The Algorithm of You
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Every day, you make hundreds of micro-decisions that shape your business and your life.
Which project to prioritize? Which client email to answer first? Which opportunity to pursue? Which meeting to take?
Most of these choices happen on autopilot, guided by an invisible algorithm running in the background of your mind.
But here’s the problem:
That algorithm wasn’t written by you.
It was programmed by everyone else.
Recently, I was at dinner with a friend here in Bali, another business owner interested in growth and new ideas about life.
We started talking about coaches and mentors, and he asked me what’s had the biggest impact on me in the last few years.
Before he finished his question, I already knew the answer. It’s the same answer every time someone asks me this question.
It was my first paid mentor, back in 2020.
He turned out to be one of the biggest influences on both my life and business, not just as a business mentor, but as a mindset mentor.
What he taught me completely changed how I think about thinking (yes, that’s a mouthful).
We talked about different levels of thought, higher thinking versus lower thinking.
But more importantly, we explored the subconscious thoughts we carry every day.
The ones that operate in the background but literally create the life and business you have today.
Those background thoughts?
They’re your personal algorithm (I’ve included a free AI prompt a little further into this for you. It will help you to build a new personal algorithm for yourself).
Your internal decision-making system has been hijacked by external metrics.
Revenue potential. Social proof. What “successful people” would do. What worked for that person you follow on Social Media
You’ve been operating according to someone else’s code.
And that’s why your business might be working, but not for you.
The Default Algorithm
The default entrepreneurial algorithm is simple and seductive:
If (opportunity = high visibility + quick revenue + industry approval) → pursue
If (decision = what successful people do) → execute
If (outcome = measurable growth) → celebrate
This algorithm optimizes for external validation and short-term gains. It’s designed to make you look successful from the outside, regardless of how it feels on the inside.
And it works. Until it doesn’t.
The default algorithm will help you build a business that impresses other entrepreneurs.
It will generate revenue and social proof and all the markers of “making it.”
But it will also lead you toward decisions that drain your energy, scatter your focus, and pull you away from what actually matters to you.
You end up successful by everyone else’s definition, but exhausted by your own experience.
What Your Personal Algorithm Should Optimize For
Social media algorithms optimize for engagement. Search algorithms optimize for relevance.
What should your personal decision-making algorithm optimize for?
This isn’t an abstract or philosophical question. It’s a practical one. Because the criteria you use to make decisions will determine the life you end up living.
Here are some alternative optimization targets worth considering:
Energy Sustainability:
Instead of “What will make the most money?” ask “What will leave me energized rather than depleted?”
Revenue that costs you your vitality isn’t sustainable revenue.
Compound Meaning:
Some opportunities create more opportunities.
Others create more obligations. Optimize for decisions that open doors rather than lock you into systems you don’t want to maintain.
Identity Alignment:
Every yes is a vote for who you’re becoming. Every project shapes how you see yourself and how others see you.
Choose votes that move you toward the person you want to be, not just the business you want to have.
Relationship Quality:
Optimize for opportunities that connect you with people who energize you, challenge you, and share your values.
The quality of your business relationships will determine the quality of your business experience.
Creative Expression:
If you’re a creator at heart, factor creativity into every major decision.
Choose the path that lets you make something you’re proud of, not just something that works.
Life Integration:
The best business decisions support your life, not consume it.
Optimize for opportunities that enhance your daily experience rather than complicate it.
Building Your Personal Operating System
Your personal algorithm isn’t just about what you optimize for, it’s about how you make decisions consistently, especially when you’re tired, overwhelmed, or facing multiple good options.
Here’s how to build your own decision-making framework:
Step 1: Define Your Non-Negotiables
What are the conditions that must be present for you to feel energized and sustainable in your work?
Not what should matter, but what actually does matter to you.
Maybe it’s: working with people who respect boundaries, having creative control over your output, maintaining flexibility in your schedule, or ensuring every project teaches you something new.
These aren’t your values (though they might reflect them).
They’re your operational requirements, the conditions under which you do your best work and feel most alive.
Step 2: Identify Your Energy Multipliers vs. Energy Drains
Not all work is created equal. Some projects and people multiply your energy. Others drain it, even when they’re “successful.”
Track this for a few weeks. Which activities make you feel more creative, focused, and optimistic afterward? Which ones leave you depleted, scattered, or slightly resentful?
Your personal algorithm should systematically steer you toward multipliers and away from drains, regardless of how attractive the drains might look on paper.
Step 3: Create Decision Filters
Instead of evaluating every opportunity from scratch, create a set of filters that help you make decisions quickly and consistently.
For example:
The Sunday Test: Will this opportunity make my Sundays feel peaceful or anxious?
The Five-Year Filter: Will this matter and energize me in five years, or just five months?
The Explanation Test: Can I explain why I’m excited about this without using words like “should,” “strategic,” or “good for business”?
The Integration Check: Does this fit naturally into my current life and energy, or will it require me to become someone I’m not?
These filters aren’t about saying no to everything.
They’re about saying yes to the right things, the opportunities that compound rather than complicate.
Step 4: Program Your Default Responses
Most decisions don’t need to be decisions. They can be automatic responses based on your pre-established criteria.
Instead of deliberating every time someone asks for your time, energy, or attention, have default responses ready:
“That sounds interesting, but it doesn’t align with my current focus.”
“I’m not taking on new projects until [specific date/milestone].”
“This isn’t a fit for me, but I know someone who might be interested.”
“Let me check and get back to you.”
This isn’t about being rigid.
It’s about preserving your decision-making energy for choices that actually matter.
The Compound Effect of Better Decisions
Here’s what happens when you start making decisions according to your own algorithm instead of the default one:
Your energy becomes more consistent because you’re not constantly fighting against your own nature.
Your work becomes more coherent because each project reinforces the others instead of scattering your focus.
Your reputation becomes more authentic because people start associating you with work that genuinely represents who you are.
But most importantly, your days start feeling like your days.
Your business starts feeling like your business.
Your success starts feeling like your success.
This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions made according to criteria that actually matter to you.
When Your Algorithm Conflicts with “Best Practices”
Sometimes your personal algorithm will lead you to make decisions that look wrong from the outside.
You’ll turn down revenue opportunities that don’t align with your energy.
You’ll choose smaller projects that excite you over larger ones that drain you.
You’ll prioritize sustainability over growth.
People might question these choices. They might suggest you’re being too picky, too slow, or not ambitious enough.
Let them.
Their algorithm is optimizing for their definition of success. It may even be operating on someone elses if they haven’t taken the time to create thier own.
Yours should optimize for your definition of sustainability.
The entrepreneurs who last are the ones who learned to trust their own decision-making framework even when it contradicts conventional wisdom.
Your Algorithm, Your Life
Every algorithm has trade-offs.
The social media algorithm trades user well-being for engagement.
The search algorithm trades privacy for relevance.
What is your current decision-making algorithm trading away?
If you’re not intentional about this, you’re probably trading your energy, creativity, and peace of mind for external metrics that don’t actually make you happy.
But when you build a personal algorithm based on what sustains and energizes you, and you optimize for your own definition of success rather than everyone else’s, something interesting happens:
Your business becomes more profitable, not less, because you’re operating from a place of genuine energy rather than forced effort.
Your work becomes more distinctive because it reflects your actual priorities rather than borrowed strategies.
Your life becomes more integrated because your business supports who you are instead of demanding you become someone else.
The algorithm of you isn’t selfish. It’s strategic.
It’s the difference between building a business that works and building a business that works for you.
AI Prompt: “The Algorithm of You” Decision Engine
I want to build a personal decision-making algorithm that helps me make better, more sustainable choices in life and business. Ask me 5–7 questions to help identify:
My personal non-negotiables (what conditions I need to feel energized, creative, and aligned)
My energy multipliers vs. energy drains
What I want my life and business to actually optimize for (beyond revenue and social proof)
My default responses or filters for common decisions (like new opportunities, meetings, projects, etc.)
After you ask the questions and get my answers, summarize them into a clear Personal Algorithm Playbook with:
My top 3 optimization priorities
My energy multipliers & drains
My decision filters
Default “yes” and “no” responses I can use
Format it like a personal operating manual I can revisit weekly.
The question isn’t whether you have a decision-making algorithm. You do.
The question is: Who programmed it?
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