What am I tracking?

This year, I am tracking certain attributes of personal data. The ultimate goal is to use this data to make some determinations and help improve my lifestyle.

Here’s what I’m tracking -

1. Foursquare – location data

2. Lose It – calories and workout data

Some other things I’ve considered …

1. Fat, protein, carb etc data for food

2. RTM task stats

3. GPS-based track of running

4. Glue – for music/movies/books tracking (ideally, I want a reverse Google Analytics but Glue is a start in that direction)

It doesnt seem like a lot but better to start small and keep going than lose steam soon…!

My 3 words for 2010

Ended up being 4 … but here goes …

1. social
- connect
- participate
- open up
- family first

Distractions : commitment, trying to do too much

Steps:

1. open up at work – connect socially

2. find and participate in conversations in communities online (start small, scale as-you-go)

3. call mom/dad twice a week

4. participate as volunteer etc in atl community

Finish line: socially connected

Next: well-known blogger

2. Focus

- turn thinking off when not required

- focus intensely when needed

Distractions:

Steps:

1. think to unthink (remember power of now)

2. break tasks down to small manageable chunks

Finish line: higher productivity, shorter work week, no postponing of tasks

Next: higher-level tasks?

3. Fear

- overcome fear of not succeeding enough

- enjoy the process as much as the end goal

- take the leap

Distractions: laziness, fear(?)

Steps:

1. figure yourself out

2. get data to objectively empower decision

Finish line: by end of year, doing what you dreamt of

Next: grow the dream

4. Self

- know yourself better

- get “fit”

- collect data

Distractions: laziness

Steps:

1. be conscious of self and surroundings

2. be diligent in data collection and subsequent analysis

Finish line: by end of year, this will help fear go away

Next: grow the dream (same as fear)

2010 Goals

Inspired by three theories on planning

1. http://www.chrisbrogan.com/wiring-yourself-for-success/

An example -

• Determine 3 guiding words for my efforts in 2010.
• List 1-3 paths to accomplishing those goals (aka strategies).
• List distractions that might possibly scuttle my efforts.
• List the steps for each path (these are the projects that map to the goals).
• List what the “finish line” looks like.
• List what comes next, should I actually accomplish something major along those paths

2. Purpose (life) -> Objectives -> Goals -> Strategies -> Tactics -> Measurement … I’m not sure where I got this from

3. A calendar-based plan – this is something I’ve been doing for 2 years but not sure if there’s enough top-down thinking involved

#1 seems more comprehensive and fluid at the same time. I’ll give it some more thought and come up with my 3 words for 2010.

UPDATE:

To get started, here are some thought-provoking questions -

1. What do I want to finish?
2. What do I want to change?
3. What do I want to maintain? (Sometimes you are actually doing fine about some things).
4. What do I want to refine?
5. What do I want to stop doing?
6. What do I need to do, though wanting has nothing to do with it?
7. What can I finally throw away?
8. What do I want to go back to?

Thoughts from mexico

Just got back from mexico where I compiled some thoughts on a bus ride – will try to make more sense of it during the holidays but here’s a dump for now…

world wide web

also known as internet

the web is …

open, mobile, social, instant, omnipresent, location-aware, relevant

open – apis leading to mash-ups

mobile – there is and will be a mobile web (mobile-optimized, apps or ?)

social – people connecting w/ one other through the web

social networks are mere tools, used to be forums, e-mail, IM etc

instant – real-time

why now? someone just came up w/ the idea?

omnipresent – offline and online is molding into one experience for user

cost of digitizing information and experiences is going down, especially relative to cost of human time in offline experiences

time and effort to stand up a digital experience needs to become shorter

location-aware – information about experiences around you is relevant in real-time and based on where you are

need to deal w/ privacy issues

relevant – search engines spit out so much garbage that relevance of information is becoming a hot topic

Future of web

I really enjoy reading AVC – some of the posts by Fred Wilson are very thought-provoking, others are promotional yet showcasing interesting new web products.

This post was particularly interesting – Making The Web Smarter.

The six words to live by – open, global, mobile, social, playful, and intelligent – and instant – are a good framework to generate ideas as well as evaluate existing ones.

Location location location

I’ve been playing around with Foursquare recently. Some observations -

1. Many times, I dont want my Foursquare friends to know where I am so I dont want to check in. But the darn points and badges – incentivize me to check-in anonlymously. If it weren’t for those points, badges, leaderboard, I’d probably give up on it very quickly

2. Always helps to have lots of other users around you. At Atlanta Startup Weekend, people were checking in to specific rooms and not just ATDC. It ups the ante on the game too

3. Abuse is very easy, although it seems like they’re taking care of some scenarios. Since GPS is not very accurate, I could technically check-in to Cheesecake Factory which is 1/2 a mile from my house and be at home and keeping switching till I amass a lot of points

4. Lots of people I’ve talked to are wary of sharing their location because of “privacy reasons”. I think thats a bunch of baloney because people share their location with friends anyway, its just now much more streamlined

5. The opportunities to use the data are great. Tin Drum could run a loyalty program with Foursquare check-ins. Augmented Reality (yelp already does this) and check-ins could make for great offers. The list of ideas is almost endless…

What do you think?

Is an acknowledgement worth it?

When you want someone to do something or need something from someone, is it worth getting an acknowledgment that says “yes – i understand” without any other information. I dont think so.

At the very least, an acknowledgment should include some questions or a timeline re: the activity to be performed. Near real-time response is all well and good but what’s the point if there is no meat to it?

Atlanta Startup Weekend

I attended Atlanta Startup Weekend 3 at ATDC this past weekend. It was a fantastic learning experience and frankly, an eye-opener. I’ve been thinking (in my head) and talking about starting a company with little idea of what it takes to actually do it. The learning curve was pretty much vertical this weekend and in addition to meeting some great people, I’ve had some realizations (in chronological order) -

1. It’s difficult to contribute without being a developer or a designer – leadership skills are soft skills (leadership etc) and they’re more traits than skills and everyone has them. So I need to become a developer or designer.

2. Since the learning curve was so steep, I pretty much kept quiet the first 2 days and tried to absorb as much as I could. But definitely need to build more confidence in whatever area I focus on. Either be able to speak with confidence or accept that you dont know

3. There’s an active community of about 50-60 people that works on start-ups, taking advantage of the limited infrastructure in Atlanta. I made some inroads into this network but need to break through more and stay active

4. Clarity of communication around simple things like requirements and bringing people to a consensus are much under-appreciated. I could (and should) have led but did not.

5. Key differentiator is leadership and drive to get things done.

Overall, a fantastic weekend!

What if it’s not change?

On my drive to work today, Project 9-6-1 was debating the mayoral race in Atlanta – white woman vs. black man (ironical, isn’t it?). I began to wonder – people at my age or older have seen the Hillary / Obama race as breaking new ground, as “change” for race and gender reasons.

For the next generation, however, the idea of a black man or a woman running for the highest office or any office will be a no-brainer. It’s only change if you have experienced something before, if you have stereotypes built up.

Change is only change if you think about it that way … if you keep your mind young and fresh and open to new ideas, change is just … it just is.

Facebook and Open Graph API

Facebook recently announced support for the Open Graph API. Does this mean that Facebook will own the social web outside of facebook.com? The implications are endless.

Skittles model has been flipped on it’s head – no need to aggregate brand conversation anymore because you can have it on your own site in a much deeper way than Facebook Connect.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out…