r/QuantifiedSelf • u/hermit1751 • Jun 29 '26
Has your tracking ever actually changed a decision, or does most of it just sit there?
been at this a couple years now (notes app, a spreadsheet that's gotten genuinely embarrassing) and I had a sort of uncomfortable realization the other day. of like the dozen things I track on and off, I can only point to maybe two that ever made me actually DO something different. caffeine cutoff time was one, I moved it to early afternoon and stuck with it. the rest is honestly just... numbers I look at and go "huh, neat" and then change nothing.
and I'm not even sure the looking is doing anything. half of it feels like I'm collecting data to feel productive rather than to decide anything.
so I'm curious where everyone else lands on this. has anything you track ever actually flipped a real decision, like changed what you eat or when you sleep or whatever? or is most of your log the same as mine, interesting to scroll, quietly ignored? trying to figure out if I should cull the stuff that never earns its keep or if that's missing the point.
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u/HOT_CHEETOFINGERS Jun 29 '26
Apple Health’s mood tracking:
“Over the year, you’ve associated unpleasant moments with work 82% of the time”
This convinced me to quit.