[ArbitraryLimits]

"So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. That would be a different impulse entirely, an instinct for reality which I sometimes envy but do not possess. At no point have I ever been able successfully to keep a diary; my approach to daily life ranges from the grossly negligent to the merely absent, and on those few occasions when I have tried dutifully to record a day's events, boredom has so overcome me that the results are mysterious at best. What is this business about "shopping, typing piece, dinner with E, depressed"? Shopping for what? Typing what piece? Who is E? Was this "E" depressed, or was I depressed? Who cares?"

Joan Didion, "On Keeping a Notebook"

Apologies for the long quote but this is pretty much how I feel about all attempts at "personal analytics" so far. As other posters have mentioned, analytics are great for businesses who have their FOMs and TPMs and KPPs and whatever to maximize already, but on a personal level the best use of diaries and journals is to force yourself to realize what your goals are, not to help achieve them.

[mtdewcmu]

I liked "Where I was From," the book she wrote about how crummy California is and how she had disowned it as her childhood home. I was feeling down on California at that time, and it was a great book to read.

Personal analytics software is something I would never use. It must be nice to have a life worth quantifying.