I love tracking data about myself. I have kept track of my weight and body fat for years. When I run or cycle I track my routes with GPS applications. Now, during the day I measure my general activity levels through the FitBit clip. In any case, if you’re anything like me you appreciate how this data provides insights and motivation toward achieving goals.

This past week I spoke at London’s monthly Quantified Self group about a question that had been rattling around in my head for some time …

Is it my interest in the underlying data or the ease of getting the data that makes me successful with some measurements and not others?

I don’t think there is a definitive answer as each person brings their own circumstances and context into the problem but I would like to know more about how people think about this. For this reason I’m conducting a simple survey on this topic and if you’ve got 5 minutes free I’d love it if you’d fill in the survey here:

Survey: Interest versus Ease of Entry in Tracking