Getting “Carefree Timelessness” on the Schedule

What’s on Our Minds

 

With whom do you need to ensure that you are getting at least a few hours of meaningful conversation in during each week? And how are you going about making that happen?  Whether it’s at work or home, some of our relationships need regularly occurring in-depth conversations—business ideas and strategy, long term planning, vacation plans. We also need to build in some whitespace for less formal catching up too. Gone now for many are the daily collegial info grabs by the water cooler or post-work Thursday happy hours. Missing from our days are the shared smiles in a quick elevator ride that reinforce even small connections. Even the family couch can now be someone’s dedicated work space most of the day.

 

Why It Matters

 

These days so many of us are missing out on the important kinds of interactions that are essential for us to build a trusting relationship that we rely on to move forward at work and in life. Whether it is a close and intimate relationship, or one that is fueled by the transfer of information—the strong and weak ties that make up families as well as functioning work teams.

These days it feels like so many of our conversations of any substance need to be scheduled. The four-minute catchup call on the way between home and the grocery store won’t do.  The idea of “carefree timelessness,” attributed to author and writer Matthew Kelly, is about gifting our relationships with free-flowing communication, unscripted and untainted with agenda or bounded by time. But figuring out when to connect and making it a priority to schedule can be difficult. Even more challenging is the loss of down time with people we appreciate just relaxing with…without an agenda.

 

Something to Think About

 

How can you create and recapture some of the missing communications? One, is to schedule those that are most important. Carve out the hour of time for the in-person meeting if possible or the face-to-face zoom. Force the issue if you need to, especially if it’s important. Work place communication platforms, if you don’t already have one, are great for sending little notes to others on the side, carrying on sidebar conversations—and having another communication zone that is quicker than email but not as personal and potentially intrusive as a text. If you are already on these platforms, are you using them effectively?

 

Photo by Åaker on Unsplash

All of life’s important relationships thrive under the condition of carefree timelessness. Learn to waste time with the people you love.

- Matthew Kelly