Finding Freedom in Task Completion
Ursula K. Le Guin is attributed to the famous quote: “The creative adult is the child who has survived.”
There is a lot of truth to that since creativity is something that is not fostered in school today (but this is a discussion for another day). When it comes to D/S, there are those dominants who want things done in certain ways and will give their submissive very detailed instructions. Now, some tasks do require a detailed recipe, but the overwhelming majority of tasks do not require such itemization. When it comes to 99% of the tasks requested, the submissive will not be given a recipe, but the dominant will leave how it is done up to them.
The reason for allowing the submissive the freedom in how they go about the task is to engage their mind. Rather than step one and step two, they have more thoughts flowing through their mind, and these thoughts will float back to the relationship during their time spent on the task. If detailed instructions were given, the doing of tasks for the dominant would quickly turn into the mindless automaton that is working an assembly line. The reason for the task assignment is the project will be something that will improve the submissive’s life and also be something they do because of and for the dominant. So it is vitally important that their creativity and mind be stimulated.
When giving the submissive a task to perform for their dominant, they must allow them the freedom to complete as they wish. By giving them the assignment but not a road map, their brain is engaged, and this engagement lets them reflect on their dominant, relationship, while they are completing what is asked of them. This level of engagement deepens the bond as opposed to the mind-numbing micromanaged task that creates thoughtless execution.