This week’s reflections are based on a personal experience the past 10 days or so, in leaving behind iOS/iPhone after more than 15 years and moving to Android by buying a new Samsung Galaxy 24. I didn’t expect it to be plain sailing but I’ve been surprised by the impact, and it got me thinking on a number of issues regarding our wellbeing.
Next week is a significant milestone in this newsletter, and more on that in seven days time. For now, I wish Eid Mubarak to my friends and readers celebrating at this time.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend. Thanks for reading and see you next week.
Steven
Disorientation and Flux
It seemed a simple enough concept. I had an old phone and decided to change the operating system. I expected a tricky couple of days learning to navigate with Android after more than 15 years on iOS but I’ve been taken aback with the level of disorientation.
Part of the disorientation was simply having a new device. My old iPhone was really old and so, my new Samsung felt different in terms of size, resolution, colour etc but the big difference was changing the Operating System.
The impact of that disorientation meant I found it difficult to maintain normal communication over a number of days, as well as my regular pattern of activity on social media. Everything was in flux.
As I wrestled with this experience I began to reflect on a concept I’ve used in my programs for several years — that of our own Personal Operating System.
Whether it’s an explicit message or not most of my work the past several years has been helping people change their own personal OS.
Your Personal Operating System
So, what could we class as part of our personal OS? I think there’s five main areas. What do you think? Anything missing from the sections below?
Tools and artefacts
These are material things that make your life easier. Even the biggest technology Luddite needs to realise the drag or friction that outdated or poor technology can have on your personal operating system.
But it’s not just technology. Having the right equipment is critical, and will help support any good intentions. For example, I always recommend getting a new high quality book and pen for anyone starting a journal writing practice.
My wife is a stylist and I know the difference that clothes can make to overall wellbeing too. And to help bring home the importance of the right tools here’s one of my favourite quotes I heard in a talk a few years ago:
“Before the invention of cooking we spent most of our time chewing.”
Getting the right tools and artefacts in place will help you free up more time and space for what you want to do.
Habits
Habits will also free up time and space. And energy. When we create a habit the brain stops participating fully in the decision making process. Habits have been a big part of my work for years and of huge interest worldwide (think of the nine million copies sold of Atomic Habits!) Not quite as popular 😉 but I’m still happy with the impact I’ve had over the years through my Seven Hacks model. Click on the image below to read the summary on LinkedIn.
Routines and Rituals
This area of our personal OS overlaps significantly with habits, but I like to keep it separate as it considers the aggregate view of individual actions. This allows us to optimise our day, yet also realise that over-optimization is a bad thing. There has to be some give and take, some trade-offs in order to navigate the changing context of our lives, and have fun too!
Rituals are more than habits or behaviours. They are imbued with meaning and purpose. They satisfy deep-lying needs. We may talk of rituals within the context of religion or history, but might not readily associate them with our own life and work, our day-to-day.
So, this area of our personal OS allows us to connect habits to deep lying emotional needs. We also use these emotions as well as the aggregate view to look at team culture in my programs.
Priorities
A critical part of our OS and linked deeply to awareness. It’s easy to fall into the trap of busy-ness and auto-pilot. Yet we must check in with ourselves on a frequent basis and ask: how am I spending my time? and am I spending that time on the things that are important to me?
Values
A final part of our OS. We’re often aware of the values of our company, but what about our own values?
Your values define your behaviour, and tell you how to act within a given context. They are a strong anchor. Thinking on who or what inspires you can lead you towards your personal values. Thinking about what drives you crazy also helps! It’s in these instances that you’ll likely find your own values being infringed, so having an ‘anti-role model’ can be useful.
What are some examples of values? Fairness perhaps, loyalty, trust, authenticity, love. There is no shortage of values out there but what are the small subset you hold most dear?
Reflect on the following questions that Rory Simpson has used at Universitas Telefónica over the years to help guide thousands of people in the next stage of their lives:
Who are your heroes? What qualities do they possess?
Recall a time in your life when you made a stand on an important issue. What values were you “protecting” at that time?
What is your favourite poem, book, or movie?
What would you be prepared to die for? If it’s an idea, person, or possession, ask yourself what value(s) they represent.
Take some time to write down the values that best represent you, your beliefs, and behaviour. My recommendation would be to try and define at least three and perhaps a maximum of five.
How much should you reset?
A final reflection this week on the concept of reset. I made a conscious choice when setting up my new Samsung phone not to simply copy over everything from my old iPhone. I made the same choice in the past few days when setting up a brand new Macbook laptop.
Maybe I’m making my life more difficult. When I need something, like a file or password or photo I look for that on the old device and copy it over.
I just felt like having a fresh start. A complete reset. Without the baggage and thousands of files of the previous devices. Many of those files are cherished memories and amazing experiences, but I know where to find them if I need them. They represent my life journey the past several years.
Now, I’m starting a new chapter beginning April 2024. And I can’t wait to get going.
A New OS
This week’s reflections are based on a personal experience the past 10 days or so, in leaving behind iOS/iPhone after more than 15 years and moving to Android by buying a new Samsung Galaxy 24. I didn’t expect it to be plain sailing but I’ve been surprised by the impact, and it got me thinking on a number of issues regarding our wellbeing.
Next week is a significant milestone in this newsletter, and more on that in seven days time. For now, I wish Eid Mubarak to my friends and readers celebrating at this time.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend. Thanks for reading and see you next week.
Steven
Disorientation and Flux
It seemed a simple enough concept. I had an old phone and decided to change the operating system. I expected a tricky couple of days learning to navigate with Android after more than 15 years on iOS but I’ve been taken aback with the level of disorientation.
And I had been primed. Thinking about a lot of these factors the past couple of weeks as I wrote newsletter editions on mobile device reconfiguration and the power of focus.
Part of the disorientation was simply having a new device. My old iPhone was really old and so, my new Samsung felt different in terms of size, resolution, colour etc but the big difference was changing the Operating System.
The impact of that disorientation meant I found it difficult to maintain normal communication over a number of days, as well as my regular pattern of activity on social media. Everything was in flux.
As I wrestled with this experience I began to reflect on a concept I’ve used in my programs for several years — that of our own Personal Operating System.
Whether it’s an explicit message or not most of my work the past several years has been helping people change their own personal OS.
Your Personal Operating System
So, what could we class as part of our personal OS? I think there’s five main areas. What do you think? Anything missing from the sections below?
Tools and artefacts
These are material things that make your life easier. Even the biggest technology Luddite needs to realise the drag or friction that outdated or poor technology can have on your personal operating system.
But it’s not just technology. Having the right equipment is critical, and will help support any good intentions. For example, I always recommend getting a new high quality book and pen for anyone starting a journal writing practice.
My wife is a stylist and I know the difference that clothes can make to overall wellbeing too. And to help bring home the importance of the right tools here’s one of my favourite quotes I heard in a talk a few years ago:
“Before the invention of cooking we spent most of our time chewing.”
Getting the right tools and artefacts in place will help you free up more time and space for what you want to do.
Habits
Habits will also free up time and space. And energy. When we create a habit the brain stops participating fully in the decision making process. Habits have been a big part of my work for years and of huge interest worldwide (think of the nine million copies sold of Atomic Habits!) Not quite as popular 😉 but I’m still happy with the impact I’ve had over the years through my Seven Hacks model. Click on the image below to read the summary on LinkedIn.
Routines and Rituals
This area of our personal OS overlaps significantly with habits, but I like to keep it separate as it considers the aggregate view of individual actions. This allows us to optimise our day, yet also realise that over-optimization is a bad thing. There has to be some give and take, some trade-offs in order to navigate the changing context of our lives, and have fun too!
Rituals are more than habits or behaviours. They are imbued with meaning and purpose. They satisfy deep-lying needs. We may talk of rituals within the context of religion or history, but might not readily associate them with our own life and work, our day-to-day.
So, this area of our personal OS allows us to connect habits to deep lying emotional needs. We also use these emotions as well as the aggregate view to look at team culture in my programs.
Priorities
A critical part of our OS and linked deeply to awareness. It’s easy to fall into the trap of busy-ness and auto-pilot. Yet we must check in with ourselves on a frequent basis and ask: how am I spending my time? and am I spending that time on the things that are important to me?
Values
A final part of our OS. We’re often aware of the values of our company, but what about our own values?
Your values define your behaviour, and tell you how to act within a given context. They are a strong anchor. Thinking on who or what inspires you can lead you towards your personal values. Thinking about what drives you crazy also helps! It’s in these instances that you’ll likely find your own values being infringed, so having an ‘anti-role model’ can be useful.
What are some examples of values? Fairness perhaps, loyalty, trust, authenticity, love. There is no shortage of values out there but what are the small subset you hold most dear?
Reflect on the following questions that Rory Simpson has used at Universitas Telefónica over the years to help guide thousands of people in the next stage of their lives:
Take some time to write down the values that best represent you, your beliefs, and behaviour. My recommendation would be to try and define at least three and perhaps a maximum of five.
How much should you reset?
A final reflection this week on the concept of reset. I made a conscious choice when setting up my new Samsung phone not to simply copy over everything from my old iPhone. I made the same choice in the past few days when setting up a brand new Macbook laptop.
Maybe I’m making my life more difficult. When I need something, like a file or password or photo I look for that on the old device and copy it over.
I just felt like having a fresh start. A complete reset. Without the baggage and thousands of files of the previous devices. Many of those files are cherished memories and amazing experiences, but I know where to find them if I need them. They represent my life journey the past several years.
Now, I’m starting a new chapter beginning April 2024. And I can’t wait to get going.
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