19/4/2018

The Physical, the Digital & the Mind

Most¹ people’s world is occupied across three distinct categories, the physical, the digital and that vast expanse of the mind. Each category plays an important role in defining many aspects of our lives. Left unchecked, the categories have the potential to add infinite amounts of weight and baggage over time, like weeds in a garden.

The Physical world is the most readily apparent, as everything associated with this category ultimately surrounds us, in plain view. While the Digital world can be infinitely larger and potentially more dangerous if not taken into account and understood and managed. Finally, the Mind has the absolute biggest impact on everything, as it will impact the way you interact with each of the other two categories and has the most power over you.

The first step is to accept the concept of trying to divide your life into these three spaces and then providing the necessary maintenance to each one throughout your day.

Understanding Collecting

As human beings we are constantly accumulating and collecting - information, data, objects, memories, scars, pain, email, experiences and so on.

This explains why there are so many methods, courses, apps and products designed to help you categorise, manage, store or replace items within your collections.

You will never cease to collect until the day you die. It’s part of being a human. The intention of the System is to start making you more mindful of the existing items in your life and allow you to consider any new ones that you choose to add.

The intention is not to achieve the perfect equilibrium, as this will likely be a fools errand. Your needs will change throughout your life and constantly reviewing the items in your life in this manner is exhausting.

The aim rather is to allow you to arrive at a moderate point along your journey whereby most of your surroundings blend around you and where everything has it’s place and provides a specific function in your life.

There will be outlier elements that will likely need to be considered separately. Don’t get bogged down with these items to begin with. Turn your focus to the low hanging fruit first; once you’ve established your method, this can then be turned to these more complex elements.

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1. As explained previously, this cannot be a universal system that captures every human being on earth. In this instance, there are people in this world with no electricity, much less internet access and for those millions a digital category is irrelevant. However the other two categories definitely remain relevant.↩

Chapter 1

19/2/2018

Categories & Compartments

Our lives are complex, with a number of moving parts that are all competing with each other for attention and oftentimes supremacy. As we carry these parts around with us, they occupy physical, conscious or subconscious space. The issue being that each one of these parts contributes overall to our mental overhead.

Becoming aware of these parts, then being able to categorise them and then place them, first into main Categories and then into smaller Compartments constitute the first steps in the RMO system. Once these categories and their compartments are clearly defined, managing them is the next step.

Before considering the specific categories in detail, a few considerations should be made which will help better tackle the task at hand and hopefully allow for better results:

1. It’s important to recognise that a universal system that attempts to cover every type of human is not practical, nor particularly useful. Individually we are unique, however the majority of people share common threads (irrespective of their culture or situation) and struggle with similar challenges on a daily basis. This truth extends across cultures, professions and time periods (past, present and likely future). To gain the maximum, try and extract the fundamentals presented and tailor the rest.
2. Consider both the Categories and Compartments to be completely empty at the start of the process. Starting from nothing and then slowly adding things that are necessary is a liberating exercise that frees you of the mentally, which then allows you to decide whether or not this item is actually necessary in your life or not.
3. The order in which items are categorised should be considered, as some categories are easier to tackle than others, the low hanging fruit frees up space for other more difficult categories to be tackled, that need more thoughtful consideration.
4. Unless you have a great deal of time on your hands, this process will take the time it takes. Don’t feel obligated to rush the process.

The breakdown of items in this manner isn’t the important element, rather having these elements in the forefront of your mind and working through them as often as is necessary.

Chapter 1

9/2/2018

Introduction

You have a great deal on your mind. Most of us are the same. You also likely have too much stuff (at least you think you do). Again, you’re not alone. You need a better system than the one you’re currently using; which is why you’re here.

Fundamentally, the issue with humans is that we are natural hoarders. Although it seems to takes the same amount of effort in accumulating as it does to discard, we have more difficulty with the latter than the former.

If you’re looking to reduce your mental overhead, then you’ve stumbled on the right ‘corner’ of the internet. The journey begins by defining those elements that are essential to you. This is then followed by carefully assessing what can be considered enough to your overall wellbeing, with as little excess as possible.

Any system seeking to define a universal approach to life is going to fall short for many people, or may not gain the full benefits of this system as it’s too broad and not tailored to their unique position. In this respect the RMO System is no different.

The hope however is that there will be enough utility, thoughts and ideas that anyone can gain something from. As the System matures from it will change and expand on areas previously not considered, or likely not considered in the necessary detail.

The intention with the System is to allow you to view your possessions in a different manner. Once you are able to see these elements of your life for what they truly are and what they actually mean to you, then you can decide on what to do with them.

The challenge however with possessions is that their status in your life shifts in importance the longer they occupy. Being able to understand these shifts and react to them is an essential skill that needs to be developed in all of us.

Items are categorised as they cascade down the RMO System in the following way:

1. Physical, Digital & Mind
2. Home, Work & Personal
3. Essential, Wellbeing & Excess

Each group of categories will be developed and expanded upon to be able to be put into context that is relevant to your situation.

Words of Caution

Categorising items and then carrying out the necessary actions on them is where the difficulties and challenges lie. The who exercise could fail because of the effort and time necessary, which can be overwhelming. Being practical and removing emotion from decisions is another hurdle that has to be overcome. Therefore you should come into this with the right frame of mind to extract the most value from the exercise.

Chapter 1