Rhythm - 010
“Things Happen People Change” painting by Casey Baugh
I. Personal History Calendar
In 2011, I started a project I called the Personal History Calendar. I designed a calendar and listed events over the year aiming for 365 days of memorable events– firsts, and milestones, and memorable nights. The intention is to create a calendar with an anniversary of personal history for every day. Eventually being able to have a full year knowing that today in my history I tried Kangaroo meat for the first time (2009), and tomorrow is the anniversary of my first flight (1985).
Sure, TimeHop and Facebook will tell you that today is the anniversary of the day you became friends with that guy you sat next to in Earth Sciences in college. But the Personal History Calendar is more intimate and revealing than that.
I stopped at around 190 events; just over half. Mostly because I just could not wring out enough personal details to fill the full year. But perhaps I’ll continue to add to it. Over the course of my life, will I be able to create moments and memories for every day? Or will September 27 always be a day where nothing great happens, while September 28 has 6 different memories? It feels as though some days attract action, while some just get skipped.
Our days have an energy. Our weeks keep a pace, with hours of stress and time to relax. Our years have periods of intensity and periods of calm. Chapters. Decades. The further out we zoom, we begin to see that our entire lives have a rhythm, too.
This month I’m exploring the idea of rhythms of timing and pace in our lives.
Listen up.
“Sultanahmet” digital photograph by Aydin Buyuktis
II. When in Rhyme...
This Tuesday, I woke up a little earlier to get a nice little jog in before the weather got too cold.
As I started, I felt great. The music was driving me and the air was perfect. I was on fire. 10 minutes quickly turned into 20 and when I usually start to feel pain in my knees I was picking up the pace. My legs kept pushing, my arms kept pumping and my breathing was consistent.
The rhythm of my music was in perfect sync to my run. My steps hit every beat. The lights turned green as I approached and the world seemed to be cheering me on.
It’s an amazing feeling when the world feels aligned to our direction, giving us signs that you’re doing things right and blowing wind into our sails. That's called “synchronicity.”
Synchronicity was coined by psychologist Carl Jung to describe events that occur at the same time, without a shared cause, but are connected in meaning. Synchronicity goes beyond coincidence–not just happening at the same time. There is some meaningful connection that goes beyond scientific explanation.
It’s the experience of hearing a song that reminds you of a friend that you’ve lost touch with, only to get an email from her the same day. It’s needing to make a difficult decision, saying out loud “what should I do?” and at that moment, a bus drives by with an advertisement whose headline gives you your answer. It’s getting a call from a number ending in 1525 just as you’re paying for your breakfast which is also $15.25.
Surely they mean something, right?
There’s 3 likely justifications to explain synchronicity and “rhyming events.”
One explanation is human psychology.
Our brains are naturally meaning-making machines. We look for the signs we need to help us make difficult decisions we couldn’t easily make on our own so we connect events that happen randomly and assign meaning.
Another is in mathematics and probability.
The Law of Truly Large Numbers states that in any extremely large data set, any outrageous and unusual event is likely to occur. It’s merely coincidence and it’s not unusual in the spectrum of possibilities that the same number would show up several times in a day, for example.
The last explanation (and go with me on this for a minute) is divine Intervention.
God, an angel, fate or higher power is sending you a message. YOU. It’s meant for you. The universe knows your name and is trying to tell you something. (Even talking about “the universe” is a way of discussing a higher power without getting into a conversation about religion.) Believing that “the universe” sends messages and aligns events for a purpose is to believe in a higher power.
Maybe you believe in God. Maybe you believe in “the universe.” Maybe not. But all of this speculating and sorting out what I believe in leads me to this question:
Would I rather believe the universe is chaotic, random, and completely anonymous?
Or that it’s ordered, scripted, and knows who I am, what I’m doing, and what I'm thinking?
What do you think?
“Montreaux Jazz Festival” poster design and illustration by Malika Favre
III. Procrastinating Life
Timing matters for getting things done.
I do most of my writing and deep thinking in the morning. If I tried to block off time before bed to put together this article, I’d be resisting sleep and fighting the urge to get distracted because my willpower to stay focused is depleted after a long day. And some nights, I just don’t feel like working. I’m just clearer and more productive in the morning. So sometimes I put off my work until the next morning when I have the energy and focus to do a better job.
We're all very familiar with this kind of procrastination– procrastinating work. We delay tasks that have to get done: finishing an assignment, cleaning our room, making an uncomfortable phone call. They require a certain mindset to complete and so we delay doing them until we’re mentally ready. But eventually, because they have to get done, we find the right time or build up the grit, determination, or courage to suck it up and do it.
There is another kind of procrastination.
We also delay doing things we would like to have done. As in, I don’t want to do the work but I want to have accomplished this feat. This is what I’d call procrastinating life. It’s putting off our own ambitions, values, and desires because the timing is just not right. We assume that the future will present a more fortuitous opportunity or circumstances and will whisper in our ear, "now is the time!”
Breaking off a bad relationship.
Starting a family.
Leaving a miserable but well-paying job.
Asking for a raise or promotion.
Launching that company or podcast or website.
Buying a house.
Moving on your own.
Going back to school.
Booking that trip you’ve always talked about going on.
Timing matters.
But there’s no such thing as perfect timing. No magical source whispering “NOW!” In our ear.
Doing things at the right time can make a big difference how it gets done or trying to align the experience and accomplishment to the moment you’re ready to receive it.
Timing matters. It can help us heal. Build meaning. Give us perspective. Gain experience.
But wait too long and time will destroy everything.
Gif illustration by Anna Salmi
IV. The Off-Beat
At a Caveday last winter, I put a GoPro in the corner, capturing a time lapse of the entire day. It was meant for some video content on our website. But as I sat down to watch the footage, I saw a clear pattern that I hadn’t noticed before. The room breathes. As people come into the space and socialize, it expands and spreads out. We begin our work, people settle into their seats and the room contracts. During a break, the energy expands again.
Our work has a rhythm.
Our work has a rhythm because our bodies have rhythm.
Like our heartbeat and breath, our bodies work best when there’s a beat. Actually, not just a beat, but a beat and then an off-beat. Action and inaction. Work, rest. Pump, flow. Contract, expand. Exhale, Inhale.
Rhythm requires rest. Rhythm is not just one note sustained forever. It’s a beat and an off-beat. UNTZ. untz. UNTZ. untz. UNTZ untz. Our bodies and brains would deteriorate so much more quickly if they were just sustaining– pumping and squeezing forever without a release. The off-beat is what actually makes the rhythm. Without the connection of beat and off-beat, music would be monotonous, sex would be unpleasurable, work would be unbearable.
Finding our work rhythms can be challenging. It may seem like we constantly need to be “on” and it’s always crazy busy. As a thought-starter, I’ve noticed that the most common rhythms at work are "6 on; 1 off.”
3 hours on, 1/2 hour off - A typical work day, just making sure there’s time away from our desk for lunch around noon and a coffee or walk around 3.
6 days on, 1 off - I’ve personally done a “screen shabbat” once a month for the last year where I don’t look at any screens for 24 hours on a weekend. It helps me be more present with my family and focus on things I love but often forget to make time for– music, art, being outside, cooking.
6 weeks on, 1 off - Maybe you’re more of a sprinter– six weeks of intense work followed by a week to recover.
6 years on, 1 off - Designer Stefan Sagmeister gave a TED talk about the power of time off– notorious for closing his office every 7th year to go on a sabbatical.
When we’re immersed in our work, it’s hard to see the rhythm. It’s a personal thing and it obviously depends on our job. But finding time for rest will make our work and our effort not just bearable, not just better, but possible.
We’re the composers to the beat in our lives. We can listen for the rhythms and play along.
Just remember, rhythms only work if there’s an off-beat.
Gif animation by Alastair Gray
IV. Thanks
I listen to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts. And most of the time I speed them up. Apps are great for that, even YouTube does it now. You can listen at 1.5 or 2x the speed to get through the book or podcast faster.
But you’d never do that with music. Music is the art of timing. It is experienced best at the same speed and timing it was recorded. We don’t rush music. We dance.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to consider the ideas here and dance with me.
Feel free to share it with someone who might appreciate the read.
If you have a memorable example from your life of synchronicity or crazy coincidence, I’d love to hear it. And why you think they happen. I’ve been obsessed with syncrhonicity for about 10 years now and love talking about it.
With gratitude and rhythm,
Jake
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