The quantified self (and other web-based nightmares)

My working life and my personal life revolve around data organization and analysis. It's a simple truth for most of us, and those of us who need data most tend also to be the least at ease with the concept. For me, it all comes down to a strange breaking point wherein it's hard to tell how much of it is integral to constructing a better life and how much of it is dragging you completely off-course.

This is at the heart of the Flynn vs. Machine experiment: to what extent can I use this single machine to turn my life into a more focused and cohesive whole? I've made my need for a cloud computing solution obvious, and as app developers work furiously for an ideal solution (currently, I'm experimenting with iWork and its new beta website, Dropbox.com, and Evernote to see what combination might work best for me), I know this need is central to the iPad user's life in general.

At the same time, there is a growing desire for us to be able to track information. We write down what we eat, how often we exercise, what we need to accomplish at work, who to call back, which movies we want to rent. I personally have at least a half-dozen ways of organizing my own information, and I dream of a way to better streamline them all. I use Google Tasks to keep track of my to-do list at the office, my to-do list at home, and my list of random goals for the future (this involves things like "hot air balloon ride.") I use Goodreads to keep track of the books I want to read and Netflix to keep tabs on my movie list. My current favorite songs can be accessed on Hype Machine, and my grocery list lives in the Notes app on my Blackberry. I even make vague attempts to keep track of my progress as a runner on DailyMile.

I know that I'm not alone in this endless organization battle - websites like Quantified Self are devoted to logging the most basic of human functions, from sleep quality to calorie counts. This is all in the hope that future analysis of this data helps us see what we're doing wrong, how we're improving, and how we can better use our time. I live in fear that all of this data entry is actually wasting mine.

This said, without a list of things to do, I will never gain any traction on actually doing them. This is why I'm spending an evening and approximately $25 downloading the first of many list-organization apps on the iPad, and why I think it's worth it if I can the one that changes the way my words work. We all have a sense of where we need to go, and sometimes lists are the easiest way to find a map.