Testing 1, 2, 3. Can you hear me? Good. Because I’ve got something important to tell you.

Your social media feed? It’s not random. That’s not just the universe deciding to show you rage-bait, comparison traps, and drama on repeat. You’re teaching it to do that. And here’s the kicker, you’re probably doing the same thing to your own brain.

Let me explain.

Your Algorithm Is Trained (By You)

Every single thing you do on social media sends a signal. Every like. Every comment. Every share. Even how long you hover over a post, yes, they’re tracking that too. They know if you spent 3 seconds or 3 minutes staring at something. Can you believe it?

You’re essentially training your algorithm like you’d train a dog. Except instead of teaching it to sit or stay, you’re teaching it what content keeps you glued to the screen. And platforms? They’re very motivated students. Because the longer you stay, the more ads they can show you, and the more money they make.

If you engage with outrage, you get more outrage. Watch drama? Here’s a whole buffet of it. Linger on content that makes your blood boil? The platform thinks, “Oh, this person is hungry for this,” and feeds you more. It sees what’s working and doubles down.

Most people think the algorithm is just happening to them. Like it’s some mysterious force beyond their control. But here’s the truth: You’re shaping it. You’re the one steering this ship, even if you didn’t realize you were holding the wheel.

But Wait, It Goes Deeper

Here’s where it gets interesting. This doesn’t just apply to social media. Your mind has an algorithm too.

What you repeatedly focus on becomes easier to notice. It’s called the Reticular Activating System if you want to get technical about it, but let’s keep it simple: if you look for incompetence, you’re going to find it everywhere. If you search for division, you’ll see it in every conversation. If you’re constantly focusing on reasons to feel behind or inadequate, your brain will happily supply endless evidence.

But, and this is the good news, the opposite is also true. Start engaging with content that builds you up, discipline, skills, health, leadership, education, and your feed will shift. As your feed shifts, so does your mindset. They’re connected.

The Canoe Metaphor

Changing your algorithm is kind of like steering a canoe. If you’ve been paddling in one direction for a year, it’s not going to turn around overnight. You have to make a conscious, sustained effort to change course.

Picture yourself out on the water. You get into a good rhythm, paddling one way, and everything flows. But when you realize you need to go in a completely different direction? That takes work. You have to fight the momentum. You have to deliberately paddle differently. It’s awkward at first. It takes effort.

That’s what changing your algorithm feels like, both digitally and mentally. You’ve created a pattern. Now you need to break it and build a new one. And that’s not going to happen because you watched one motivational video or read one inspiring post.

How to Actually Change Your Algorithm

Alright, enough theory. Let’s talk action steps.

First: Stop watching content that makes you angry. Seriously. If you see something that irritates you and you keep watching anyway, you’re reinforcing that behavior. The algorithm doesn’t care why you’re watching, it just knows you are. Scroll past. Walk away. Turn it off.

Second: Unfollow accounts that consistently trigger comparison, anxiety, or anger. This isn’t weakness, it’s curation. You’re not required to consume everything the internet throws at you. You wouldn’t eat spoiled food just because someone put it in front of you, right? Same concept.

Third: Actively seek what you want more of. Search for it. Engage with it. Save it. Comment on it. Share it. You have to overcome that bad pattern you created in the first place. The algorithm won’t just guess what you want, you have to show it.

This is where intentionality comes in. You can’t just passively scroll and hope things improve. You need to be deliberate about what you click on, what you linger on, and what you engage with.

The Internal Shift

Here’s the deeper layer most people miss: Changing your algorithm externally forces you to change internally.

You’ll notice your conversations shift. Your thinking shifts. Your emotional baseline shifts. Because what you consume normalizes in your mind. If you’re constantly feeding on negativity, that becomes your normal. If you start feeding on growth-oriented content, that becomes your new normal.

Most people don’t need a new personality. They need a new input stream.

Think about it, if you spent a year listening to toxic people complain about everything, you’d probably become more cynical and negative too. But if you spent a year surrounded by people solving problems, building things, and growing, you’d naturally start thinking that way. Your environment shapes you. And in 2026, your digital environment is just as influential as your physical one.

You Hold the Remote

Look, you can’t control the entire internet. You can’t control what’s on TV or what other people post. But you can absolutely control what you put in your mind. What you watch. What you listen to. What you consume.

And here’s the thing, you can also participate in the influence. You can share the goodness instead of the garbage. You can be the person who posts something encouraging instead of enraging. You can break the cycle.

If you want less chaos in your life, stop feeding the chaos with engagement. Just turn it off. Walk away. That’s better than sitting there, filling your head with garbage, and then wondering why you feel exhausted all the time.

If you want more growth, start feeding growth. It’s not about dramatic overnight transformations. It’s about daily choices. Small shifts. Intentional decisions.

Over time, what’s around you, both digitally and mentally, will reflect what you value.

The Bottom Line

That’s how you change your algorithm. Both online and in your head. Both on your phone and in your home. It’s a choice. Every single day, it’s a choice.

So here’s my challenge to you: Take a hard look at your feed this week. What’s showing up? Is it building you or draining you? And more importantly, what are you teaching it to show you?

Make some positive changes. Small shifts. Intentional curation. I promise you, in a few weeks, your feed will look different. And so will your mindset.

I hope to see you in my newsfeed, but only if you’re actively encouraging others. If not? Well, you know how algorithms work now.

Have a great week. I wish you the best. And thanks for tuning in to The Vault Expert, where we’re unlocking the hidden assets within you: one intentional choice at a time.