subtleties in tracking happiness -- seattle qs#10
TRANSCRIPT
Subtleties in Tracking Happiness
Jin Young [email protected] / [email protected]
Happy fami l ies are a l l a l ike ; every unhappy fami ly i s unhappy in i t s own way.
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
momentsmoment
Jin Young Kim, Autobiography
But there are repeated patterns!
What if I can pull out the best from myself, every moment?
LiFiDeA (Life+Idea) Project
The key lies in understanding the nature of (un)happiness!
About Jin
• Applied Researcher at Microsoft Bing– Day Job: relevance (search quality) measurement– A lots of number crunching + stat/math fun!
• Passion for Self-tracking for 10+ years– Experimented with self-built S/W btw. 2002-2006– Keep on experimenting ever since…
Turns out two have much in common!
Parallels between Search Quality vs. Happiness Measurement
Search Quality• How good are the quality of
results we serve for users?
Happiness• How happy do I feel for
given time-frame?
Search Quality Happiness
Purpose Max. searcher satisfaction Max. happiness
Ground Truth Relevance judgment (Judges)
Happiness judgment (my-self)
Next Steps Algo. ranking improvement Lifestyle improvement
Both aim at objective results from subjective human measurements!
MEASUREMENT METHOD
What to Measure
• Happiness– Self-reported 5-point Likert scale• Perfect (LIFIDEA) to Nightmare• Record 3 times a day
• Factors affecting Happiness– Sleep / wake-up time / events / states• Anything I believe to be correlated with H.
Both sides of the H. coin
How successful was it?• Hard side of happiness
– Goal achievement– Impact on myself/others
• Major factors– Preparation/planning– Task scope/breakdown
How good did I feel?• Soft side of happiness
– Sense of well-being
• Major factors– Energy level– Focus/awareness
How can we turn this into the rating?
Happiness Rating Matrix
How good did I feel?
Awesome Positive So So Awful
How succes
sful was it?
Very Successful
Perfect[LIFIDEA] Excellent Good Fair
Successful Excellent Good Fair Fair
So so Good Fair Fair Bad
Unsuccessful Fair Fair Bad Nightmare
Very unlikely
Very unlikely
MEASUREMENT PIPELINE
Allows natural and easy entry of happiness rating
and related factors
Pipeline Overview
Data Extraction in Ruby
Statistics Calculation in R
Journal Entry in Evernote
Web Front-end in JQuery
Allows real-time update of status anytime, anywhere
LESSONS LEARNED FROM 2012
Time-series of Happiness and Factors
• Per-day and per-week statistics of Wake-up time / Average score / Sleep time
Score > 4
Score = 3
Score < 2
Happy times vs. Unhappy times
Impact of Major Events
• Consistently more happy before/during major deadline/tasks
• Extended vacation is major source of unhappiness???
Vacation
Vacation
How wake-up time & location affects my happiness
• Early start is critical for happy morning!
• Better stay away from home if you want to be happy!
Findings on my Happiness
• ‘Initial condition’ matters a lot– Discipline at early morning / work start is crucial– Need to put yourself in the zone at the beginning
• Some structure/external stimuli helps– Weekdays/Morning/Deadline induces happiness!– Hard to be ‘optimal’ in relaxed situations
Findings on my Happiness
• Cyclical pattern is unavoidable– Get loose after good times, vice versa– Real question: how can I stay in the zone AMAP?
• Your rating affects yourself– Beware of self-fulfilling prophecy– Try to rate myself after the fact
Conclusions & Next Steps
• Self-tracking has made tremendous impact– On how I see myself and prioritize stuffs
• Need to turn the insights into results– E.g., How can I achieve 3.5 average for this year?
• A lot of things to learn about myself & tracking– I can probably write a book in the end!
OPTIONAL
Other Findings
• Tracking improves planning / awareness– Initial ‘shininess’ effect in January
• Timely (weekly) review / feedback is critical– Otherwise, the motivation for tracking is soon lost
• Implementing changes is still challenging– May work better in a (support) group
LOOKING ONWARD
Architecture of Happiness