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Life Database: Tracking 100+ Metrics for 3 Years

Hacker News •
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Since 2019, a developer has been meticulously tracking over 100 different life metrics daily, accumulating 380,000 data points across fitness, productivity, social life, and weather patterns. The project, called FxLifeSheet, aims to answer questions about how various factors like sleep, location, and seasons affect overall well-being and happiness.

Data sources include RescueTime for computer usage, Foursquare Swarm for location tracking, manual entries for mood and health metrics, and Apple Health for step counts. The developer created a visualization platform called howisFelix.today to explore correlations between different life factors. For instance, happy days correlate with 50% more comfort zone pushing, 44% more meditation, and 33% more excitement about the future.

This self-tracking experiment demonstrates the potential of personal data collection for gaining insights into behavioral patterns and lifestyle optimization. The project is fully open-source and MIT licensed, allowing others to replicate or build upon the system. By maintaining complete control over data storage and visualization, the developer showcases how individuals can leverage technology to better understand themselves without relying on third-party platforms.