Aidan OS
I've built a personal OS to manage my life. You should too. Over the next 4 weeks, I'll show you how to build a personal OS from the ground up to unlock exponential growth.
Everyone has a personal OS. Most just don’t realize it. Whatever set of tools and habits you use to operate your life on a daily, weekly, monthly basis — that set of tools and habits is your current OS.
Operating System (OS): the software that manages a computer’s resources and provides both common services and universal basic functions.
Let’s unpack that, but in a human context. A personal OS:
manages resource allocation. Where should I put my time, money, energy?
provides common services. I want to do X, Y, and Z, but I need A for all three. The OS should provide it.
provides universal basic functions. How can I operate efficiently in all areas of life?
Most people’s OS looks something like this. But more than anything below, most people simply use their brain as their OS. Sound familiar?
Knowledge and Media
Tabs, Bookmarks
Bookshelf (books, magazines, newspapers)
Notebooks
Spotify, Apple Music, Netflix, records, CDs, DVR
Contacts
Phone
Email
Messengers (Facebook, Slack, WhatsApp, etc.)
Business cards
(maybe) a contact book
Memories
Journal or diary
Apple or Google Photos
Mementos
Sensitive Information
Wallet
Physical Safe
Password manager
Projects, To-Dos, and Plans
Sticky notes, loose paper
Notebooks
Calendar
Task management tools (Trello, Jira, etc.)
Self Improvement
Journal or diary
Apple Health, scale, Oura ring
All of this it fine, but there are a million moving pieces that don’t talk to each other. It would be so much better if it were: centralized, searchable, and easily maintained.
I call out six key areas above. But: 1) most people do just fine keeping memories, 2) sensitive information probably is better to leave independent, and 3) most to-dos are pretty well handled with current solutions. That leaves us with:
Knowledge and Media
Contacts
MemoriesSensitive InformationProjects, To-Dos, and Plans*
Self Improvement
The next issues of The Startup Life will focus exclusively on building your OS from the ground up to unlock exponential growth. If you’re willing to put in the time to build a solution that is searchable, scalable, and maintainable it will power your growth for the rest of your life.
Stick around for next week when we’ll first tackle knowledge and media — a gargantuan topic, and the one that first inspired me to build my OS.