Better state of being

Published on
Utkarsh Chourasia-
3 min read

This is a mini blog, I talk about how I used data and metrics to change some of my habits to increase performance, focus, and mood.

There are two primary goals I wanted to achieve:

  1. Reach 15k steps per day in the least possible time while being in Zone 2 (Cardio).

  2. Reduce doomscrolling across all the apps.

I computed the data for the last couple of weeks of my health and screen time app to make some actionable steps.

Health

The core metrics that my fitness tracker tracks are:

  1. Steps

  2. Workout Time

  3. Distance

  4. Heart Rate Zone

Speed and cadence can be computed from the above data. What I found was

Since, its obvious that HR zone and cadence are directly proportional to speed. So I just needed to increase the speed, but how much? Thats the million dollar question!

So what I found was if I increased my speed to be above 4 km/hr, it would boost the other two metrics:

I still haven’t reached the target, but I am in a better position now. With the new numbers building up, I think I'll be able to further optimize it.

Screen Time

For this, I didn’t exactly "compute" any numbers; I just made educated decisions based on the habits and trends I saw I saw in the app.

The general idea that I applied here is to increase the friction as much as possible and make my phone a boring entity.

Things that I did:

  1. Disabled double tap, fingerprint, extended unlock → Make a conscious choice to unlock and open.

  2. Use a 16+ character password instead of a pattern lock → Make it hard and tedious to unlock the phone.

  3. Blocked notifications for all apps except critical apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Phone → Keeps unnecessary pings muted.

  4. Disabled notification sound and vibration for all apps → Keeps unnecessary pings muted.

  5. Removed all the apps and widgets from the home screen; only kept the Phone app → Increase friction and make conscious choice to launch an app.

  6. Uninstall all distracting apps (social media, OTT, and YouTube) → Root cause of doomscrolling.

  7. Hide less frequently used apps like Amazon and Gallery, but keep them reachable in a couple of clicks → Increase friction to launch apps.

  8. Set the phone to 'ultra power saving mode' → Limits apps and app background usage to further increase the friction.

  9. Black wallpaper everywhere → Keeps me always from scrolling my wallpaper collection.

  10. Hide the phone in another room, drawer, or backpack. → I use my watch to get notified for calls.

  11. Enable greyscale → Makes phone more boring.

  12. (Bonus) Change the screen guard to matte (the one that doesn’t reflect light) → I like to watch stuff in high resolution, but matte layers add a sort of graininess.

In laptop, it's pretty much the same, except a few things. I have extensions to block OTT sites or block feeds and other distracting components on YouTube.

The only sources of entertainment when I am by myself are music, online courses, books (both hard and soft copy), and the gym.