Why Keep Track of Daily Life?

Tracking Daily Life Helps Us Understand Ourselves

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, talks about the two systems that drive our decisions and actions: the unconscious System 1 and the conscious System 2. The former manifests as intuition, emotions, and habits, while the latter involves deliberate thought and action. As Kahneman puts it, System 1 is the main character of our lives—the emotions and behavioral patterns we may not even notice are what truly govern our lives.

Similarly, psychologist Jonathan Haidt offers a powerful metaphor, supported by solid scientific evidence: our emotions and habits are like an elephant, while our reason and consciousness are merely the rider. The elephant’s strength far surpasses that of the rider, making it both painful and futile to try to suppress or fight emotions with sheer reason. To achieve our goals, we must observe, understand, and learn to work with our emotions.

Our memory isn’t particularly good at capturing the details of daily life, yet it’s precisely these details that contain our subconscious behavior and emotional patterns. By tracking our daily life, we gradually become aware of these patterns and identify habitual reactions hidden in our routines. This deeper understanding empowers us to take truly effective actions to improve our lifestyle.

"Seeing" as a Source of Motivation

Tracking daily life also helps us "see" our daily habits more clearly.

According to cognitive dissonance theory, when a person’s behavior conflicts with their beliefs or knowledge, it creates discomfort or inner conflict. This inconsistency motivates people to change their behavior or adjust their beliefs to eliminate the discomfort. When we can clearly see the inconsistency between what we believe and what we do, we gain the motivation to change our behavior.

For instance, we’ve all experienced getting lost in our phones, entering a "time disappears" state where we’re unaware of how much time we’re wasting—only realizing it afterward with feelings of emptiness and regret. If you can "see" on your Watch face that you’ve been on your phone for an entire hour, your belief of "I need to reduce screen time" will give you the push to put your phone down.