⚰️ The Death of Spontaneity

What We Lose When Everything Is Optimized, Apple Just Got a HUGE Break, Plus — Jamie Dimon Predicts a 'Kerfuffle' in the Treasury Markets

Author

Katie Perry
April 12, 2025

Welcome to Tuesday Thursday Saturday! I share a snapshot of trending stories across business, tech, and culture three times a week. Subscribe and tell me what you want to hear about next! - KP

The Big Story: Life Isn’t a Calendar Invite

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how life used to feel a lot more spontaneous. Of course, part of this could be due to age — amassing new and novel responsibilities and such — but I think it’s actually more about how uber-optimized and data-driven life has become in every aspect.

We plan every moment of our lives on digital calendars that can be shared and synced across multiple devices. We wear watches and rings that track every step, every heartbeat, every REM cycle. An entire industry has been born out of the desire to optimize life to the point where one will simply “never die.”

He’s here for a long time, but not a good time.

I’ve always had a penchant for spontaneity. I get a jolt of energy when something arises or happens that I did not see coming. I generally like the feeling of discomfort and the challenge of reacting to things as they unfold. I played a lot of soccer as a kid, and I used to love it when the clock was winding down and the game was on the line. I wanted the ball.

When I look at my life now, everything feels automatically premeditated. It makes sense, too. We have more data points than ever before. Every component of our lives — from our health, our jobs, our social lives, and even our dating prospects — feels pre-curated, perfectly optimized, and designed to fit within 30-minute calendar blocks.

Where is the fun in that?

The Rise of the Premeditated Life

When I look back at the best nights of my life, the most memorable trips, the people I’ve clicked with most — those moments rarely came from a plan. Last year, my sister and I somehow ended up on the floor at a Taylor Swift concert in Scotland despite not having tickets to the show five hours prior. 

It’s me, hi! 👋 (Photo credit: The one and only, Erica Perry)

Sometimes, the really good stuff comes from an unplanned pivot that is completely devoid of data. Decisions made on a whim. A willingness to follow something uncertain just to see what happens. We’ve gained a lot by optimizing life. But I think we’ve lost some magic, too.

Being data-driven isn’t all bad, and in fact, it’s overall pretty great. We’re generally healthier, more organized, and able to reduce the common stressors or time management and prioritization. 

But over time, we’ve trained ourselves to evaluate every option. We ask: What’s the most efficient plan? What’s the best use of time? What’s the highest ROI social commitment? Eventually, we start optimizing for comfort and certainty instead of possibility.

Why Spontaneity Matters

Spontaneity isn’t randomness. According to experts, more about being open. It’s a cognitive and emotional trait tied to flexibility, curiosity, and confidence in one’s ability to adapt.

Spontaneous people tend to be comfortable with uncertainty, have a lower fear of “wasted” time or imperfect outcomes (I wrote about this a few weeks back!), and possess higher cognitive flexibility, or the ability to switch mental gears quickly.

They often show high levels of creativity, risk tolerance, and emotional agility. They don’t need to have all the data before they act, and that allows them to access opportunities others might screen out too soon. 

Spontaneous decisions activate the brain’s reward system — triggering dopamine, elevating mood, and encouraging new learning. Psychologists link it to novelty-seeking, a trait associated with resilience, adaptability, and long-term well-being.

In other words, doing something unplanned strengthens your brain.

This applies to work and creativity, too. One study found that teams encouraged to improvise became better at solving complex problems. MIT research on workplace serendipity shows that unplanned interactions often lead to faster innovation and more original thinking.

Planning is how you deliver. Spontaneity unlocks discovery. 

What Happens When We Lose It

You’ve probably heard the term “decision fatigue.” It’s when the volume of choices we’re making weakens the quality of our decisions. The more we optimize, the more we’re paralyzed by the need to “get it right.”

Sociologist Vera King writes about the “tyranny of the ideal self,” where every choice becomes about improving, refining, perfecting. That mentality, when extended too far, kills the ability to make decisions based on instinct instead of analytics.

And guess what happens: we end up choosing what’s predictable over what’s possible. And the longer we do that, the more risk-averse we become, not because the risks are greater, but because our tolerance for ambiguity has shrunk.

How to Reclaim It

If spontaneity is a muscle, it needs practice. You don’t have to go off the grid or abandon your calendar. But you can build in more space to act without overthinking.

The American Psychological Association highlights that unstructured play is essential for children's development, fostering creativity, problem-solving skills, and emotional resilience. Maybe we should do more of that as “grown-ups.”

Experts suggest that you can start by leaving space in your schedule for things to unfold without a plan, whether that’s an unstructured evening, a spontaneous detour on a trip, or saying yes to something last-minute. It’s not always ideal – I find myself in sweaty workout clothes at happy hour FAR too often – but you never know what an unplanned moment could unlock. (And nobody cares what you’re wearing, anyway.)

Me, meeting you at a quasi-fancy wine bar.

Even small shifts — a few unstructured minutes, one unplanned conversation — can reroute your day for the better.

In a world built on control, spontaneity becomes a kind of rebellion. You don’t need to abandon structure. You just need to leave enough room for something unexpected to happen.

Daily Rip Live Recap: I’m Continuing to Wonder What the Point of This Entire Week Was

Tune in LIVE every weekday (Monday - Thursday) at 9 AM ET: On X, YouTube, and in the Stocktwits app.

Every weekday, Shay Boloor and I run down the biggest market news and events LIVE on Stocktwits’ morning show, The Daily Rip Live. 

This week was particularly exhausting, especially because we both have DAY jobs. We get up early, catch up on the markets, do the show, and then go about our days — Shay in corporate strategy and me running my own fractional marketing business.

I’ll share some notes from our Thursday show — but once again, things have evolved quite precipitously since then, so I’ll also provide some bullets on what’s gone down since. And then, I’ll probably take a nap with the Masters on in the background because I am that tired.

  • The bond market is a mess. Both the U.S. stock and bond markets are falling at the same time — a rare and unsettling dynamic. Normally, when stocks drop due to economic concerns, investors move into bonds for safety, which pushes bond prices up and yields down. But right now, bond yields are spiking too, meaning investors are pulling out of both markets. This breakdown in the usual see-saw relationship signals confusion and a lack of confidence. Another way to think about it: investors are betting against America.

  • Red days reinforce long-term convictions. Shay and I discussed how one bright spot in market turbulence is its ability to gut-check the things you most believe in. The themes, companies, and industries you believe will grow and thrive into the future — 5-10 years down the line — these don’t change because of some short-term tariff whiplash. (Some experts are saying that this week fundamentally altered the monetary order of the world, but we’ll get to that later.) One sector we honed in on was cybersecurity. Shay cited a major Crowdstrike brief, which impacted thousands of global businesses, and how, despite the major mess up, the company was able to recover. $CRWD ( ▲ 2.62% )  

  • Business leaders push back. As the reality of tariffs set in, business leaders have felt increasingly comfortable sticking their necks out with advice and criticisms about policy execution. It’s a tough spot for a CEO to be in — many of these large companies could be harmed by ruffling the wrong feathers and need to be viewed as unbiased and impartial to appeal to all their customers. Herd mentality is real, though. Nobody wants to jump in the swimming pool first, but once someone does, all bets are off.

Since the show, a few developments:

Hear Shay and I yap about the markets every weekday at 9 a.m. ET on X (@stocktwits), YouTube, LinkedIn, or in your Stocktwits app. Follow me there — I’m @stocktwitsKP!

Now Here’s a Chart

Nobody knows what’s going on. If you’re feeling shaky, join the club! Check out this Financial Times chart, which shows that uncertainty is higher right now than it was during the global pandemic. You read that right!

Reading List

Tuesday Thursday Saturday is written by Katie Perry, owner of Ursa Major Media, which provides fractional marketing services and strategy in software, tech, consumer products, professional services, and other industries. She is also the co-host of Stocktwits’ Daily Rip Live show.

Disclaimer: The contents here reflect recaps and summaries of pre-reported or published data, news, and trends. I have cited sources and context for the information provided to the best of my ability. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform and educate on larger trends shaping business and culture — this is NOT investment advice. As an investor, you should always do your own research before making any decisions about your money or your portfolio.