Software and hardware usually have a number with them to denote their version. Think Windows 10, iPhone 12, or Android 11, for example. In days of less savvy marketing, and in the operational world, these software and hardware versions often also have a decimal to them, like Android 4.1, for smaller updates and/or upgrades compared to the more major ones that changed by the whole number. On this system of numerical version naming, I thought to myself, what version would I be if I thought about the changes I had gone through as a person in life?

To answer that question, I would first have to make some rules to assess my version in a clear and consistent way. They are as below, and are pretty simple, with two key things to keep in mind.

• To be able to count a version change, there has to be a change to you, and not just something that happened to you. If something memorable happened to you, but it didn’t change you as a person, you can’t count it. Perhaps the easiest way to ensure you should increase a version number of you is to be able to answer the question how did I change because of…
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• Changes to you can be physical, psychological, or otherwise. Though the change is generally to your personality (psychological), since we tend to think of a change to a person as being due to their personality. However, we sometimes frame it as a cause, such as a physical injury that changes how they have to adapt and take a new perspective in life.
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• While changes to you are marked by increases in numbers, that doesn’t mean you only count changes you deem to be positive. Negative changes also warrant an increase to your version number. After all, we all know the latest and supposedly greatest version of some software or hardware isn’t always better than the previous version, or even two or three versions. A change in you is an increase in the version number of you, period.

 

Rules

1. Start with the you at birth being version 1.0
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2. For every small change to you as a person, update your version number by an increase of 0.1 (i.e. 1.1)
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3. For every big change to you as a person, round up your version number to the next highest whole number, with a decimal zero (i.e. 2.0), regardless of what decimal version you were on (i.e. 1.4 or 1.9)
   • This is not an increase to your version number by 1, like 1.4 to 2.4, but just a rounding up to the next highest whole number.
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4. For every medium change to you as a person, decide whether it were a large or small change to you based on other examples you have of each. You may have to go back and readjust later, which will affect every version number thereafter if it were considered a big change. However, don’t let an unwillingness to renumber throw off the proper determination of your evolution.
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5. If you have 10 or more small increments before a big one, turning a version number by a whole number all on small changes to you, that’s fine. Ten small life changing events is plenty enough to be equivalent to a general big life changing event. And there is no version number increase more than 1, like one big life change right after another. That’s just how it works.
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6. If there were events prior to their first memory that changed you as a person somehow. If someone were able to confirm that for you, including how an event changed you, you should include that in your version.
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Tips for doing the exercise

The exercise would take a decent amount of time, as you can probably imagine, with what is essentially a contemplative life review in chronological order. It would also take a few iterations, because you’re not likely to remember every life changing event, big or small, upon first go around. To that end, I would suggest you:

• Use a computer program where you can add or remove items on your list easily, or use triple spacing if you were handwriting on paper.
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• Separate the events into columns for big and small changes to help with the version numbering at the end.
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• Do not try to tabulate your version number until you’re quite convinced you have all the changes you want to count, but especially the big changes. In such an event, just start the numbering exercise again from where you inserted the new event as everything after that will be different, not just some small portion.

 

My version number?

You may or may not be disappointed to know I haven’t yet gone through this exercise. You probably don’t care, which is just fine by me. After all, I share this as an exercise for you to try, not to show what number I am at. I will change this text after I do this exercise, but if you try it and didn’t mind sharing, please leave your version number in the comments below, as well as any other feedback or suggestions you have.

 

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