Saturday, September 1, 2012

Couldn't have done it if I tried...

It's September 1st, which marks my third full month with the Nike FuelBand. Over that time, I've come to believe in the form factor (to which the FuelBand owes Jawbone a tip of the hat) and the experience as one of the best in activity monitoring. What's incredible to me is that over the last three months, without trying to achieve or knowing this pattern existed, I've become remarkably consistent:

Check this out (FuelPoints):




Even more clearly:


There is a big drop off in steps in August, but I've felt that since the last update, the FuelBand was much more conservative in it's measurement of steps (I saw a drop from about 20k per day to 15k per day) - of course, here I am blaming my tools, when it could have been me sitting on my behind. 

There's a an observer issue (which is not the Heisenberg principal, I know, for you physics bigots...) at play here, and it's hard for me to claim that the FuelBand is directly responsible for the consistency, but I've certainly found that the form factor, the fact it does not break, the battery life, and the daily incentives/rewards/goals are having an effect on my desire to exceed my numbers each day. 

It seems to be working. The lack of an API is still horrible, and the fact I had to type my data into a Google Spreadsheet just to tell you about it - yes, it's got flaws still. But in terms of consistent engagement? Impressive. 

Have you found consistency in your monthly output? Any hypothesis on why it's working (or not) for you?