Quote:
Originally Posted by Innerzone
Heheh. I don't think I am, but can say for sure that I can't leave anything of the sort alone! Ever! I've tried a couple of mood trackers (always by hand, but that's me.). Almost immediately I'm tweaking it. With more information. But of course.  One variation I came up with had too much writing. The one I use now has a little space for elaboration on a given thing. The most useful adjustment I've found? Color-coding. |
Color-coding is one of the analytic techniques I use for manual clustering on big spreadsheets of data. I mean, for "real" research! So yeah, I agree, it really helps. I used to create "heatmap" scales using the Excel color palettes in reds/oranges/yellows and blues/purples for some projects.
I honestly think there are some better ways and things to track than the way I'm currently doing it. I've seen some mood charting worksheets that have not only the up/down sort of rating, but a spot for irritability and energy level. I think that would be really helpful for me because although I get irritable fairly rarely, energy level doesn't always correspond to mood the way that it "should" so to speak. Hm. Maybe I'll go leaf through the collection of mood chart forms that I've picked up from the interwebs and see if I can make something I like better...
I like having a paper form that I can tuck into the back of my mood journal (a weekly-view Moleskine calendar) because it's compact and easy to take along when I travel.