‘I track how often my friends tease me’: The extreme loggers noting down everything

If you could track anything about your life, what would it be? While people have been logging metrics about their habits and behaviour for millennia, new technologies such as smartwatches, Oura rings and apps have made it easier than ever to monitor how many steps you’ve walked, hours you’ve slept or glasses of wine you’ve drunk. While the desire to methodically log such data is often associated with the “quantified self” community and tech-bros seeking immortality, there’s another movement of people logging everything from moods to movies, takeaway meals to tears shed, in the name of perspective, increased self-awareness and personal growth. The i Paper spoke to three serial loggers about why and what they track and the benefits it brings. Shorts ‘I logged every time I cried, and why’ Jennifer Chou, 27, from Sydney, has been tracking her habits for nearly a decade. She now shares her insights and the benefits of tracking with other people via her social media channel @vegantechnomad “I’ve tracked a lot of different things over the years, but maybe the most unusual thing I’ve logged is my poop. I didn’t track it to monitor my gut health, like some people do – I just thought it was funny. “That was in 2017. That year, I also tracked how many potatoes I’d eaten. They were quite hard to estimate – if I had mashed potato, for example, I’d log that as one medium-sized potato, so it was very approximate. I ate 367, which is basically one per day. “I then started tracking other foods I really enjoy, such as avocados (58.5 in 2018) and medium-sized tubs of hummus (41.5 in 2018). I logged every time I cried and what I cried about – was it happy, sad, a fictional thing like a TV show, movie or book – I even cried once over food in 2018; I guess the food was just really good. “Apparently, the heightened emotion is an ADHD thing that I didn’t know about until recently. “I also tracked how many times my friends teased me because it was happening a lot – and I was right. I was roasted 1,491 times that year, which is multiple roasts per day. “In 2024, I tracked how many hours I spent with friends, on the phone and how many days I spent working towards my goals. Another category was compliments: I wanted to give at least one compliment per day and I achieved that 70 per cent of the time. “The tracking goes all the way back to when I was a kid. I’ve always been the type to journal and I’ve kept a diary ever since I learned how to write. I didn’t fully start tracking until 2017, however. Now, I have almost a decade of data and it’s been interesting to see how it has changed over the years as I travel and take my health more seriously. “I started tracking my time because I’ve always had issues with time blindness. When I had my first serious job after graduating from university in 2022, I realised my free time was just slipping away, so I started to track it to see where it was going and for self-development and growth purposes. “I tracked one thing I could improve every day, my happiness rating for the day and whether I practiced gratitude. I used to track how productive I was, but then I recognised that life isn’t about productivity and that I should be focusing on my happiness, fulfilment and whether I did meaningful work. “What I track is very specific to projects and areas of my life. For example, I had a specific category called ‘favours’. I used to be a people-pleaser and people would ask me to do things that I didn’t necessarily want to do, but which I would agree to. The act of tracking it helped me become much more aware. In 2022, I spent 0.8 per cent of my time on favours, but over time, this dropped to 0.003 per cent. Tracking changed my behaviour and I could actually see the tangible improvements. “I track my time on an app and when I look at this month-by-month, I can see that the top three things I spend time on are things that are actually important to me, such as spending time with my friends, whereas in 2022, I was spending a lot of time commuting, working and on my phone, which doesn’t really align with my values. “But after a few years of tracking, I’ve made a life that I’m proud of.”“Where do I draw the line between curiosity and obsession? I always say that line is when something becomes detrimental instead of helpful. “I think there’s a desire in modern society to want to improve oneself – it’s why people are into personality tests and horoscopes because they want all this information to know themselves better. For many people, their basic needs have been met – we’re not fighting to survive or figure out where our next meal is coming from anymore, so we focus more on self-actualisation – and tracking is a way to do that. “Tracking is not about being perfect, but becoming aware of ways that you can improve, which helps you be a lot kinder to yourself.” Kira Goode started a business selling journals and scrapbooks (Photo: Bryce Redford) ‘I track spending, steps, the weather, my mood – all of it’ Kira Goode, 27, from Bristol, started logging her life five years ago. Since then, she’s turned her hobby into a business, The Journal Club, which sells journals and scrapbooks, thejournalclub.co.uk “My approach to journaling is quite different from the typical things we see online where people use it as a tool to meet their goals – it’s like ‘constantly improve, be better!’ I think that approach is actually making us all really depressed. “For me, journaling is more about trying to relive life’s moments; it’s focussing on the present, what you’ve done and are doing, rather than what you ‘should’ be doing. “I started tracking my life because I wanted to be more self-aware of my habits and feelings. Emotions were the first thing I started to log. I also track spending, steps, how many pages of a book I read per day, weather, mood and how often I cry (the categories are ‘small cry’, ‘big cry’ and ‘cried at a TV show or film’). I also do a doodle-a-day which represents what I did each year. “Tracking helps me notice patterns in my mood and behaviour – I’ve got a box for ‘irritable’. I think we can all benefit from being a bit more aware of our emotions. “It’s also taught me that I’m prone to getting very overwhelmed and stressed very quickly. I have ADHD, so I’m conscious that that’s a trait, but it’s interesting to reflect back on patterns – I can almost preempt my feelings, meaning I can prepare for whatever’s ahead, which makes it less daunting. “For me, journaling is about remembering all of the little things that I’ve done and having a bit more perspective in the hope that I focus less on the negative stuff. My style of personal journaling is constantly evolving and over the past two years, I’ve transitioned slightly more into a memory-keeping style. “We probably all need therapy, but journaling is a nice stepping stone to better understanding your feelings without having to pay a lot of money. “There are different ways to journal – do you want to reflect, track, plan? I see my tracker journal as a glorified colouring book – with a bit more structure and guidance.” Some people track to set themselves personal challenges (Photo: Iryna Imago/Getty/iStockphoto) ‘I don’t want this to be a yardstick to beat myself with’ Sam Bell, from York, says reaching 40 was a major push in her decision to start tracking and wanting to “future-proof” her life. “I wanted to do a bit of a stock-take on habits, such as alcohol intake – not to beat myself up with, but to take a proper look at some of my behaviours. I’d like to live for a long time and do so in good health. “The first thing I started tracking was moods: excitement, happiness, anxiousness, sadness and tiredness. As time has gone on, it’s evolved into physical wellness and the lines have become a bit blurred, so I altered it a bit, which is what I like about it. “I also track how often I eat out, how much alcohol I drink and when, and how many takeaways I get – not just to see the shocking amount of times it happens, but to keep a log of places I’ve enjoyed that are worth a repeat visit. “One of my friends had also expressed an interest in tracking her life, who cries all the time, so we agreed to both track our tears and then compare notes. “I’m also going to start logging books read – and I quite fancy the idea of tracking the cups of tea drunk because that feels like such a quintessentially Yorkshire thing to do. I also want to do ‘nights not sleeping in my own bed’ as I’ve spent so many nights away from home. “Initially, I started tracking my weight and measurements but I stopped because it wasn’t bringing me any joy and replaced it with exercise and steps taken. I don’t want this to be a yardstick to beat myself with; it’s more ‘how do I feel about these things?’ I know that some people set personal challenges, but that wouldn’t realistically work for me. “At the beginning, I put a lot of pressure on myself for it to be perfect and look perfect, but that’s not possible – and it doesn’t really matter because it’s for me; I’m not making it to be viewed by other people, really. “Tracking can also reveal things that you might not expect. At the start of the year, I was doing quite well for non-drinking days, but that’s taken a bit of a turn. I also work from home now and I’m much more sedentary; I think I was under the illusion that I was still relatively active. Looking at the data helps me to realise that I’ve been in denial about some things. “Writing it down isn’t a way to beat myself up about what I am or aren’t doing, however – it’s more of a stock take: am I happy with this and, if not, what does next year look like? “I try to log every day and it takes less than 10 minutes. I enjoy it – I like to think about what other things I can track, how I can make it work for me and what things I haven’t done this year that I might like to do next. Doing something that isn’t on a screen is also a bonus. “I’m only in my first year of tracking my behaviour and habits, but I hope it will provide a bit of a benchmark that enables me to say: Is this a number I’m proud of? Could I – and should I – improve on this? I think I would struggle to know what an average year is for me and part of my interest in doing this is wondering what this actually looks like – it’s just me being very honest. “Tracking doesn’t necessarily make everyday life feel more interesting – I’m doing it purely because I want to get to the end of the year and then be able to look back and see what it says and compile some figures for it. We do a family quiz at Christmas and I was even thinking of putting some things in there. I don’t know how much other people will care about it, but they will be forced to enjoy it come the end of the year.”