Humans Don't Need a New Operating System
Ideas on balancing entrepreneurial drive with wellness, bringing to life new ideas, while living well ourselves, and making space for what matters in a well-balanced life.
Hi,
Welcome to the first JRWI newsletter of 2019 đ
2019 marks the start of the fifth year of the JRWI blog đ
A LOT has changed for me since then. The blog and newsletter have evolved a lot too.
The New Year is a time of reflection and resolution setting for many people. Along those lines, this tweet caught my eye over the holidays:
Four years ago on new years eve, I set out to build for myself a robust habit of habit engineering. Looking back, doing this has been very transformative for me.
A thread đ
8:43 AM - 28 Dec 2018
2/ Over the years, my version of Franklin's spreadsheet has evolved into a kind of personal "life operating system" that I call walrOS. It looks like this: https://t.co/dRw8hFd1kQ
8:43 AM - 28 Dec 2018
I felt moved to respond -
@ali01 Transformative for what purpose? I ask because it feels to me like the drive for improved âproductivityâ that motivates most is to simply spin the industrialistâs wheel faster, sacrificing our humanity along the way.
9:12 PM - 28 Dec 2018
Ali didnât reply. A few people responded to me. You can see their comments by clicking the above link.
I started thinking about this idea of a human operating system. To me, most âproductivity systemsâ do nothing but teach us to run faster on the unconscious treadmill of life. They drain the humanity out of us in exchange for a false sense of certainty.
We donât need a new human operating system. We donât have to build or hack a new one together from scratch.
The operating system we were each born with is what we need. JRWI is teaching me that the important work is to uncover our innate humanity. This is our necessary operating system.
Itâs there. If your experience is anything like mine, it may be buried so deeply that you forgot itâs there. You may have ignored or suppressed it for so long you donât even hear it speaking any more.
Uncovering our innate human OS is hard. Itâs scary too. I experience the difficulty and fear daily.
I also experience the joy, fulfillment and happiness that listening to our humanity allows to manifest. To me, these feelings far outweigh any potential productivity increase that hacking together a new OS may or may not provide.
How about you? Whenâs the last time you heard your humanity speaking to you, providing you with direction? What did you do when you heard it, if you heard it at all?
Let me know by replying directly to this email.
Catch you next week,
Chris
Semi-Random Thoughts
I feel excited to return to âworkâ this year after the holiday break. Itâs the second or third year Iâm feeling this way.
I feel grateful for this. It was dreading going back to work after the holidays one year that compelled me to start writing this blog. I try and take time to reflect on this shift each year.
Looking for a fun and non-intimidating way to explore the crypto world? If so, you may want to check out Cent. Iâve started cross-posting these newsletter to it. Hereâs an example.
Current Reading List
The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan by Andy Couturier
The Abundance of Less has 133 ratings and 29 reviews.
What Seth Godin Wants You To Know About Marketing in 2019
The Industry expert urges companies to be relevant, not loud.
Music of the Week
House Music I Grew Up On in New Jersey in the 80's and 90's by Chris Remus | Free Listening on SoundCloud
Stream House Music I Grew Up On in New Jersey in the 80âs and 90âs, a playlist by Chris Remus from desktop or your mobile device.