The FARMer's Market

Below please find additional products and services that will help you FARM™ better. For now, the FARMer’s Market is just a list of names, descriptions and links, but we hope to evolve it to be more like your local farmer’s market, where along with buying fresh produce, you have the opportunity to meet vendors, hear their stories…

We’ve divided them between the four stages of FARM: Freedom, Authenticity, Responsibility & Meaning.

Some products/services will fit in more than one category–and so will be repeated. Many are “Quantified Self” applications (please see: QuantifiedSelf.com “Self knowledge through numbers” for more and the most recent options)

Unless otherwise noted, we have used–and therefore recommend these. Some of these may include affiliate links, which earn us small amounts of $ that we use to develop FARM™ at no cost to you. Additionally, since we send these vendors business, we plan to be an advocate if FARMers encounter problems.

Please let us know what you think of these. And provide any additional suggestions that we should include.

Freedom: These help you take stock, that is define and map your fields, such as your temporal, financial, attention, emotional spaces.

EmotionSense – one of an increasing number of smartphone apps that track your emotional state. Emotion Sense is a project of University of Cambridge’s Social and Developmental Psychology Department.

RescueTime.com tracks your time, especially online, on your computer and on your mobile devices, where it does so in the background, automatically. It alerts you when you’ve spent too much time on distracting activities,

YNAB.com (You Need A Budget) Even if you decide not to buy their great budgeting software (PC & Mac, with free expense-tracking apps for iOS & Android apps) you should checkout their powerful methodology. In particular interest to FARMers, the fourth of their four steps is build a buffer–a great formulation of financial space.

Also in the personal finance space is Mint.com, a free service (web-based and mobile apps) that tracks your transactions on linked accounts (e.g. credit cards, bank and investment accounts, etc.)

Headspace is one of many meditation apps out there.

Authenticity: the tools in this category help you identify your seeds: your talents and gifts, values, inclinations and callings.

DISC – [looking for off-the-shelf providers]

MBTI the Myers Briggs Type Indicator categorizes test takers along four axes: (Extraversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuition, Thinking-Feeling, & Judging-Perceiving.).. While there are some valid criticism of the MBTI(e.g. retaking the test just five weeks later there’s a 50% chance you’ll be put in another category), it still help show how you differ and best relate to others. Best to get a numerical scale (e.g. I’ve tested both Introvert and Extrovert (I’m low score AKA borderline or “ambivert”, while my intuition score is rather high) A trained professional interpretation can add value.

Responsibility: This largely includes what’s in the “Freedom” category above. The main difference is while F is about measuring your initial state, R tracks your efforts. Quantified Self tools also help you hack, hustle, habituate, and heuristicize.

Beeminder.com (the Me-Binder, “…with sting”)

stickk uses “A Commitment Contract is a binding agreement you sign with yourself to ensure that you follow through with your intentions—and it does this by utilizing the psychological power of loss aversion and accountability to drive behavior change.”

“Habitica is a video game to help you improve real life habits. It “gamifies” your life by turning all your tasks (habits, dailies, and to-dos) into little monsters you have to conquer.”

Meaning: This is the season that needs the least, by far, in the way of external tools and support. Basically, when you have a meaningful life, you know it. That said, for those that have not gotten to this stage yet and remain skeptical, I’ll be adding some suggestions soon.

[currently reading Martin Seligman’s Flourish and will add some measures after testing them]

The FARMer’s Market

Freedom: These help you take stock, that is define and map your fields, such as your temporal, financial, attention, emotional spaces.

Authenticity: the tools in this category help you identify your seeds: your talents and gifts, values, inclinations and callings.

Responsibility: This largely includes what’s in the “Freedom” category above. The main difference is while *F* is about measuring your initial state, *R* tracks your efforts. Quantified Self tools also help you hack, hustle, habituate, and heuristicize.

Meaning: This is the season that needs the least, by far, in the way of external tools and support. Basically, when you have a meaningful life, you know it. That said, for those that have not gotten to this stage yet and remain skeptical, I’ll be adding some suggestions soon.

Responsibility: This largely includes what’s in the “Freedom” category above. The main difference is while F is about measuring your initial state, R tracks your efforts. Quantified Self tools also help you hack, hustle, habituate, and heuristicize.