: both passengers and drivers can rate each other, and with this information, both sides can improve and create better experiences.
The main idea is this: “I can’t know and measure everything about myself objectively, but I need this information to transform in the best way possible and to do what truly suits me.” Here we’ll share some examples and advice to make the most of the quantified self.
1. Learning more about ourselves
The first advantage of connected devices and self-tracking is that they allow us to learn more about our body—how it reacts, what benefits it, and what it struggles with. It’s hard to calculate your heart rate during a run using only a traditional watch and your fingers on your wrist.
But there are also many things we would never suspect until we measure them. If it’s easy to make the connection when we break out in hives after every glass of milk, it’s harder with foods we consume less frequently. For instance, I was very surprised to discover I was intolerant to almonds after taking a test.
Learning more about ourselves and what’s good for us helps us improve how we do things, and focus on the things that suit us best. With the variety of connected devices today and their constant evolution (GfK predicted an average of 30 connected devices per French household by 2020), data can be collected on nearly every aspect of our lives: sleep, weight, fertility cycles for women, physical activity, mood, and more. With this information, it’s easier to change our habits to live better, or identify areas for improvement. For a climber who needs to optimize their strength-to-weight ratio, for example, it’s very useful to know their body fat percentage, since fat weighs less than muscle.
2. Getting out of denial to truly transform
As long as nothing is presented to us directly, whether a number in an app, a comment, or a conversation with a colleague, it’s easy to choose not to see problems or to hold a false idea of ourselves. Even if we have a hunch, like that little voice telling us we should celebrate with our team more often, or give more constructive feedback to better engage them, it’s easy to ignore.
Connected devices or online quizzes can trigger the awareness we need to break out of denial and motivate us to transform. Objective data collection can also be done through 180° or 360° evaluations. These involve asking our managers, direct reports, partners, and colleagues to evaluate our leadership against several criteria. And perhaps we’ll discover that when we thought of ourselves as leaders, in reality we were more “good managers.”
Being confronted with facts, facing who we really are, rather than who we think we want to be, helps and motivates us much more to evolve. Especially because this data isn’t biased by societal expectations (“you must be fit, well-dressed, etc.”) but gives us a very objective measure of who we are and what is good for us.
3. Building new habits and becoming autonomous
While connected devices have many advantages, we must also learn to gradually detach from them. After all, they can’t serve as an excuse, we can still go for our daily run even if our Apple Watch battery is dead!
The first step is to use connected devices to establish a baseline: where we currently stand, whether it’s our professional persona (with a 360° evaluation), our body, or our rituals. Next, we can define a roadmap and regularly measure our progress, what works for us. With this information, we can create new habits that foster a healthier, more authentic dynamic aligned with who we really are. This step can be difficult, so don’t hesitate to ask a friend or a coach for support, you’ll improve your ability to transform much faster.
Once new habits are established, data collection can become unnecessary. For example, when I first started meditating, I always tracked my sessions with the Zenfriend app, it helped me stay consistent. Today, I meditate for about 20 minutes every day without tracking the time, this habit is firmly anchored, and I follow it naturally.
That said, all this data is not entirely private and may be used by the startups that create these connected devices. Yes, it can end up at risk of being hacked, Mr. Robot-style—but overall, aggregating this data offers a huge benefit: it allows us to learn from others and easily see what works and what doesn’t. For example, one startup helping its users develop a daily meditation practice discovered, by analyzing its data, that those who succeeded most easily started with just 3 to 5 minutes per day.
Sharing data can also be a fun way to set small challenges with friends or colleagues, adding an extra layer of motivation to achieve goals. Starting small to aim big is often the best way forward!