I’ve written about the quantified self movement before on Anywhere Working during Fitness Month. One method of quantifying one’s life is to track their physical activity. It is not the only thing you may track, but it is often the most interesting area, especially for those who are making changes to their lives, as most flexible workers have the ability to do.

I work anywhere. In doing so I am free, to some extent, to control the course of my day - making room for walks, gym sessions and get more exercise than if I were sitting at a desk all week. But I wanted more - I wanted to track how much I do and find out whether I should be doing more or less to stay fit and healthy, while maintain a good work / life balance.

So I used two products from Ki Performance to find this out.

The first tool I used was Ki Fit. This is an activity tracker worn on your left arm. It tracks steps, movement, heat, moisture and sleep patterns. The idea is that by being on the body it gives more accurate data, but it does mean you have to wear the thing constantly - it depends of how comfortable you feel having meetings wearing it I suppose (I got a few looks, but once I explained the experiment people were quite interested).

The second tool was the Bod Pod. This is an air pressure chamber which accurately measures your body fat vs. lean mass ratio. It works like the old ‘Eureka’ moment Archimedes experiences, with air displacement revealing how many pies you’ve been

munching on when away from your desk.

So how did I find these two tools? What did they tell me and is it worth it?

Firstly, I found that I get plenty of exercise. This is certainly down to the flexible working lifestyle as an Anywhere Worker, but with the Bod Pod report, when compared to one of the Anywhere Working editors I went along with, wasn’t so positive. You see I’ve only been flexibly working for around 6 months now, and the journey is long.. so there is some way to go before I lose the beer belly.

But it is so incredibly interesting. I’d have loved to started the experiment on the first day that I began working flexibly; I’d have seen the beginning, middle and ongoing results using tools such as those provided by Ki Performance. And this is what the quantified self movement is all about - learning from the changes you make to your life.

Are you making a change soon? Maybe you are about to become an Anywhere Worker too? Why not get in touch and start recording your journey with a quantified self twist!