Your Operating System Runs You
We all have an “Operating System” running our lives. It’s a system we use to intake, process and take action on all that comes into our world.
When our operating system is programmed in a way that aligns with our INTENTIONS, it’s an amazing ally.
It watches out for threats; it captures critical information;
it allocates our time, money, energy & creativity in ways that produce our intentions.
But if it has NOT been intentionally programmed to…
…align with our INTENTIONS, it will run amuck like a poorly raised child with a short and destructive attention span.
It will suck in any information that catches its attention in the moment,
run us straight into needlessly threatening situations,
overtask our time, attention and energy,
and have us committing to anything that excites us in the moment.
Now of course. Not all intentions are created equal.
Some people merely intend to make enough money to pay their bills, live comfortably and appear to be “Successful”.
While others, ambitious adults, intend to live a dignified life,
care for their spouses and children
and actually make and save enough money to survive and adapt to change in a way that allows them to live what they say is a good life.
This includes 40 years of adulthood as well as the 30+ years of old age when they can no longer work.
It can be a bit frightening or…
…defeating to realize that we have such a powerful “machine” running our lives without notice or knowledge of how it works or how to control it. So here’s how it works.
The operating system is made up of two filters, a linguistic and a strategic.
Together they are responsible for the programming, maintenance and protection of our operating system.
So if we learn to observe, modify and “program” these filters, we learn how to modify and “program” our operating system.
And if we can modify and program our operating system we can program it to produce what we say is a good life.
Let’s take a closer look.
Linguistic Filter:
Your Linguistic Filter governs what you’re allowed to notice and determines how you’ll assess its relevance and usability in your life. Its job is to protect you from the meaningless and massive amounts of information, opinions and distractions that are getting relentlessly hurled at you all day, every day.
Think: News, politics, drama, texting, social media etc.
The linguistic filter is a critical part of your operating system because it searches out, captures and delivers the things – information, ideas, structures, people, resources – that you need to design and build out what you say is a good life.
I call it a filter because it blocks what comes into your world so that you don’t become overwhelmed or distracted, and so that you can actually notice and observe that which matters. It clears out the noise.
This filter sees things through your narratives about your [self and situation], and those narratives are typically a derivative of the people you surround yourself with, as well as what you read, watch and listen to.
Each one of us is assigned a very unique…
…purpose on this planet, and it’s unlikely that you’ve intentionally designed and tuned your linguistic filter to support that unique purpose.
An “Untuned” linguistic filter is more likely to thwart your intention to live a good life than it is to support it.
In fact. It’s likely at work right now allowing text messages, emails and other distractions while blocking any new ideas that you require to progress towards your purpose.
Strategic Filter:
The Strategic Filter determines what actions you’ll actually take and in what order you will take them. When it’s programmed for effectiveness, you’ll find yourself automatically choosing the actions that are aligned with your intentions.
When it’s also programmed for efficiency, you’ll find yourself sequencing and synergizing those actions in ways that eliminate wasted time, money and energy and produce power, passion and professionalism.
This automated selection of action and sequencing is…
…critical to living a good life because we’re all operating in a hyper-competitive world with finite amounts of time, money, energy and creativity.
If we’re not good stewards of the resources we’ve been given, at best we will squander the opportunity we’ve been given to impact the world and,
at its worst, we’ll eventually run out of those resources and just suffer and die and cause others around us to do the same.
There is such a thing as “Too Late” despite what the TV, internet, shiny happy gurus and politicians say.
The Strategic Filter is programmed in the…
…same ways and by the same things that programmed your Linguistic Filter:
Your internal and external environments are major contributors to the stories we live in.
However, here it is the repeated actions we choose and take over time that “Set’s the Programming” of this filter. We are our practices.
And just like with our Linguistic Filters, the programming that produces these repetitive choices, unless specifically tuned and programmed to support our unique purpose on this planet,
is more likely to thwart our intentions to live a good life than it is to support it.
Together these two filters…
…and the operating system they create, are solely responsible for you being exactly where you are in life, and they’ll also be what [puts you wherever you’re going to be 3, 5, or 50 years from now.]
This is why we are going to seize control of this operating system of yours by gradually reconstructing these filters in ways that,
over time, like a set of braces, will realign your thoughts, feelings, desires, intuitions and practices with your intentions to live what you say is a good life.
And this is done with one very simple formula:
→ IDENTIFY
→ ASSESS
→ PRIORITIZE BY POWER
→ EXECUTE & EVOLVE
Strategic Writing
When we write, we expand our understanding in ways that produce new thinking—thinking that leads to more powerful distinctions, which allow us to better identify and fulfill the purposes for which we were created.
1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
Linguistic Filter determines what our brains pay attention to. There is a lot of information around us every day, and it is not possible to deal with everything. This is the reason why we have this filter. It tells us what is interesting or important. But in fact, the purpose of a Linguistic Filter is to help us to concentrate on what allows us to fulfill our purposes, and avoid insignificant information.
2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
Strategic Filter determines WHAT we do and WHEN we do it. It is not just about right strategies and tactics, it is also about the right time, and about the right sequences of them. The purpose of a Strategic Filter consists in making it possible to do the right things in the right order at the right time.
3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
It is impossible to fulfill my purposes without these two filters working in the right way. I would waste my time, energy, currency, and creativity doing meaningless things (linguistic filter) and / or I would do the right strategies and tactics, but in the wrong order and / or at the wrong time (strategic filter). Which wastes my time, energy, currency, and creativity as well. These time, energy, currency, and creativity would be missed to fulfill my professional, financial, and personal purposes.
1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
From a computer science background I think of the Linguistic Filter as a tokenizer, or parser, converting raw input into recognized concepts. These filters build on each other, for example recognizing shapes -> letters -> words …
2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
The strategic filter is responsible for taking action based on the stream of tokens. It has an idea of our current state, what we expect to see, and can identify actions to take subconsciously if we are trained, or bring it to the conscious mind if deemed a threat, opportunity, or interesting, and we don’t have an automatic response in place.
3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
Training our filters to be more efficient allows up to achieve our purposes with the time and energy we have by letting us be more creative, and earning more currency.
1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
– This the visual and vocal ques that get our intention. We have many different linguistic opportunities every minute that we are either draw to or avoid based on this filter.
2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
– This is the action we take after our linguistic filter allows us to notice.
3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
– These are in place all the time. This can be both good and bad depending on how you’ve either designed your filters or allowed them to develop on their own. It’s important to set the right linguistic filters and then take a well designed (strategic filter) action to fulfill your intentions. This is were Strategic Transformation takes place. It allows you to avoid the things that are not fulfilling your purpose.
1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
– The Linguistic Filter determines what we pay attention to. It focuses our attention on the things that “matter” and filter out the things that “don’t matter”. The problem is that without aligning the Linguistic Filter to our intentions we pay attention to things that distract us from our purpose. The Linguistic Filter is the first part of what makes up our Operating System.
2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
– The Strategic Filter guides our actions and the order of them. The things our Linguistic Filter allows in provide opportunity for action, and the Strategic Filter determines what we do based on what is coming in. It makes up the second part of our Operating System.
3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
– Without training these filters to align with the intentions of my purpose, there’s NO way I could have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill my purposes. I would be in a state of constant distraction and diffusion instead of a state where I’m able to prioritize by power and build that power.
Q #1: Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words.
A #1: The purpose of a Linguistic Filter is to help me notice and focus on what truly matters in my life. This is based on my values, purpose, and goals all while blocking out the distractions and noise that don’t serve me.
It acts like a mental gatekeeper. It decides what information I allow in, what I pay attention to, and what I ignore. If this filter isn’t tuned to my intentions and purpose, I end up reacting to whatever the world throws at me e.g., the news, social media, and other people’s drama instead of seeing what I actually need to see to build a good life.
But when it’s tuned properly, the linguistic filter helps me find the people, discover new ideas, use tools, and recognize opportunities that move me forward. It helps me see clearly and stay focused on what really counts—so I don’t get overwhelmed, distracted, or pulled off course.
Q #2: Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words.
A #2: The purpose of a Strategic Filter is to decide what actions I should take, and in what order so that I reach my goals without wasting time, energy, or resources.
It’s like an internal prioritizing system. When it’s working well, I automatically focus on the right tasks at the right time. I take meaningful steps that move me closer to my purpose instead of spinning my wheels or chasing distractions.
If the strategic filter is not aligned with my purpose, I end up being busy but not productive. I’ll react to whatever feels urgent or exciting, rather than what’s actually important.
But when it is aligned, it helps me sequence my actions effectively, conserve energy, and build momentum. It turns my habits and daily choices into powerful moves that support the life I want to live now and into the future.
Q #3: Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes?
A #3: Without a well-tuned linguistic and strategic filter in place, the chances of having enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill my professional, financial, and personal purposes are very low.
Because instead of focusing on what truly matters, I’d be distracted by everything that doesn’t. My time would get hijacked by the urgent instead of invested in the important. My energy would be drained reacting to problems instead of creating solutions. My creativity would get buried under noise and clutter. And my currency both financial and relational would likely be spent inefficiently, if not wasted altogether.
Without intentional filters, I’d live by default, not by design. And a life lived by default rarely leads to the kind of meaningful, purpose-driven impact I was created for. So the truth is: without these in place, I’d almost certainly fall short. Not because I lack potential, but because I never built the system to fully deploy it.
Describe the purpose of a Linguistic Filter in your own words. Our linguistic filter quickly evaluates the large amount of information and opportunities presenting to us throughout our day and determines what is in line with the operating system that executes our intentions for what we say is a good life.
Describe the purpose of a Strategic Filter in your own words. Our strategic filter is the set of disciplines and habits that execute the parts of life that create power (time, energy, creativity, currency, and reject opportunities that do not.
Without these in place, how likely is it that you’d have enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to fulfill your professional, financial, and personal purposes? Zero – I would only be busy chasing too many distractions that seemed important in the moment, but did not fulfill my purpose.