What do you see in a calendar?

Is it a schedule? A linear progression. Strictly divided like slices of bread, or maybe not strictly, like when your guests ask for less or more cake after dinner.

A list of to-do items, perhaps? Decks to be cleared, notifications to be silenced, reminders to be remembered...

What about a forest?

Some forests are dense, others are sparse. Both thrive under their own desired conditions.

What we do every hour of every minute of every day requires time and some amount of energy. Every time we place an event on our calendar, likely on someone else's too, we plant a seed.

So will we devote our time and energy to that seed or to something else after the event is over?

The fact of the matter is that humans aren't so simple. A calendar event does not mean there is a perfectly dedicated allocation of time and energy to that meeting, the seedling we plant.

Realistically, people make tradeoffs during their creative acts throughout the day. Lest we forget about the open spaces! The time spent growing our seedlings into massive trees, doing it over and over again, better and better as we go.

I've made a habit of counting the number of creative working hours I have each day. Of those hours, I reflect on how many of them led to the growth of a great tree, a project that led to new connections, ideas, relationships, financial gains or losses.

What goes in determines what comes out. Are negative externalities lurking in your forest? Planting too many seedlings and not able to care for enough?

Tend to your calendar and plant responsibly, enough to see your forest take shape around the others.

Productivity

A Forest of Time and Energy