Structured Sponteneity

I've been talking with Jordan lately about the idea of structured spontaneity.

Both of us have realized how much we really value the freedom to respond naturally and intuitively to whatever emerges during the day, rather than being so constrained by circumstances (job, finances, time commitments, etc) that it's impossible to make decisions in the moment.

On the other hand, we're learning how critically important it is to create structure within life that keeps us moving forward. One of the worst feelings for me personally is waking up on a friday morning and realizing that I'm functionally in the same place I was on monday. I hate feeling like time is escaping me, or that I'm stewarding it poorly.

So, how can we marry the two together? Here are some thoughts:

1) Spontaneity vs. Laziness: I know I've confused the two more than I should, and the "being spontaneous" is often just a cover for not wanting to think hard, or to commit myself to a difficult task. Separating those two has been a good starting point for me.

2) Structured Open Space: This concept has become really key for my life recently. The idea is that you intentionally define "open space" times, large blocks where you release yourself from any obligation to produce anything. The actual content of my open space day (friday) tends to change a lot depending on where I'm at. Sometimes I'll read a book I've been wanting to get to, or I'll play computer games, or spend time with friends, or sometimes I'll just sleep half of the day. The point is that I can focus on doing whatever would restore my soul and body most without feeling guilty. In the past, I mixed work, play, and rest into one big jumble. I frequently wasn't very productive when I worked, and felt guilty when I played or rested. Again, separating out those two spaces is huge.

3) Know the Big Picture: One of the biggest reasons my short term spontaneity wasn't very productive was that I didn't have a clear sense of where I wanted to go in the long run. I was thinking 3 months down the road, at the very most. Often, I was only thinking a week ahead. Since coming out of DDQ two weeks ago, I've invested a lot of time and energy into thinking into the future and setting specific goals. I have a 5 year plan for Equus now. I've committed myself to a writing schedule that will leave me with a finished rough draft by this time next year. And dear God does it feel better. Even just three weeks ago I constantly felt that uneasy "I think I'm forgetting something" feeling down in my stomach. Even a ten hour work day often felt unsatisfying because, behind it all, I wasn't really sure if all that work was actually moving me forward or just keeping me busy. It feels so much better to know that I'm working, resting, and playing with purpose now.

4) Define Your Time: This is kind of where everything leads. Rather than insisting on no plan at all in the name of freedom or spontaneity, I've committed myself to a very well defined "macro-structure".

* Monday - Thursday: Focused work days for Equus. Every day I tackle one major "to-do" first, that one thing that will move me a step closer to my weekly goal. Yesterday I research and registered for a Federal Tax ID and DBA liscence (doing business as). If that one thing takes me all day, then at least it was a very productive day. If not, I tick some smaller "clearing my plate" items off of the list. The main point is focused and sustained work until dinner time.

* Friday: Open Space day. Free time to disengage and recharge. I really love Fridays =). The principle behind taking a workday off is that the positive benefit of an entire disengaged day a week spread out over the long run will more than equal whatever work I might scrape out on that day. So far its really proven to be true.

* Saturday - Sunday: Writing weekend. I've discovered that to write consistently I really need a larger block of time, I can't squeeze it in around other things. My goal as of now is to write 3-5 new pages each day of the weekend, but I'm hoping to increase that before too long. Its been interesting to see how much I've begun looking forward to the weekend, storing up ideas and jottings in my notebook. Before I just had this general sense that "I should write whenever I can", which translated into almost never. Now that I actually don't allow myself to do any writing during the week, by Saturday morning I'm actually looking forward to "getting to write again". The mind is a funny thing.


So out of some of those thoughts I'm starting to see a livable kind of "structured spontaneity" emerging. Doing the hard work up front to think, plan, and commit yourself to tangible long term goals and a structure for getting there, so that you become free to creatively and spontaneously manage your time and energy within that structure. It's working really well for me so far, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out over the coming year.