My Personal Operating Stack (PersonalOS)
i.e. the tech stack that I utilise to run my life (note: it's always evolving).
Pondering
The websites/apps in our daily lives, such as Gmail/Instagram/Twitter/LinkedIn/Trello/etc, each magically “work” for us thanks to the tech stack underpinning them.
In a similar vein, I believe that our lives magically “work” for us thanks to the Personal Operating Stack (PersonalOS) underpinning our very existence. I’m enthusiastically exploring my own PersonalOS to uncover all the things I rely upon, day-in-and-day-out, to live my life.
Why?
I’m naturally curious.
But, also, if I personally can’t “see” things, I can’t assess them, improve them or discard them. And, as I’m a firm believer that life is so so so precious, I’m keen to figure out how I can do more of what I love, do what I need to & have to do but with less effort, and hopefully identify & stop doing the things that I don’t need to do.
Read on as I define what I mean by PersonalOS, and share my current version.
tl;dr
In my mind, a PersonalOS is the set of technologies and workflows combined that I use to make it easier, more efficient, more effective and, hopefully, more enjoyable to get sh1t done.
I’m finding I’m curious about, and therefore on the lookout for, ideas that improve my productivity… especially given my current health predicament and the limited time I have for the things I love and things that I have to do like seeing doctors, resting, etc. It’s been eye-opening to see my PersonalOS mapped out… as I keep pondering, and tweaking, I might even uncover a novel solution to a big problem along the way 😅.
I’m curious about what your PersonalOSs include - do you have any advice for me? Do you do something in a more enjoyable / efficient / effective / easier way? PLEASE let me know!
What is a PersonalOS?
Let’s break it into its pieces = Personal + Operating Stack
Personal = for me, myself and I
Operating Stack = … that needs a little more explaining…
I’m likening it to the term “tech stack”, which is nicely described by MongoDB as:
A technology stack is a set of technologies that are stacked together to build any application.
But, in my case, I’ve modified it to the following:
Operating Stack = a set of technologies and workflows combined that I use to make it easier, more efficient, more effective and, hopefully, more enjoyable to get sh1t done (GSD).
And there we have it:
PersonalOS = the set of technologies and workflows combined that I use to make it easier, more efficient, more effective and, hopefully, more enjoyable to get sh1t done (GSD).
Why do I care about my PersonalOS?
Sadly, I’ve lost a lot of people in my life at a relatively young age. When grief is at bay (I don’t believe it ever fully leaves), the loss of loved ones is a powerful reminder that our time on this world is finite. This is ingrained in me now. While I enjoy seeking ways to do things better/faster, I’m acutely aware that being present with something just the way it is is a gift. So, I try to balance my two desires. To be more efficient/effective and to be present. It’s hard. But, I’m trying.
And, that brings me to this post. By documenting and sharing my PersonalOS, I get it out of my head, share it with the world, and hopefully uncover better ways of doing things through the process and from feedback, but with much less distracting rumination about optimising it when doing things I love to do like playing with the kids, conversing with my wife, or watching the NBA playoffs. Well, that’s my hypothesis anyway.
Why should you care about my PersonalOS?
Perhaps you will simply find it interesting. Perhaps not. Perhaps you’ll want to document all or some of your PersonalOS. Perhaps not. Perhaps you’ll optimise one part of your PersonalOS after reading about mine. Perhaps not. Perhaps you’ll give me an awesome recommendation, or point out a blind spot. I guess, what I’m saying is, you do you (but please feel free to give me feedback 🤓).
Overview of my PersonalOS
I had plans on going much deeper in to my Personal OS in this post, but I realised that it will be more easily consumed, and a better learning process for me, if I do this in smaller chunks.
So, drumroll please…
Here’s the snapshot of my PersonalOS:
Whoa… a massive matrix. I know not everyone loves a matrix…
So, let me break this down with an example.
Example: Journalling
I’m in the habit of capturing my thoughts, feelings, observations, etc by writing in a journal everyday, typically multiple times per day.
So, to explain the matrix above for the Joural row:
Hardware used =
Published book / magazine => I use a curated set of these for inspiration, quotes, and thought-provocations. I find it greatly helps me get out of my own head, and to look outwards, after reflecting & focussing inwards.
e.g. The Daily Stoic, Poems for Morning, and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse
e.g. National Geographic and HBR magazines
Journal => I use a good old Moleskin, some nice pens, and highlighters.
Note: I’m about to create a bookmark with prompts for my journalling using Canva, my printer, and a good old laminator 🤓
Phone + Laptop/Tablet => it was important to me to have an hybrid (new tech + old tech) journalling process, so I sometimes use these devices.
Software used =
iOS Notes => I’ve set-up iCloud so that my Notes sync across all devices.
iOS Notes is so much better these days (I used to use Evernote and Good Note) - I love it’s simplicity and built-in functionality (e.g. write/draw with Apple Pencil, add an image, scan a doc, scan text, etc)
Google Form => I’ve se-up a Google Form that captures key data, twice a day, and I track this overtime, in conjunction with journalling - super super useful.
Note: Oura/Apple Health => to avoid external influence, I try to not look at my sleep data from Oura/Apple Health until AFTER I’ve written in my journal
Here’s a snapshot of part of it:
which feeds into sweet data like this (with detailed column headers hidden):
And, I make graphs, charts etc with this data regularly 🧘🏼♂️
Where to next?
I plan to go deeper into some of the most important parts of my PersonalOS… I’m taking it one post at a time. One things for sure, I’ll be using my 🍚R-ICE Framework to help prioritise which ones I’ll dig deeper into.
BONUS: Meta post
A post about this post 🤓
Feel free to read about the decisions I made as I was writing about my PersonalOS. I hope this is somewhat useful for you, as it’s going to be really useful for me 🤓 as I hope it helps me improve my writing skills.
Read on…
LOVE the idea of a PersonalOS.
That is why my Substack is called BatkoOS :)
When I think about the core of my PersonalOS, it is about reflection stacking through writing.
I write and reflect daily, which helps me do it weekly, that stacks into monthly and ultimately into yearly writing, reflections and conscious goal setting.
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Daily Work - daily Slack stand up on what I will do.
Weekly Work - email summary of my work week, kudos to team, highlight of the week, planning out next week >> EdroloOS: https://batko.substack.com/p/batko-os-1-world-as-a-system
Weekly Personal - slack summary of Good, Bad, Ugly to my two closest friends >> Elephants: https://batko.substack.com/p/elephants-
Monthly Work - summarise and reflect on Good, Bad, Ugly: https://www.startmate.com/blog-tags/gbu
Monthly Personal - email newsletter to my family and closest friends reflecting on the month
Yearly Work - special edition of Good, Bad, Ugly for the whole year in review: https://www.startmate.com/writing/startmate-2021-wrap-2022-plan
Yearly Personal - year in review blogpost looking back at all my updates and things that happened as well as next year goals and resolutions: https://mbwhatsnew.com/2022-a-year-in-review-33fa378862c2
Great post Ben, I’m enjoying reading what you write.
I love the idea of the google form and tracking different metrics daily, definitely going to steal this one!