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A note on obsessive record keeping and its unintended consequences

On a whim, at the end of last year, I decided to keep track of what time I make it into work on a daily basis. Keeping a record of the time I walk into the door was as far as I got in terms of coming up with a resolution for the new year. The assumption there was that I would try and make it into work prior to 9am. Along the way, I decided to add the time it takes me to get to work. This gave rise to the below graph.

I am not certain what I am to take away from this. I have yet to miss keeping track of one day. I obsessively follow the same routine. I get on the elevator going down from my apartment and by the time I walk out the door, I note down the time I started at. I turn my phone's sound off, then I walk to work. About 20 minutes later, I get to work, depending on the traffic lights and the pattern I take to work. I wish desperately for there to be no line at the office elevator so I can get up as quickly as I can. Around the 9 O’Clock mark, there is a rush of people, so it takes perhaps two minutes, all told, to get up to the 17th floor. 

In that time, I stare at the little screen on the elevator which flashes the news, the weather report and the current state of airports across North America. Why, I don't quite know. Oh and it tells me what the weather is like in Calgary, Toronto, Miami and Los Angeles. The last two typically make me wish for sunshine. 

Finally, I get to the office door, swipe my card to get in and then, I can document my time. And then I go to my desk and write it down on paper for posterity. I don't know that it has made me any better at getting to work earlier though.

If you look at the graph, I have been all over the place with my arrivals. I've walked in as late as 9:27 and as early as 8:45.  On average, I think I do make it in by 9, but that's just a hunch on my part. Anyway, what is the point of all this? At the end of the day, rather than using the data to make myself more punctual, I'm enjoying just generating data.

Now, onto the next story. Well, before the next story, a side story. I'm a bit compulsive with keeping such useless records. I've done so in the past for my hikes. In that case, it has really helped. Well, in the I'd-like-to-improve-my-time sort of way. My times seem to improve towards the end of the season. This could just be because my body is in better shape as the summer but I'd like to think it is because I try harder to beat my previous best time.

So, onto that other story. I've been riding a bicycle for a long time. My co-workers are fairly serious bike riders. One of them is attempting something called the Gran Fondo, a sort of mad race up a mountain on a road bike. Gaining 1700m falls into the crazy category. Take a look for yourself. As part of his training, and because keeping records seems to be fun, he keeps meticulous records of his rides. I started to keep track of my bike rides as well. 

While I am not attempting the race (perhaps next year?), I've noticed that all this record keeping has spurred me to actually take part in more rides than I normally would do. Today for example, I rode up a decent hill for over 2k just so I could get data for next time. While it was no hors catégorie, I was spurred on by the fact that I could try beating my current best (and single) time on that hill. 

I have a Garmin device that aids me in this endeavour. While strictly not a cycle computer, it gives me a few good data points to track my progress on these tracks. I use a service called Strava to keep track of my rides and I have to say, they make getting these achievements fun. If I do a good ride and I hit some personal records, I am very happy. I have yet to achieve any global records, but one of these days, I hope to break into the top 10 of something. I've gone from barely biking to biking almost every other day. And Strava helps by showing you how badly you are doing compared to others (or yourself in the past). I find it motivating.

The take away here is that sometimes, keeping records can help spur you to improve whatever it is you are doing. As my little garmin device ticks away, I am looking forward to getting in another ride tomorrow, thereby completing my goal of riding 100k in 10 days. Mind you, there seems something wrong with my bike, so who knows whether I will make it by tomorrow. Wish me luck.

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