when tracking makes sense

Before my recent efforts to be more mindful of how I used technology, I was quite proud of the streak I had with meditating daily. I had convinced myself that meditating daily was a good thing, which I still believe. But somewhere along the way, I’d actually added a caveat to that. Meditating daily was only good if it was tracked in my Calm app. If the session was logged there, I was meditating. If it wasn’t, then the meditation never happened.

This worked well enough until I began leaving my phone across the room in the evening. Preparing for bed had become the time I’d listen to a meditation. Suddenly, it wasn’t convenient. I wasn’t getting up to start the meditation and then back up when it finished. So, I mostly just stopped using the app.

I haven’t stopped meditating though. It just looks like it. Instead of using the app, I’ve started spending ~15 minutes in the sauna every day in silent meditation.

Part of me is tempted to pull out my phone when I get out of the sauna and log the time, but at least so far, I haven’t. The reason is that having a track of whether or not I’m meditating is not the point. That’s a proxy. The point is how I feel and spending the time in the sauna is so much better than simply checking a box every day and seeing the streak count increase.

I track quite a bit of my life. Tracking my meditations wouldn’t be much of a burden, however it also wouldn’t provide much value. And just like I’ve begun asking of technology, I would ask: Is this the best way to accomplish this goal?

For now, tracking my meditations isn’t as valuable as spending the time with myself focusing on my breath.