Perdicis Notes

Productive Platypus

publish Opened 2023-07-17. Name WIP (thanks Rudy). Related to the type A-ness of Bryan Johnson finishes his last meal at 11am.

Metrics

Moved to Productive Platypus metrics.

Ideas

Maybe the goal should be me being able to record data whenever I want. And I’ll get reminders to record data after it’s been a while

  • Yes! This is what Metriport allows for.
  • Update 2023-07-28: Furthermore, maybe I should allow for dated AND non-dated entries. Maybe that would complicate the correlation function though.

In general, my limited ML understanding tells me that binary metrics aren’t very useful whereas ranges like 1-5 are.

  • Conclusion: prioritize 1-5 where possible

Also, neutral tags will only be statistically significant if I consistently tag entries.

  • Conclusion: Set up tags for things that I only believe are statistically significant.

Metriport

2023-07-23: Found Metriport, software that does almost exactly what I’m trying to achieve with this project. Except it’s closed-source and requires a subscription to fully use your data. And the developers have clearly moved on to some other project (although this was originally YC-backed, which is neat).

How frustrating. I can practically hear the countdown clock ticking till this app’s delisting on the Play Store.

I think what I’ll do is:

  • Use the app for a little while. The preset options are already giving me ideas of what to track.
  • Reverse-engineer the app’s methodologies to fit a csv-pattern that I can take full control of with my data later.

Tracking this in Reverse-engineering Metriport

(Also, a side-note on viability as a startup/side-hustle: with all the AI craze I think people would be interested in a streamlined way to collect data to improve their health)

2023-08-12: Getting an MVP off the ground is harder than I anticipated so I’m considering ditching Metriport for something that works better and isn’t obnoxiously designed. Opened a section on this.

Todos from 2023-07-29

  1. Export some demo metrics as csv to see how they’re stored, in case that sparks any thought.
  2. Finish brainstorming which metrics to record. Then, either:
  3. Implement the metrics into Metriport; or try Kenneth’s app.
  4. Configure reminders per time of day (I should probably have several) to fill in data.

(I never actually did these things)

Metriport alternatives

Written 2023-08-12 AFAIU none of these are as time-granular as Metriport.

  • Daylio - Kenneth uses this. 10M downloads on the play store. Not sure how IAPs work.
    • Pros:
      • Solid support for visualizing the data per factor
      • Can export raw data as CSV
        • Can also rename qualities like rad→5 and the app will retroactively edit entries and make it compatible in the CSV
    • Cons:
      • I despise the UI with every ADHD bone in my body.
      • Ads everywhere and IAP banner
      • No support for tagged activities.
      • No support for quantifiable things, i.e. hours of sleep, weight gain
  • Bearable - Seems like the same as Daylio
    • Major pro:
      • A crackhead UI designer on the dev team is active basically daily on /r/bearableapp gauging interest in new ideas
    • Pros:
      • Lets you track social interactions per person.
      • This wonderfully neutral post on Reddit suggesting Bearable is more of a medical tool than flashy.
      • Integrates with GFit
      • Support for custom experiments (can integrate with weekly retros)
      • Decent support for visualizing data per factor
    • Cons:
      • UI is clunky
      • No support for tags
      • Custom metrics locked behind paywall
      • Correlations locked behind paywall
      • Paywall is expensive ($35/y)
      • Needs account
  • Moodflow - Alternative made by someone from /r/daylio.
    • Pros:
      • Really intuitive UI for calendar and for entering otherwise complex stuff like bedtimes and meds.
      • Lets you track social interactions per person.
      • No account needed.
    • Cons:
      • Correlations locked behind monthly sub.
      • Exports data as a nightmarish JSON it makes sense there’s 1 dev working on this
    • Major con:
      • No support for custom metrics.
      • “Activities” comes close but can’t add tags to it. So I want to have meals as tags and then say whether it was healthy or not, but I can’t. Can’t enter weight either.
  • Exist
    • Looks great and custom and a small dev team but can’t own my own data and it’s default paid subscription
  • https://nomie.app
    • It’s dead after 8 years of development
    • The dev suggests other apps to use… and I don’t like them. I might be SOL

Beyond Metriport / True Productive Platypus

Written 2023-08-13

At this point I’m 100% sure there isn’t an app out there for me. I need to make my own.

I’ll try doing a CSV hooked up to a ton of IFTTTs.

  • Can integrate Google Fit
  • Can integrate Sleep as Android probably

Yeah I didn’t do that

I’m just using Daylio with per-day granularity. I decided on a whim on 2023-08-14 and developed the Daylio protocol.

Brainstorming frontmatter

By coincidence the next day on 2023-08-15 I learned Obsidian 1.4 has formal support for frontmatter.

Maybe I should use Obsidian as my daily driver equipped with frontmatter, then export that to Daylio — and eventually, export it as my own csv format (thought more deeply on this 2023-08-19). It’s a good idea. What I wrote:

Yo what if I added Daylio frontmatter to the daily note template. Then I can just port it whenever. And also keep track of my weight because Obsidian lets me do whatever I want… good idea tbh.

Lol I remember being more articulate.

Deprecated Daylio for frontmatter

On 2023-08-20 I deprecated Daylio protocol in favor of Frontmatter protocol.

Correlation ideas for frontmatter

Just some ideas of what to look for that I’m curious.

  • Presence of breakfast ⇒ bad producitivity
    • And then also what causes breakfast?
  • Lack of exercise / bad productivity ⇒ bad sleep
    • This could explain why the pendulum happens/doesn’t happen

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