Have you ever looked at your phone’s home screen full of apps you didn’t remember installing? Notifications popping. Default layouts. Default sounds.

Like our phones, in life we had built habits, routines, and reactions that weren’t chosen. They were inherited. We often run on the factory settings we’ve never questioned.

And that’s the way most people live.

They operate on autopilot. The phone came set up a certain way. The workday came structured a certain way. The relationship came with unspoken “norms.” And without realizing it, they just accepted them all.

Default brightness. Default schedule. Default mindset.

The problem with default settings is that they’re built for average.

They work fine if your goal is to exist. But if your goal is to grow, they hold you back.

The Problem

Default settings feel safe because they were built to avoid risk, not to maximize potential.

Default fitness means exercising when it’s convenient, or blindly going for a run when you need a much better plan. Default marriage means avoiding conflict and making it all about “the kids”, putting in minimum effort. Default business means doing just enough to keep the lights on. Default faith means believing in words, but without action.

Most people never stop to ask, “Who set these rules for me?”

When you live on default, your life starts to feel generic. Predictable. Drained of creative energy.

It looks functional on the outside but feels disconnected on the inside.

The Solution

You don’t need to rebuild your life overnight. You just need to start customizing.

Pick one area this week and change a setting that changes everything.

If it’s your body, wake up earlier and train before the world wakes. If it’s your business, protect the first 90 minutes of your day for deep work. If it’s your mindset, stop asking “Why am I stuck?” and start asking “What is this trying to teach me?”

When you customize your systems, you create alignment. You shift from running a program to writing one.

Start with one intentional upgrade. Start as small as you need to get started. Build from there.

Rebuild your notifications so they only alert you to what matters. Rework your morning flow so it fuels focus, not distraction. Rewrite the internal story that says, “This is just the way I am.”

The Challenge

Open the settings menu on your life.

Ask yourself:

• What’s still running that no longer serves me?
• Which habit feels outdated?
• What do I need to reconfigure to perform at my highest level?

Then change one thing today. One setting. One shift.

It could be small. But it could also be the beginning of a total reboot.

Default is for devices. You are not a device.

Stop living life on the default settings. Customize it like crazy.

See you next Saturday.