Cybernetics, Soulcraft, and Self-Repair

I often think of myself as a system that can be tinkered with. It might sound cold or mechanical, but it’s actually comforting: if something in my life isn’t working, I can attempt a fix. This is where cybernetics (the science of feedback and control systems) meets what I jokingly call “soulcraft” (the art of building a better self). In practice, it means treating personal growth a bit like debugging and programming.

For example, when I notice I’m consistently anxious on Monday mornings, I’ll dig into the “system” of my week to find the bug. Is it lack of preparation on Sunday? Is it too many meetings on Monday? Once I have a hypothesis, I’ll tweak a variable—maybe prepare a detailed Monday game plan the night before—and then observe the results. It’s classic feedback loop thinking: make a small change, see how the system (in this case, me) responds.

Of course, unlike a piece of software, I’m not fully in control of all the variables. Emotions, other people, random life events—there’s a lot of unpredictability. That’s where the “soul” part comes in. Self-repair isn’t just a techy, logical process; it’s deeply human. It requires patience, compassion, and the humility to accept that some fixes take time or multiple attempts. I’ve learned to celebrate the incremental improvements, no matter how small. If a new habit makes me 5% happier or 5% more productive, that’s a win. Over time, those add up.

One of the hardest parts is maintaining agency—reminding myself that I can change things. It’s easy to default to “that’s just how I am” or “life is just hectic.” Cybernetic thinking pushes me to ask, “What can I tweak? What feedback am I getting?” It shifts me from passive to active.

I won’t pretend I can reprogram myself entirely (there’s no version 2.0 release coming where I’m a flawless human). But viewing personal growth as this blend of engineering and art keeps me motivated. I’m both the coder and the code, the craftsperson and the project. It’s a long, perhaps lifelong, process of self-repair. And that’s okay—good systems, and good souls, are built gradually.