The Full Stack: On observing yourself

Hi pals! Welcome to The Full Stack, where we design a purposeful life through one proven concept each week, along with a practical experiment to bring it to life.

💬 Quote

💬 Concept

For this week, I planned to write all about the metrics I track in my life, what I’m using them for, and the tools that help.

I got through 90% of the draft, then I hit a wall: What is the point? 

Turns out, it’s discipline — but not in the way you think.

At work, we love a good data story. We load up Google Analytics, talk to users for insights, and build on these inputs to inform our decisions.

(Well, and whatever the stakeholders think makes sense, but that’s a whole thing on its own.)

But here is what I found fascinating: the very act of tracking changes how we behave.

The Hawthorne Effect

In the 1920s and 1930s, researchers studied worker productivity and observed a few key findings, but this is what we’re focusing on for this week:

Workers tend to perform better when they know they are being observed.

(Comforting or not, a hundred years later, capitalism is still trying to figure that out.)

Here’s the fun part, though — it revealed something more profound about human nature, because it doesn’t just apply to work, a social hierarchy, or the number of people observing you.

We all act differently when we know we are being watched, even if the observer is just ourselves.

Our brains aren’t wired to accurately gauge where our time, energy, and resources go to. They take the path of least resistance — which is sometimes straight-up lying to ourselves based on how we feel.

Tracking cuts through that noise.

The reality check

I remember feeling like I spent so much time at the gym, only to find out it was just six hours a week — just 3.5% of the total week. Or thinking I mustn’t be eating a lot, only to have the app reveal the stark truth.

And I’m not alone in this - research has shown that people regularly underestimate their caloric intake, and experience time distortion during exercise.

When I log my hours, I’m collecting data and creating a witness to how I am shaping my day. The act becomes a reminder of what I’m prioritizing, and often changes my internal script about my perception of the length of activities.

When I log my expenses, I’m reminding myself of my available resources and where I am choosing to focus on.

Likewise, when I see my sleep data, I get to stop lying to myself that I’m one of those people that only need 5 hours of sleep a night to be a functional human being the next day.

What we can learn from this concept

I’d love to nerd out about the tools I use here (seriously, you know I would), but that’s secondary to the point this week.

The act of tracking is the discipline, and each time I do it, it becomes a micro-commitment to the version of myself I want to be.

Over time, I’m hoping these micro-commitments stack up, and become reminders that I’m showing up for myself, and my own choices and growth to somewhere worthwhile, witnessed by myself.

🧪 Experiment

Question:

What do you wish you had data on in your life?

Experiment set-up:

Take a minute to identify one area where you feel curious, or maybe even a bit skeptical about how much time, energy, or resources you’re actually investing. Then, reply to this email with your answer.

Once you share it, I’ll get back to you with ideas on how you can track it and make the findings useful.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

I first stumbled across the concept of a quantified self many, many years ago, with the Feltron Annual Report providing snapshots of his year in a life, tracking things like number of emails sent, places visited etc.

It blew my mind and I think it might still be a side project I want to seriously pursue at some point.

Cheers,
Jalyn

_{If you’ve reached this far down… I’m committed to bringing new ideas and experiments every week, so if you liked this concept, I’d really appreciate if you would forward this email to someone who might also find it interesting and helpful.}