Your life, your rules: crafting a personal operating system

Est. reading time: 5 min

"Doing one thing by yourself, for yourself, that creates joy is such an important habit."

I would hear Jay Shetty's calming voice as I prepared to roll out of bed to start the day. Always dropping some good wisdom to put a pep in my step.

Then... morning meditation, morning skincare, take iron, practice french…

I had created a habit loop — actually a long habit chain — about an hour of things I would do every morning. A different set of habits followed throughout the day and again at night.

"If you want to start (and continue) a habit, link it to something you have to do anyway." That's the advice in The Power of Habit.

If you're going to be doing one thing anyway, tack on something else at the same time to function as a 'cue' for your new habit. Followed by a reward of some kind and thereby creating a habit loop.

Did it work? Sure. Albeit a bit boring to keep doing the same things day in and day out with no real purpose. I felt like I was plucking random 'habits' out of thin air to cross them off a list of accomplishments.

Wake up early so you can wear it like a badge of honor. Do a long list of routines because that's what the experts say to do.

None of those sounded quite right.

They should be your own priorities. We don't live like everyone else so why are we doing things as if we are all alike?

What apps do you use?

What is your best productivity hack?

Do you wake up at 5 AM?

It all seems kind of unoriginal. Like life's on autopilot, and you're cruising along without a clear direction.

So I wondered... how can I create the life I want? Around this season of ease and purposeful productivity? How could I take control, optimize my routines, and design a life that resonates with my goals and values?

That's where the Personal Operating System (POS) comes in. We spend so much time on systems for our business, and don't put as much thought into our personal systems.

We create goals, but many of them are mere milestones to check off... not leading to our North Star.

Think of it as the operating system that powers your life. It's like having your personal GPS guiding you toward your dream destination.

Ready to create your own personal OS? Here are the phases:

Phase 1: Priorities - What is your destination? What are your top 3 priorities? It's important to dive deep or else it's still surface level and you're back to checking boxes off your habit list.

Take a deep dive into your values and priorities. Identify your long-term goals and what matters to you.

If family time is the most important thing to you, that should be what drives your habits and routines. But also determine why it's so important. So that little Jimmy can model good behavior and grow up to be a respectful human?

If you want to give back, what's the driving cause? Did someone inspire it?

Phase 2: Design - With your priorities in mind, now you can craft a daily routine that aligns with your goals. Make it make sense! If you never have plans to travel to Brazil, why would you learn Portuguese?

Set clear boundaries to eliminate time-wasting routines. The magic starts with the design! Get creative and think outside the box.

Phase 3: Routines & Systems - Put your plan into action. Use productivity tools, time management techniques, and systems to stay on track. But remember to keep it simple. You won't use a complicated system, no matter how motivated you think you are.

Phase 4: Review & Adjust - Review your system regularly, make adjustments, and celebrate your victories along the way. If something doesn't vibe, get rid of it and reevaluate.

Creating your Personal Operating System isn't a one-size-fits-all journey. It's about customizing a system that suits your unique needs and aspirations. So what are you going to create this weekend?

☕️ Simmer on this tip

Not quite sure what UTM codes and parameters are all about? In short, they are a string of code added to the end of a link to help you measure your campaign or ad performance. But if you’re not quite sure what they are all about yet, here’s a quick way to use PrettyLinks to track your campaign efforts.

Create a new PrettyLink for each campaign source or medium. For example, create your link and add your source on the end. Only share the link on those specific pages. You can easily check your dashboard to see which links received the most clicks so you can put your efforts toward the best medium.

Example: yourwebsite.com/offer/facebook AND http://yourwebsite.com/offer/youtube

❤️‍🔥 Hot finds this week

1. Freeconvert.com. Have you ever needed to convert a file but had no idea how? Searched the internet until you found a site that could convert your m4a to mp3 or PDF to PNG? I LOVE this site - and I use it at least a few times a week. Close second… VideoCandy. (both free)

2. Hemingway Editor. Hemingway is a free, simple processor that helps edit your writing with pretty color-coded prompts. Tame wordy sentences, swap or drop your use of unnecessary adverbs, know your word count, etc. It’s so simple! Just write directly on the page or paste something you’ve already written.

3. My girl Lindsay Maloney is running a free 5-day challenge next week: Calling All Clients. Get 5 client activating challenge tasks delivered to you daily! I’m all signed up - join me?

🐶 Can you relate?

My dog swears he’s the protector of the house (newsflash, he’s not), he’s the epitome of ‘his bark is bigger than his bite’. This giant Labradoodle will bark up a storm when Mr. UPS comes to the door, and as soon as I open the door… he flees up the stairs! Why? He’s afraid of boxes. 😳📦 I have no idea what happened to make him run away at the mere sight of boxes and bubble wrap. Send me your cute pet stories (pics welcome)!

🎙️ Weekend listening on the pod

What’s your digital recovery plan? When things go wrong with your digital systems, what are you going to do? We pay for health insurance, life insurance and many others, so why not be prepared with your digital insurance? Don’t be afraid to pay for services that protect your digital assets. Tune in: 018: How To Backup Your Digital Systems and Feel Secure (Digital Disaster Plan).

Until next time,

💌 Brought to you by

Looking for all-in-one business software to run your small business? Bonsai combines CRM, invoicing, accounting, and banking. 7-day free trial.