(The names of the participants in this story have been changed to protect the innocent).
My wife and I had the pleasure of moving my son into an off-campus house for the start of his sophomore year in college. He is one of the fortunate ones (at the time of this writing) as he has more in-person classes than online classes and Covid cases have been generally low. As always, the students are making the most of their situation and trying to stay positive. But it is not the same.
On-campus social functions and orientation activities have been kept largely in check. And athletic programs have been either canceled or altered, creating a vacuum of comradery and opening up an inordinate amount of unstructured free time.
And free time, while cherished during our busy periods, does not always end up as productive time.
As a case in point, my wife and I stopped by our son’s house the next morning to set up a few shelves before heading back home. One of my son’s roommates, let’s just call him “Joe“, was sitting on the couch and waxing poetically about the start of school.
“Mr. Clark, I hope we stick with in-person learning and workouts. I really need some structure in my life.”
Imagine a 21-year old (ish) craving structure. Classic insight.
“Without structure, I’ll probably just drink all day.”
And there you have it. The people have spoken.
If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us over the last several months, it is that human beings need structure. It is ironic. We spend our lives yearning for a break from the “grind”.
Just put me on a beach, drink in hand, and get me away from the same dull routine.
But many of us now crave the familiarity and structure of that same “dull routine”. The months of working from home, online schooling, social distancing, and quarantining have exposed a now obvious phenomenon. Left to our own devices, we tend to gravitate toward the lowest common denominator.
Yes, we put on a brave face. We power through Zoom calls, concentrate on our online modules, maintain individual workouts, and generally try to stay resilient. But we miss the structure of a group environment. We miss our officemates, teammates, and classmates. We are generally social creatures and that structure keeps us focused and motivated.
Without it, we are in danger of (substitute any vice or non-productive activity here) all day!
Structure Enhances Focus
The great Roger Staubach offers some particularly timely insight into productivity and structure. During his time at the Naval Academy, just about every second of his every day was planned. Drills, school activities, academics. And in football season, practices and games swallowed up any remaining free time. Yet, ironically, during football season each year, Roger actually posted the best grades of any quarter. He excelled during his busiest and most stressful period.
And he is not alone. Structure focuses our minds. It motivates us to be sharp and stay on high alert. It keeps our adrenaline pumping and gives us purpose. And it makes us truly appreciate those rare moments when we can relax and soak it all in.
We Need To Find Our Regular Cadence
I am not suggesting we need to lead a militaristic lifestyle. We do not have to be rigid and regimented in every aspect of our lives. Creativity and productivity can flourish in an unstructured environment. We all need to unplug and re-charge our batteries at some point. Downtime can be a life-saver in stressful times.
But eventually, we have to plug back in. Eventually, we have to find our purpose and our cadence. We can’t spend our lives aimlessly wandering from point to point without a plan. Resiliency requires some guideposts to measure our progress and restore our confidence. If those guideposts have been removed, we have to create our own. We have to create our own sense of normalcy. We have to consciously build structure into our everyday lives!
The Day is Your Canvas
We are living during a time of unprecedented uncertainty. Most of our traditional structures have been removed or are on hold. The responsibility is now on us to stay productive and healthy. The day is our canvas and we can paint it any color we wish. Let’s paint it with vibrant colors!
Let’s embrace our friends and family. Let’s embrace our self-created structure. Let’s stay productive and stay on the rails. Let’s stay resilient during this period!
And let’s get these kids back on campus, back in class, and keep them there. Let’s get them back on the athletic fields and focused on other extracurricular activities. C’mon now! Everybody needs structure.
Otherwise, we might just drink all day.