Effortless Mastery
Beyond Structure vs. Spontaneity
There seems to be a central conflict running throughout work, creativity, learning, and spirituality: The conflict between spontaneity and structure, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, BEING and BECOMING. I’ve struggled with this personally for a long time before starting to make consistent progress in the practices I care about (while still enjoying them) over the last few years. And now, it finally clicked. I got what works now and why it didn’t work before. It’s a Coconut!
Structure vs. Spontaneity
Picasso is said to have completed over 13k paintings and 10x+ more prints and engravings. He was the GOAT because of the sheer volume he produced and because he mastered every style before him. On the other hand, Rick Rubin says: Make art that is just for you, ignore best practices and the audience.
On on hand, Theravada Buddhism says: You need to progress along a rigorous system, and master the stages of concentration and insight. On the other hand, Vajrayana asserts that you are already perfectly enlightened, that there is nowhere to go, nothing to improve.
Across all areas of life, there are two different stories being told:
The story of Structure:
You need to practise to get better. Practice enough and you will be GREAT
There is a bright line between dabbling and mastering. Learn from the masters
Mastering any skill requires 10.000 hours of DEDICATED PRACTICE
Improve, optimise, repeat. Kaizen. Get 1% better every day
You need to set goals, stick to a schedule, and just grind at it until you get there
What gets measured, gets improved. You need to FOCUS
The story of Spontaneity:
You are already PERFECT, just the way you are. Self-improvement is a TRAP
Don’t compare yourself, you are unique. Go your own path. Competition is for losers
Genius comes from of INSPIRATION, not self-coercion
Just follow your PASSION, do whatever feels alive and meaningful
Go with the flow. Don’t box yourself in, live every moment on its own term
It’s about quality, not quantity. Any measurement will corrupt what is measured
You may have guessed it - both stories are true. Spontaneity without Structure is too sloppy. Structure without Spontaneity is too rigid. While this is easy to say, it’s much harder to actually live. Whenever you are anchored in only one story, the other story seems like a failure mode. From the story of Structure, Spontaneity seems like losing focus, or even the plot. From the story of Spontaneity, Structure seems like self-coercion, or robotic repetition.
Shape-rotating out of the conflict
One way to resolve the apparent conflict is to add the time axis. For example, alternating between Structure and Spontaneity. Some part of the day, week, month, year is structured, the other part is left open. Spontaneity time brings aliveness and inspiration, structured time allows you to actually follow through and execute. Creative drafting in the morning, focused editing in the afternoon.
Another way that adding the time axis has worked for me is switching between stories before and during the activity in question: Applying Structure (scheduling, commitment, etc.) to get my ass on the meditation cushion, but make sure I feel spontaneous, free, and alive once I’m on there.
But there is an even better way to get the best of both worlds (thanks, Wilber): Outside/Inside. “Outside” here describes the external circumstances, processes, etc. - how the activity fits in with the rest of your life. “Inside” means how you experience the activity while you are doing it. Structure is like the protective shell of an activity, asserting it against external demands and circumstances. On the inside, the juicy seed of spontaneity, desire, authenticity is growing.
Effortless mastery works like a coconut.
Structure creates skill, Spontaneity creates authenticity. They mutually support one another, even co-arise. Structure won’t last without the living eros of Spontaneity, and Spontaneity without Structure falls prey to hedonism, addiction, and other parasitic processes. Structure creates the protected space for spontaneity to express itself. Spontaneity fills the structure with inspired fruit. In this configuration, the negative sides of each story disappear: What seemed like self-coercion became commitment. What seemed like sloppiness became inspiration.
How this has worked for me
The activities in which this pattern has worked for me are writing and meditation. I commit to write and meditate for a certain amount of time every day. Within that structure of time committed to the activity, I’m free to go with the flow and do what feels alive. Don’t feel like writing that essay anymore? I’ll just start a new one. Or do some journaling. Shi-ne meditation feels boring today? I might visualise Kali eating me alive. Or put on a guided meditation. But I will meditate and write every day.
The interplay between Structure and Spontaneity needs fine-tuning over time. The structure might get too loose, or too rigid. The authentic desire for the activity might need rekindling, or has moved (and the activity should move with it). Whenever either the story of Structure or Spontaneity seems to dominate (and its negative aspects become felt), it often helps to apply the other part as an antidote. Lack of focus? Tighten and reinforce the frame of the activity. Feeling unmotivated? Create more space and aliveness during the activity. Just like in meditation, you relax when you’re agitated and you straighten up when you’re tired.
What helps me the most to reinforce the structure around the activity is social commitment. I have accountability-buddies for both meditation and writing who I text when I’ve done my daily dose (and pay a fee if I miss a day). Other moves that have helped on the Structure side include:
Creating a routine, always doing the activity at the same time
Scheduling it in my calendar, blocking off time
When the structure is new, starting with very little and increasing over time (à la Atomic Habits). Firmly establishing my meditation practice took starting with literally just 1 minute per day and increasing it slowly.
On the Spontaneity part, attunement to what feels alive seems crucial to not get into automatisms. Here are some examples:
Starting the activity with attuning to the desire for it. Why do I feel drawn to this?
Noticing what specifically makes me feel alive/excited and do more of that.
Shifting the style (e.g. different types of content, different meditation methods)
Getting into a flow state during the activity is the gold standard for intrinsic motivation. Csíkszentmihályi’s conditions of flow include clear goals, immediate feedback, and a match between challenge and capacity. Keeping the conditions for flow in mind can help shift the structure or the activity for it to become more intrinsically motivating.
Alignment leads to effortless mastery
While flow is great and you should try to facilitate it whenever possible, it is not necessary for effortlessness. I’d wager that getting the relationship between Structure and Spontaneity right already leads to effortless mastery. “Effortless” in this case means “lack of struggle”. In any long-term activity, practice, or work, there will always be an activation threshold for action which requires a little push every now and then. The goal of effortless mastery is dropping the struggle or internal resistance, not an imaginary state where things will happen by themselves, without any exertion, ever. Ever got so engrossed in working out or dancing that you were enjoying the physical exertion? That’s Wu Wei.
Struggle can either arise as a symptom of too much Spontaneity (overwhelm, lack of discipline) or of too much Structure (resistance, lack of motivation). So by getting Structure and Spontaneity in right relationship, the struggle drops away. Like that second arrow in the Buddhist parable.
That configuration of Structure on the “outside” and Spontaneity on the “inside” of an activity creates alignment across time and among different parts of the self.
The focus and commitment required by Structure means giving up other possibilities. This is an alignment across time, a pact between present and future self. Once the structure becomes strong enough (through habit, social commitment, etc), the decision to engage in the activity is already pre-made. The question is no longer if you’ll do the activity you want to master, but merely how.
And that’s where the flexibility of Spontaneity allows for many parts of the self to be included. If the activity doesn’t feel alive and authentic any more, change it. Taking an IFS perspective is often useful here. Can you make the activity more appealing to different parts of yourself? For example, making it aesthetically appealing or allowing for more personal expression. It’s like being a good parent to yourselves - sometimes it’s more important that the kids are reading rather than what they are reading.
Not too tight, not too loose
To summarise:
Structure and Spontaneity might seem like different stories/approaches, but work best in a mutually supporting relationship.
The right configuration is for Structure to be on the “outside” of an activity, while keeping the activity spontaneous on the “inside”.
This configuration leads to alignment across time and different parts of the self, and eventually to effortless mastery.
Effortless mastery means that the struggle to practise drops away. Continuous progress without self-coercion, while deeply enjoying the journey.
This is not the type of content that I thought I would be publishing here. But it’s what felt interesting and alive for me to share at this point. I probably felt compelled to write about this because it has been a persistent theme in my life and because of recent insights that emerged in dialogue with some dear friends. I hope it will benefit you too.
You may have noticed I had a bit of fun with the coconut. Let me leave you with another allegorical image that could get the point across:
Picture a guitar. The wooden body is like the structure around an activity, creating the space for sound to emerge. Guitar strings are like the parameters of your activity (e.g. what, when, where, how..). The strings each need to be tuned before you can play properly - not too tight and not too loose. They also need to harmonise with one another, just like the different parts of the self.
If that is all in place, even a simple stroke (activity) will sound beautiful. And with practice, delightful melodies (effortless mastery) will emerge.
I need to implement this to build a writing habit. I am good at the spontaneity but bad at structure. I like the suggestion to start small and build up.