Tips on Recording Your Life? i.e. Exercise Log, Eating Habits, Reading Times, etc.
 

Hey guys!

So check it out.

I've been using the GTD method for almost 4 months now and love it. Has completely turned me around.

When finding OF almost 2 months ago I saw my productivity sky rocket.

The current situation with me right now is wanting to see myself gain momentum in whatever projects I wish to take. Mainly for the past few weeks i've been thinking about seeing my productivity in terms of exercise.

In the same sense it feels great to click on that "Clean Up" button and see all the actions you've recently completed in OF, I feel that seeing I haven't been completely slacking off in terms of exercise and other projects; that would increase my productivity tenfold.

1. Running Times & Distances
2. Weight Lifting @ Gym Times & Weights
3. Reading: Times & Pages
4. Fast Food: Times & $$$ Spent
5. Internet Log Times
6. etc.

When I 1st began using OF my producitivty increased; personally I think cause I finally saw only my next actions in their appropiate context view.
But when I started seeing all those small next actions I did earlier today, yesterday and last week in OF, something clicked in my mind, something telling me that all these little action steps were simple & more importantly that I wasn't slacking off.

As David Allen said in GTD, "You gotta give yourself the win."
You gotta look back and see that you've been progressive and acknowledge you weren't just wasting away in front of the TV.

This is why I want to catalog for example my internet logged on times. I used to do nothing all day but waste time online. Then I still wasted time but scaled it down to a few hours a day, etc etc. I would love to be able to jot down how much time I wasted online on frivolous websites every day and bit by bit turn the trend around and lower my slack off times online. Also jotting down what times of the day it happens would help so that way I could be aware as these times approach.

In terms of exercise i'd like to write the times I jog and how much I jog, so that way I can increase my distances bit by bit. The same regard in terms of lifting weights at the gym.

This is all for the benefit of looking back at the progress (or lack of, i'll get to that) and get it to motivate you to strive forward.

For jotting down Fast Food purchases, I've currently being using Apple's Numbers app. However, never really being great using spreadsheets+excel, i've had ok success. But I get the feeling Numbers might be a great app to help me achieve these goals seeing as i'm sure i'd be able to add current graphs showing trends and reoccuring patterns.

I eat a lot of fast food. A lot. Used to spend close to $200 a month on just fast food. So what I did was save all the receipts of everytime i ate at a fast food joint and added them to Numbers. On average i'd spend about $120 on fast food. This was good considering that once I started saving the receipts I went to $120, from $180. The past 2 months I've spent about $30-$60 a month on fast food, but the evidence that seeing these trends help.

[I]My Conclusion:[/I]
What I'm saying here is that i've barely touched the Numbers app, not knowing my way in dark too well (yet), but i'm sure that implementing the act of cataloging whatever you want will help me & you see these trends in our lives... only having used Numbers for a bit I'll go ahead and suggest that app...

...But I feel the power of this thread lies in the tips and suggestions you guys have regarding this idea and its potential.

As far as logging your computer/internet try: [url]http://www.slifelabs.com/[/url]

Keeps track of everything you do on your computer, and you can set goals which trigger growl notifications.

[QUOTE=needles27;60878]As far as logging your computer/internet try: [url]http://www.slifelabs.com/[/url]

Keeps track of everything you do on your computer, and you can set goals which trigger growl notifications.[/QUOTE]

It looks interesting, I may try it out.

As for the other stuff, I may just stick w/ Numbers and see how that pans out.

My solutions:

Running:
[URL="http://www.runkeeper.com"]http://www.runkeeper.com[/URL]

Exercise and food:
[URL="http://www.dailyburn.com"]http://www.dailyburn.com[/URL]

Body metrics:
Excel

Internet and computer habits:
[URL="http://www.rescuetime.com"]http://www.rescuetime.com[/URL]

Music listening:
[URL="http://www.last.fm"]http://www.last.fm[/URL]

Looking for better ways and suggestions all the time.
pj

[QUOTE=physicistjedi;61098]My solutions:

Running:
[URL="http://www.runkeeper.com"]http://www.runkeeper.com[/URL]

Exercise and food:
[URL="http://www.dailyburn.com"]http://www.dailyburn.com[/URL]

Body metrics:
Excel

Internet and computer habits:
[URL="http://www.rescuetime.com"]http://www.rescuetime.com[/URL]

Music listening:
[URL="http://www.last.fm"]http://www.last.fm[/URL]

Looking for better ways and suggestions all the time.
pj[/QUOTE]

I'm really impressed by Daily Burn, I signed up for an account immediately.

How often do you use this site? Do you highly recommend this site?

Thanks by the way!

It think it is the best one out there, especially with the upcoming iPhone app.

[QUOTE=physicistjedi;61105]It think it is the best one out there, especially with the upcoming iPhone app.[/QUOTE]

ah, great.

I was about to ask if there was an iphone app.

:]

I've been trying to record where my time goes. I want to allocate a certain amount of time weekly to be spent on certain things such as: work, chores (random stuff I want to do), dealing with money, etc. I don't want the rigidity of calendaring time to work on this, but I do want to make sure I spend a certain amount of time on each area.

For the last few days I've been using an iPhone (well iPod touch for me) app called TimeJot. It helps me track times spent working in different categories. It doesn't yet let me export the data from the app itself, but I think they're working on doing something in that area.

In that category [URL="http://www.kyoobed.com/applications/clockedin/iphone/"]ClockedIn[/URL] also looks nice. Though I am waiting for a calendar API on the iPhone so that they sync to iCal. May be in OS 5.0 :(

Hello,


It sounds interesting and very motivating thanks for sharing it and keep up the spirit buddy. :)



Regards,
sarah_9


[url=http://www.fitour.com]Personal Training Certification [/url]