Erica Tanamachi

July 11, 2018

Another conceptually simple idea, but still just as profound, comes from a project by Ashish Mukharji called Tracking Happiness, presented at a Bay Area Meetup in 2013. It’s another great example of the timelessness of QS projects. QS’ers are constantly asking ageless questions where the answers are often in flux as our bodies and minds grow. It’s fascinating to reflect back on both what we are learning individually and collectively at Quantified Self; for, the confirmation from similar answers, makes the projects all the more profound.

Ashish is the author of Run Barefoot and Run Healthy. In 2010, Ashish bought a book called How of Happiness for an extra boost in happiness. He wasn’t unhappy, but he enjoyed the instructions the book provided and began tracking his happiness for three years, rating each day with one number between 1-10.  He learned that he is on average a 7 out of 10. But, more importantly, through tracking his happiness, he learned that it was most greatly affected by sleep and other variables such as mean people and solitude.  After tracking his happiness for three years, he essentially learns some important tools to help keep his life as happy as possible. (Certainly a worthwhile project for all of us to learn from!)

We hope you can join us to share your learnings from a project, or simply be inspired at this year’s Quantified Self 2018 Conference in Portland on September 22-23. Register here.