Alive Or Dead Time — A Choice Which Can Significantly Alter Your Life.
Be aware of your Dead time and Alive time.
You pick up a book in the hope to learn a new perspective or that something in it will help you understand life better.
You wait for the right page to arrive.
You wait for that perspective to click.
Then it happens.
“Ego Is The Enemy” by Ryan Holiday did that to me.
Ryan introduced me to this amazing concept — Alive Time or Dead Time.
Ryan gives the credit to Robert Greene to introduce the concept to him.
It’s a small chapter in the book, but it leaves an outstanding perspective. I immediately felt in my gut. I felt like tingling in the mind as if a few neurons shifted permanently and made a dent inside.
A few days before I picked this book, I was feeling the evergreen problem of a “block”. The days were “dull”. I convinced myself about the writer’s block trapping me. I was off from my morning runs, recovering from an acute vertigo episode, tired and sick of explaining to myself that it’s raining hard outside, and it’s not safe to run outdoors because of COVID. I overslept. Over ate. And wasted a lot of time.
But as a writer, marathoner, bookaholic; I have learned a crucial lesson. Whatever is the issue, I must not stop my small efforts. Because, if I keep making these tiny efforts, I will keep moving. If I keep moving, I will touch the finishing line; I will complete the book; I will finish the story.
And, one of the potent tools I use to come out of such a slack — Books.
I read.
And, that’s my answer to a writer’s block.
So, I picked up this lovely book. And got hooked to this chapter. But, it’s not just this chapter but the entire perspective, that’s thought-provoking.
Stuck in a tough job, Ryan took help from Greene, and this was his advice:
Ryan, while people wait for the right moment, there are two types of time: Dead time — where they are passive and biding and Alive time — where they are learning and acting and leveraging every second towards their intended future. Which will this be for you?
Dead-time and Alive-time
We all have these periods during the day when “What to do?” becomes a tough question.
We search for a quick solution and a “comfortable” answer. The search ends at — our smartphones and televisions. Binge-watching, social media scrolling, mindless shopping, agenda-less zoom calls, unnecessary forwardings …they all come to our rescue.
Though, these tools answer — “What to do”, we miss a critical element.
What we don’t pick here is that, though these are wonderful options to “kill” the unproductive time, there is nothing productive about choosing these options. This is dead-time. Leading to no learning. No growth.
What if you challenge this dead-time and enter a different world?
Why not replace it with “Alive-time”?
Answer this:
What’s your Dead time?
What’s your Alive time?
If you can differentiate between these two, it will help you pick the right choice and make the right move.
Did you notice the words “towards their intended future” in the advice from Greene?
That’s the actual difference. Alive time is when you do things that take you towards the “intended” future.
We all have these small-time pockets of “do nothing” available to us. Commuting, house chores, coffee break, and so on.
Then, we have these time pockets when our mind decides to shut down. It doesn't want to do anything and instead calls back the same rant — “I need a break”, “I need rest”, and “I need some screen time”.
This is the time when a choice needs to be made.
How can you convert this time into Alive time can give your life a new direction?
What you think is your dead-time is not your Dead-time!
Do you think boredom is dead-time?
Do you think house chores are dead-time?
No, they are not.
Doing nothing or the monotonous house chores, these are the times which your mind demands to find its creative space.
It’s your Alive-time!
When you fill this space with loud music, long phone calls, watching daily soap operas, your mind doesn’t get the required “Me” time, and you lose the opportunity.
Many people have hidden behind the forced quarantine and ended up creating a lot of dead time for themselves. But, many have accepted reality and worked hard to create a lot of alive time.
Which side are you on?
If this question raises eyebrows, it’s time to stand up and make a move. Yes, you have lost some precious time, but as Martin Luther King Jr. said — “Time is always right to do the right thing.”
Work from home has given us all an enormous opportunity to connect with our family in a way that we never did before. Don’t let the dead time take away these precious moments instead build conscious Alive time and create “Alive” moments.
Work from home has given a lot of opportunities to save commute time. Please don’t use the additional time for the late-nighters instead use it to get-up on time and do an outdoor walk; read a book; do Yoga; spend time with meditation; learn music; learn a new language; spend family time; go for a nature walk; take a few deep breaths.
How to identify Dead time
Just one simple rule — If the time is not adding value to you, it’s dead time.
How to replace Dead time with Alive time
Use the 1% philosophy.
Make a conscious choice. If the activity is not helping you move towards the “intended” purpose, replace it with the one which will help you do that.
Just one life to create the life of your choice!
The size of the effort doesn’t matter.
The smaller it is, the better it is. Don’t wait for the big leap, do some warm-up with smaller jumps, and then things will automatically align to take that big leap. 1% improvement approach never fails.
If you are tired, dead-out, the mind is not co-operating to do anything but to switch on the television or do some mindless social media scrolling:
- Avoid the itch,
- Wait before you pick the remote — just for a few seconds,
- Drink a glass of cold water,
- Walk around in the room or the living room for a few minutes,
- Now you are ready.
- Find a book, or talk to a family member, or call your kid, or create some art, or play some music, or sing a song, or do a few push-ups, or cook something, or do something which takes you towards your intended purpose.
Once you give your mind a few “Alive time” choices, invariably it will agree for one. You have to align and make an agreement with your mind. Treat your mind as a separate entity and talk it out. If communication and expectation are clear, your mind will co-operate.
Remember, till you are alive, thrive on creating as much alive time.
There will be enough dead-time after that!
Nishith is a Marathoner, an avid reader, aspiring author, YouTuber, Podcaster, and a personal transformation coach. His simple philosophy and belief — “Small and Consistent Improvements.”
He is the creator of a unique self-transformation platform — “Be Better Bit-By-Bit,” through which he endeavours to bring small positive changes in people’s lives each day.
Listen to his podcasts — Be Better Bit-By-Bit and 10 Bullets — 100 Words Book Summary.