It’s your data, use it.

At this point we are all sick of reading about the new “data gold rush”- but hear me out. In most cases you can’t use your data to draw any meaningful conclusions. Unfortunately, your last Facebook post + the receipt from your shopping trip two days ago = nothing. Companies keep talking about how valuable data is because they need to collect a huge amount of it about one very specific thing in order to find a pattern and thus, draw a conclusion. This doesn’t help you at all- but it’s your data, you should use it.

So, what is the most effective use of your data? To help you shop faster? Mmm, no. To make it easier for you to read the news? Probably not. What is the most important thing in your life? You guessed it- your life. With the advancements in data science, the availability of wearable technology, and platforms that make it easy for you to track everything from your food consumption to your emotional state of mind — there is no reason you shouldn’t know exactly what is going on with your health and wellness at all times. You should be able to see your baseline metrics, compare that to your historical data, and analyze your progress to find trends and predict how healthy you are now and will be in the future. If this sounds like a lot of work- that’s because it is.

The problem is that your health and wellness data is all over the place. Your personal trainer knows about your fitness, your meal prep delivery service knows about your nutrition, and your smart watch knows how much time you spend sitting each day. It is safe to say that these…