Do You Need to Update Your Operating System?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

If you use a computer, tablet or smartphone, you know: every few weeks, you get a notification that you need to update your operating system. The operating system is like the brain of the computer. It manages all your other applications: web browsers, word processing programs, spreadsheets, videoconferencing and all the rest.

Operating systems aren’t confined to computers. We have them in lots of realms in our lives even if we don’t call them that.  Laws. Traffic systems. Financial systems. It’s the underlying set of assumptions, routines, and processes that keep things working smoothly.  

You and I also have our personal operating systems.  These are the routines and mindsets that we use to organize our lives and keep daily life running smoothly. In his book, 365 Ways to Have a Good Day, Ian Sanders calls them the working habits and behaviors that fuel your best work. Things like choosing your work clothes the night before.  Doing the week’s meal prep on Sunday. Always putting your car keys in the same place. Regularly scheduling time for exercise.  

Once they are programmed, personal operating systems kind of run in the background.  In his book Atomic Habits, James C. Clear notes that the key to achieving what you want in life is not by setting specific goals, but instead to build systems that help you make headway. The systems enable you to make small, repeated, and steady progress.

Just as your computer’s operating system needs to be updated on a regular basis, so it is with your personal operating system. A system that once worked well may no longer work—because of changes in your job, your schedule, or your life circumstances. 

What updates do you need to make in your personal operating system?