OTM
Optimal time management
Many years ago in 2015 I had started writing a diary and created a concept called Optimal Time Management or OTM. I had added a lot of useful concepts under it that I derived through a lot of patient thinking and trial and error in my daily life.
Some of those experiments worked whereas some of the techniques failed. This was all before joining Actualized.org. I was very consumed in those days with productivity and time management. I was very competitive back then.
But life happened. Relationships happened. Time flew by...... I lost my energy and zest for life. I never looked back at the diary again.
Today when I flipped through the diary and saw the year marked 2015 on my entry, it once again reminded me of the time management system I had created. I had called it OTM.
In this journal I will try to reflect on the scribblings of my diary and rewrite those concepts that were lost in time..
Certain levels with whatever you do.
Primary Threshold
Balance
Stress threshold
Toxic cutoff
I think any habit is both good and bad. Even addiction.
For example you could say watching Television is an addiction if you did too much.
But how much is too much.
To understand the nature of habits and addiction I have created a system of concepts. These concepts will help me understand how habits work and how to control and regulate them to avoid toxic behavior around habits and addictions.
This system is as follows
Under - growth
This is the stage where your activity is so low that it can be effectively be called zero or "under"
For example if you drank 1 cup of coffee in 1 month or 2 months or watched TV once in a month for 10 minutes. I will call this " Under"
You are an "under consumer"
This is the Red zone.
Primary Threshold
This is the stage where you have reasonably engaged in an activity to call it more than "Under"
Example.. If you watched TV for 1 hour per day for 4 days a week throughout the month. I will say you have crossed the limit of "under". Now you are an average user or "average consumer"
I will call this the green zone.. This is the zone where things haven't been figured out properly.
Balance
This is where your habit or addiction is fairly in balance.
For example you have been watching TV for healthy reasons like watching health or inspirational shows that helps you gain more knowledge and information and is beneficial for your overall growth. You are watching a variety of shows and you do it by properly optimising your time and not giving up essential actions in lieu of these habits, then you have reached the balance level or threshold for such a habit..
In this stage or level you not only consider the nature of this habit, it's frequency, the amount time invested but also the quality of how this time invested. The qualitative aspects involving the beneficial aspects of the time you spend on this habit.
This stage is a stage of balance and growth and integration where this habit will not degrade you over time but will serve to upgrade you.
I will call this the yellow zone.
Stress threshold
This is a negative zone.. This is where you steer into a level of addiction and maladaptive function. Here you are obsessively engaged with the habit such that it creates a Grey zone.
For example. If you're compulsively watching TV where you feel good initially because it's acting like a dopamine feed. You can't get enough of dopamine at this point.
I will call it the Grey zone because here things are still muddy and you don't begin to see warning signs right away.
You are blindly ignoring the effects and simply enjoying the habit or addiction. You think it's good as long as you don't see the danger ahead.
Toxic cutoff
This is the last stage. I will call it the Purple zone..
Here things begin to rapidly decline. A chain reaction is set off
And your body begins to warn you about the dangers of your habits and addictions. You suffer insomnia because of the TV addiction.
You suffer obesity because of the food addiction or you suffer symptoms of exhaustion and lethargy and burnout arising from the stress of engaging in that habit.
At this point anything good that you are getting from that habit for example a high, entertainment or feel good hormones are all outweighed by the negative side effects of that habit.
You are in dangerous terrain in this zone. Your health could easily take a turn for the worse if you don't control your habit or steer it in a positive direction.
This is the cutoff stage. Here you must stop and revert back your habit or you're solely responsible for the consequences ahead.
Simplified theory of things - I will call this. Wait.
All of life is a stage.... Oh wait. What stage am I talking about..
Well that will come next.
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