The Six Act Day paradigm theory by Mike Messier July 3, 2015

The Six Act Day is a concept I came up with to to further expand on the comparison of a “day” in the life of myself, or any human being, with a “story” that has the three familiar tenants of “beginning, middle and end”.

It’s easy enough to see that Morning is equivalent to Beginning, Afternoon equates to Middle, leaving Night as End. Although this does not take into account “night owls” or those that work the “graveyard shift”, the metaphor is relatively use-able and worthy of discussion. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner follow suit.

Take this to the next level. Divide your day into four hour segments and see that Six Acts Develop. Six Acts are a bit much for theater these days, but conceivable. For a film, we have seen six Rocky movies come to fruition with a seventh “spin-off/ sequel” (Creed) on the way. Star Wars and Harry Potter movies etc all offer multiple installments. However, my theory on The Six Act Day shows the day more like a long theater show, rather than a film.

Different people will adhere to different hours. For the brevity of this analysis, I offer two “general” templates: “The Artist” and the “9 to 5”. The 9 to 5 is a bit more traditional, starting the day early at 5am (perhaps an hour or two later for the lucky). The Artist a bit more relaxed, waking up perhaps at 7:30am (or later!) . You may find yourself with different rates of energy, concentration and interest at different points of your day. That is because, I offer, you may (or may not) be in sync with your own Six Act structure. You may be living a life off key to yourself.
Or you may be in perfect harmony. Think about what Acts you are sleeping during, eating during, exercising, working, making love, relaxing, participating in unhealthy habits, etc. Are these Acts lending themselves to your peak performance throughout the day? Let’s examine! – MIKE MESSIER