One of my favorite things to do as a kid was watch my mom bake; I loved when she made pie. I quickly learned that in order to eat the pie, it needed to be sliced. Later, I began to understand that the smaller the slices the more there was to share. The larger the slices, the fewer. I also knew that regardless of how small or large those slices were, the size of the pie always remained the same.
Fast forward 30 years…I’m in a corporate teambuilding session with a group of colleagues, most whom I’ve known for more than a decade. The facilitator has told us to draw a circle on a piece of paper. We were instructed to divide the circle (which he referred to as a pie) into sections (slices, if you will). The sections needed to be sized according to the amount of time spent doing various things in our lives. Things like working, commuting, exercising, paying bills, shopping, spending time with family, errands, socializing, traveling etc. He said we needed to assign a percentage to each section, and that the sum needed to add up to (you guessed it) 100%.
Of the 25 seasoned working professionals in the room (myself included), 23 had reported less than 15% of the pie was dedicated to things they saw as enjoyable.
Things like spending time with a spouse, partner or kids. Exercising. Hitting the road with buddies from college, or high school. Home improvement. Having an early morning cup of coffee with their Mom and Dad. Reading a book. Catching a ray of sun on the back porch. Creating a new playlist.
After all, careers needed tending. Kids needed shuttling. Networks needed building. Commutes got longer. The pace got faster. Technology got more sophisticated, and reached further. Homes, cars, kids, schools, vacations all got more expensive.
Life got busy.
So, we trudged along being the good soldiers that we promised ourselves and our families to be. Our priorities became our obligations. Fun became secondary. Remember, the sum total always had to equal 100%.
That’s when I had the idea…
I knew that if I was able to take some of those obligations off of others plates I would create space in my own life to enjoy the things I love. In turn, I would create space in others lives so that they too could divvy up their pie in a more meaningful way.
There’s so much we can all do to simplify. It’s overwhelming to know how — especially when life is busy. That’s where create.space can help.
Take a look at the services we offer.
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