what is oos oom out of sight out of mind method for minimalists.


The OOS-OOM Method aka "out of sight and out of mind" allows you to focus on what's in front of you. This is a way to focus on important tasks and goals by not trying to get distracted by external factors and temptations.

What can the OOS-OOM method help you with?

With an out of sight and out of mind approach, you can setup your life in a way that provides minimal distractions and opts you in for maximum productivity.

Here's every instance that OOS-OOM can come in clutch:

  1. Reducing screen time. 
  2. Improving workplace or work desk.
  3. Reducing distractions.
  4. Goal setting for what's important in life.
  5. Financial planning for the short and long term.

Reducing screen time with OOS-OOM method

With the OOS-OOM Method, you can easily reduce screen time and worry less about pixels on your screen.

Let's take your wallpaper for example; let's say it's an artwork of Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and you are an avid fan of the anime or manga (or the live action even, they did a pretty good job with it).

Whenever you look at it, you are reminded about the show's existence and it doesn't help when you are trying to unlock the screen to focus on something else.

Your mind will wander and within a few minutes you will be looking at the manga spoilers on Reddit for next week's release.

One of the best ways to combat this is to keep a plain and simple wallpaper that does not remind you of anything.

Once you have unlocked the phone, you might have plenty of widgets and apps on the home screen. I put myself in a bad position by adding charts for stocks and Bitcoin on my home screen.

This led to panic and research or just looking for the latest news whenever the price dropped. Now I have an empty home screen and there are fewer distractions.

The moment you start to place distractions out of sight, it harbours the movement for it to be out of mind eventually.

Improving your workplace or desk setup with the OOS-OOM Method

A messy desk is an unproductive desk. If you keep things that distract you on your desk or if your desk is a mess of different things then it will be one heck of a distractive motion.

Previously, I had my laptop, phone, iPad, stationery, etc all placed there. Nowadays it's just the laptop on the table with the phone kept someplace away.

Every other item was a needless distraction; the stationery is now kept a few metres away where it is retrieved only when it is actually needed; same for my diary and pen which I barely use anyways.

Reducing distractions with OOS-OOM

reduce distractions with oos oom

The goal with our out of sight and out of mind way of life is to reduce distractions as much as possible.

Here's a comprehensive list of distractions I used to come across:

  1. Meaningless phone notifications: leads to opening social media apps and then doom scrolling or ordering food on an app like Zomato.
  2. Unmonitored messages: not muting groups on WhatsApp would mean constant pings.
  3. Sounds: external noises or other sounds used to break my flow.
  4. Post DND flow: the best suggestion is using Do Not Disturb mode from many but seeing all those messages after you unlock your phone can lead to stress and unwarranted panic. See items that benefit you positively.
  5. Items on my desk: I used to spend a lot of time looking at photo frames, items like fidget spinners, etc.

Set goals for life with out of sight out of mind principles

With OOS-OOM, you can start to set goals for what's important. It involves being honest with yourself and seeing what works best in the short, medium and long term.

  1. Segregate goals into short, medium and long term durations.
  2. See which goals are currently unrealistic and remove them or move them down the order.
  3. Focus on goals that will help you achieve other goals. Eg: a YouTube channel that when monetised in 2 years can help you upgrade your camera.
  4. Place your core goals and next to it you must write down all the habits, people and circumstances that avoid you from achieving them.

Financial planning for short and long term with OOS-OOM

There are two types of financial planners: one who generate money (primarily) to buy items and those that generate money (primarily) to buy assets.

It is good to have a mix of the two that allows you to move in between the two:

  • Buying a DSLR in the short term.
  • Buying a car for the medium term.
  • Buying a house for the long term.

But how do you prepare for all of these?

Good financial planning with OOS-OOM comes with what's important and understanding how money flows in and out of your hands.

Simplest way to get started:

  1. Cut down on costs: for me it was cancelling Netflix and a few subscriptions.
  2. 10-10-80 method: Of what I make, I spend keep 10% as an emergency fund, 10% as an overhead and only utilise 80% - this is purposefully giving yourself a 20% reduction in salary so you spend less; mind you I also try to invest most of the 80% left, close to half of it.
  3. ​Journal your expenses: keep a track of your spends, who you spend with and what patterns emerge.

Now you will ask, "where's the big where OOS-OOM plays a part in it?"

Here's where "out of sight and out of mind" plays int your financial planning:

  1. You need to let go of patterns and buying habits once you have spotted them.
  2. Anything that costs you but doesn't provide great value in its usage isn't essential: for example, YouTube Premium at ₹199 works for me in India, but not ₹649 per month for Netflix. If I was in a different country, I would not bother with YouTube Premium either.
  3. Short term gratifications can be delayed, especially when it involves a big purchase without significant returns or the ability to impact your life.
  4. Remove wish-list items and stop looking at product reviews; if you really want it you will find a way to afford it.

OOS-OOM is really effective across various mediums. If you want to keep up with minimalist practices, check my recent blog posts or subscribe to my newsletter.