This is my quantified self report for 2018. Since 2013 I’ve been tracking various life metrics to learn more about myself and improve my productivity, health and well-being. Last year I kept track of about 50 metrics across 5 categories. Some data are captured automatically via applications such as Last.fm (music), Fitbit (steps, sleep), RescueTime (productivity) or Moves (location) – I log the rest manually in a Google Sheets spreadsheet.

I took a total of 4,477,138 steps last year, which is an average of 12,226 steps per day. My most active day was May 19 with 30,147 steps. On 88 days I didn’t hit my daily step goal of 10,000. I walked less than average in colder months of the year (Jan-Apr, Dec). You can also see a dip in September where I was down with the flu for about a week.

My 2018 goals included going for a swim at least once per week and increasing the total swim distance. I didn’t miss a single week in 2018 and I swam a total of 128.5 kilometers which is a 27% increase compared to 2017. I swam in 6 different pools and 1 lake across 6 different cities in 4 different countries. The London Acquatics Centre was the nicest pool I swam in this year.

I consumed a total of 30 books last year of which I finished 18 (60% completion rate). I read 11 books on my Kindle (55% completed), 6 in paper format (33% completed) and listened to 13 as audiobooks (77% completed).

I spent 73.5 hours reading books on my Kindle, 14.5 hours reading paper books and 89 hours listening to audiobooks. That an average of roughly 29 minutes of book consumption per day.

My favourite books this year were The Elephant in the Brain, Finite and Infinite Games and Bad Blood.

Listening to 84 podcast episodes took up 85 hours of time last year, while watching TV and movies made up 193 and 56 hours, respectively.

Additionally, I read 361 long-form articles.

I spent 21 days and 10 hours listening to 8.820 songs (of which 3.334 were unique) from 1491 different albums by 930 different artists.

I haven’t consumed this much music since 2013 (9403 songs), which is a positive sign since I suspect that music consumption is a good proxy for productivity (my job between 2014-2017 was quite meeting-heavy).

More than 60% of the songs I listened to last year were electronic, ambient or contemporary classical music (ideal for productive work). I listen to most music on Fridays (a day that usually has less meetings).

Exactly half of the music I consumed were songs I listened to for the first time.

I traveled 12,626 kilometers last year visiting 15 cities in 5 countries (DE, AT, CH, PL, GB). I spent the vast majority (+90%) of my time in Berlin:

I visited roughly 5 places per day (down 7% YoY) and explored 633 new locations that I hadn’t been to before.

I had 471 cups of coffee last year. 58% of which were filter-, 42% espresso-based.

I drank 113.85 liters of beer last year (which is less than I drank in 2017, but still above the average per capita consumption in Germany).

I compared the data to the time I spent watching soccer and the average temperature, which are the two factors I assume have the highest influence on my beer drinking behavior.

As if the number of beers wasn’t concerning enough, I additionally had 43 Old Fashioned’s and 101 glasses of wine. (I decided to cut down my alcohol consumption this year.)

I ate 12 bowls of Ramen, 15 Burgers, 14 Gemüsekebabs, 7 Bibimbaps, 2 Poke Bowls, 4 Schnitzels, 78 slices of Pizza and 82 dishes of Pasta.

I limited my meat consumption to 24 meals, but had fish or seafood on 83 occasions.

I rate each day on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being “Very Unhappy” and 5 being “Very Happy”. I evaluate this in the morning of the next day. I’m aware that this method far from perfect (recency bias, etc) and will probably switch to a tool like Felix Krause’s Mood Tracker.

My average happiness score last year was 3.49. March and October were my happiest months, but I don’t have a good explanation for why this is the case.

I keep similar scores for Perceived Stress (1 = Very relaxed, 5 = Very stressed), Perceived Sleep Quality (1 = Hardly slept, 5 = Slept really well) and Perceived Back Pain (1 = No Pain, 10 = Very Painful).

On average I reported a daily stress level of 2.47. Unsurprisingly, weekends were less stressful (1.69) than work days (2.78). My stress levels also decreased whenever I took a vacation.

I spent 2859 hours and 50 minutes asleep last year. That’s 32.64% of the entire year or 7:50 hours per day.

I reported an average daily sleep score of 3.68. I slept best in March (4.03) and in nights between Thursday to Friday (3.92). May (3.26) and nights between Sundays and Mondays (3.36) received the lowest perceived sleep quality scores.

After suffering from chronic back problems for a few years, I started tracking my pain levels in 2017 to get a better understanding of which treatments actually had a positive impact.

In 2018, my average reported daily back pain was 1.45 – down from 4.2 in 2017.

I compared my back pain numbers to my swim activities (which seem to have some impact) as well as the time I spent stationary (no physical activity).

I spent 1709 hours in front of my MacBook last year – that’s 19.51% of the entire year.

Twitter was by far my most used application in 2018: I spent (wasted?) a total of 161 hours on the platform last year (note that this doesn’t include phone screen time).

98 hours were spent reading and writing emails in Google Inbox – my second most used app last year. I switched to Superhuman at the end of last year and I’m curious if my 2019 data will support the company’s promise of making email faster and more efficient.

Every app and website is tagged with a productivity label ranging from Very Productive to Very Unproductive. I spent the majority of the time (907 hours) doing either Very Productive or Productive work. 602 hours were marked as Unproductive or even Very Unproductive.

Based on the applications’ productivity labels and the time I spent in them, a productivity score between 0 (Very Unproductive) and 100 (Very Productive) is calculated. My overall 2018 productivity score was 56 – down from 62 in 2017.

My productivity score follows a similar pattern to my perceived stress levels as well as my perceived productivity (which is an additional 1-5 score with which I rate each working day manually).

I worked on this report for 13 hours and 25 minutes 🙂

Read 3 books (465 min, -30%) and 31 long-form articles (+3%).
Listened to 843 songs (+9%), 1 audiobook (20 min, -66%) and 12 podcast episodes (554 min, -20%).
Watched 1 movie (-75%), 6 soccer games (-14%) and 23 TV episodes (415 min, -25%).

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
░▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 6-21%

Has the West Lost It? (Kishore Mahbubani)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

White (Kenya Hara)
▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-43%

What The Hell Is Going On? (David Perell)

Mini (Asymco)

What Is Amazon? (Zack Kanter)

Life Capital (Erik Torenberg)

Sam Altman on Loving Community, Hating Coworking, and the Hunt for Talent (Conversations with Tyler)

What Keith Rabois Thinks About Basically Everything (Venture Stories)

True Detective (Season 3) (HBO)

LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (Netflix)

Jailbreaking the Simulation with George Hotz(SXSW 2019)

Top Artists: Modeselektor, Kuniyuki Takahashi, James Blake, Elskavon, Radiohead

Read 6 books (665 min, -50%) and 30 long-form articles (-14%).
Listened to 772 songs (-5%), 2 audiobooks (58 min, -86%) and 12 podcast episodes (695 min, +9%).
Watched 4 movies (+300%), 7 soccer games (+134%) and 11 TV episodes (+267%).

Stubborn Attachments (Tyler Cowen)
░░░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 22-100%

The Gentleman’s Guide to Cocktails (Alfred Tong)
▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-40%

The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jane Jacobs)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-11%

Imbibe! (David Wondrich)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-7%

The Dead Rabbit (Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry, Jillian Vose)
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-21%

The Power Broker (Robert A. Caro)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-6%

Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-7%

Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-4%

Book Review: Zero To One (Slate Star Codex)

Entrepreneur First the Index VC Fund (Digitizing Biology)

What Happens When Techno-Utopians Actually Run a Country (Wired)

The Underground Worlds of Haruki Murakami (New Yorker)

The Most Powerful Person in Silicon Valley (Fast Company)

Top Artists: TV on the Radio, James Blake, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, Bob Moses

Read 7 books (1320 min, +16%) and 35 long-form articles (-24%).
Listened to 814 songs (+61%), 1 audiobook (401 min, +∞%) and 11 podcast episodes (639 min, -12%).
Watched 1 movies (-50%), 3 soccer games (-50%) and 3 TV episodes (-80%).

The Courage To Be Disliked (Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga)
░░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 45-100%

Radical Markets (Eric A. Posner & Glen Weyl)
░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 7-100%

The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States (Jeffrey Lewis)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

Reality is Broken (Jane McGonigal)
░▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 5-30%

Sprint (Jake Knapp)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-62%

The Sovereign Individual (James Dale Davidson)
░░▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 12-15%

Stubborn Attachments (Tyler Cowen)
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-22%

Men Without Women (Haruki Murakami)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

The unbelievable tale of a fake hitman, a kill list, a darknet vigilante… and a murder (Wired)

The Founder’s Guide to Discipline: Lessons from Front’s Mathilde Collin (First Round Review)

My parents are Flat-Earthers (Jim Fisher)

2018 Predictions: Calibration Results (Slate Star Codex)

Predictions for 2019 (Slate Star Codex)

Keith Rabois on the future of innovation in Silicon Valley (Recode/Decode)

Tyler Cowen: Two Blundering Fools (North Star Podcast)

Matt Levine: Money Stuff (North Star Podcast)

Keith Rabois: Accumulating Advantages (North Star Podcast)

Top Artists: Jóhann Jóhannsson, James Blake, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Max Richter

I have recently started experimenting with mixing my own Old Fashioned at home. Here’s my current version:

• 6 cl Rye Whiskey
• 4 dashes aromatic bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 1 cocktail spoon homemade syrup
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 orange peel

I currently use Woodford Reserve Rye Whiskey, Angostura Aromatic Bitters and Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6 (though I’d like to start making my own bitters soon). The syrup is 1:1 Demerara sugar.

Read 5 books (1135 min, +260%) and 46 long-form articles (+59%).
Listened to 505 songs (+2%), 0 audiobook (0 min, -100%) and 11 podcast episodes (726 min, +13%).
Watched 2 movies (same), 6 soccer games (-14%) and 15 TV episodes (+650%).

Der Nasse Fisch (Volker Kutscher)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 2-3%

The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)
░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 5-100%

How The Internet Happened (Brian McCullough)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

The Courage To Be Disliked (Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-45%

Radical Markets (Eric A. Posner & Glen Weyl)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-7%

52 things I learned in 2018 (Tom Whitwell)

The Friendship that made Google huge (The New Yorker)

The Short Life of Popcorn Prediction Markets (The Ringer)

What Noah Smith Thinks About Basically Everything (Venture Stories)

Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe (Tim Ferriss Show)

Top Artists: Arcade Fire, Hans Zimmer, Gorillaz, IAMX, Radiohead

I set myself 18 goals last year and completed 10 of them:

• Improve my swim skills ❌
  While I hit my other swimming-related goals (see below), I failed this one. Thinking about getting a coach this year.
• Go for a swim at least once per week ✅
  I made it to 119 straight weeks last Monday and hope I can keep the streak alive for another whole year.
• Swim more than in 2017 (101km) ✅
  Total distance 2018: 128.5km – a 27% YoY increase
• Meditate at least 5 times per week ❌
  I meditated 99 times last year (~20h), but wasn’t able to make it a habit. This has been the fourth year in a row of me failing at reaching my meditation goals.
• Finish and launch prototype of monote ✅
  I launched monote in March last year. I stopped working on it full-time shortly after I launched, but it remains a side project with a couple hundred MAUs.
• ███████████████ ❌
• ██████████████ ✅
• Read at least 15 books ✅
  I ended up reading 18 books (11 non-fiction, 7 fiction). My favorites were The Elephant in the Brain, Finite and Infinite Games and Bad Blood
• Read/watch more Manga/Anime ❌
  (Need to figure out what books/movies/series are the best to get started)
• Write 12 long-form blog posts ❌
  While I did post more than 12 long-form articles, the majority were my monthly media consumption updates. I don’t really count those as writing which was the actual goal.
• Update design of this blog ✅
• Move to Berlin ✅
• Do a total of 10950 push-ups ❌
  Did these almost daily until around July, then stopped completely (not sure why).
• Watch 50 movies from the IMDB Top-250 list ❌
  Realised that a lot of the movies I hadn’t seen yet are actually really boring …
• Eat less sugar ✅
  (Need a way to better quantify sugar consumption)
• Limit meat consumption to 24 meals ✅
• Write more lists ❌
• Visit a country I’ve never been to before ✅
  Traveled to Poland (Warsaw) in May last year.

My list for 2019 contains 15 goals. I will review those in a year from now.

• ██████████████████████████
• Go for a swim at least once a week
  Current streak: 119 weeks
• Swim more than in 2018
  2018 distance: 128.5km
• Back exercise daily
• ██████████████████████████████
• Spend less time on social media
  Added App Timers for Twitter and Instagram, removed Facebook
• Read 20 books
• Get a Switch and play Breath of the Wild
• Write 50 blog posts
• Write 365 tweets
• Limit meat consumption to 24 meals
• Limit alcohol consumption to 2 days / week
• Improve my cooking skills
  Try 20 new dishes
• Explore more new places
  Measured in Swarm check-ins, +25% at new places
• Visit a country I haven’t been to before