The Structure/Freedom Paradox

ByMatthew

I read a Early To Rise newsletter (penned by Craig Ballantyne) recently that really put into sharp focus something I’ve thought about, and had an inkling about, for a while now: how do we get the things we really want to accomplish done and have more freedom?

Craig states: “The More Structure You Have In Your Day, the More Freedom You Will Have in Your Life.”

A paradox indeed.

How can we have more freedom, if we have (more) structure?

Well, because there’s a bit more to it than that.

We want freedom, but we also want to get certain things done – things we value that we’re not willing to let slide.

Ballantyne goes on to quote Paulo Coehlo:

Discipline and freedom are not mutually exclusive but mutually dependent because otherwise, you’d sink into chaos.

At the two ends of the scale, there’s chaos and absolute rigidity.

No one wants either of those, but we so often err on the side of chaos.

And that’s what gets us.

And that’s how adding, intelligently and thoughtfully, structure gives us more freedom.

When we know that we’ve taken care of the things that matter, we can enjoy the time left.

The interesting thing is that when we’re intentional about creating structures that support completing what we see as valuable, we have more time left than we might have guessed.

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