White Space: Creating Time for Intention
Everyone can relate…
It is coming close to the top of the hour and you know the meeting should be coming to a close. To yourself, you think, “If we finish up now, I can run to the restroom, refill my tea, and respond to that email before my next meeting.”
Then, as you watch the minutes tick by, you realize, “If we finish now, I can at least run to the restroom. I don’t need another cup of tea and I can probably send that email while we start the next meeting.”
And as the clock hits the hour and the meeting finally breaks you grab your belongings and jet out of the room with a rushed “thanks” thinking, “Who really needs to pee anyway?”
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There are so many concerns I have with this way of operating:
Everyone has stopped paying attention.
Everyone is checking their calendar, packing up their things, or mentally trying to remember what they were supposed to do for the next meeting. Action steps should be agreed and committed to at the end of the meeting and if people are not paying attention, we decrease the likelihood of those action steps actually taking place.
Everyone will show up late to their next meeting.
If your meeting is digital, you have lost the time to solve for any technical challenges (Go-To-Meeting needs an updated version of Flash, Teams logged you out, your password expired). If your meeting is in person, you have now guaranteed you are walking in late and disorganized.
Walking in late shows disrespect to the person running the meeting and the individuals who arrived on time.
Arriving late clearly states, “What I was doing before this was more important than what we committed to do now.” We have all had that thought about an individual who walks into a meeting late with a fresh cup of Starbucks.
Arriving rushed limits our opportunity to mentally prepare for the interactions and individuals we are about to engage.
Who needs support? Who needs direction? How did you want to show up?
Running from meeting to meeting limits our opportunity to invest in ourselves.
It may mean grabbing a snack. It may mean refiling your tea. It may mean sitting down for a moment to respond to the text message from your significant other. It may mean having 30 seconds to breathe. We need to take care of ourselves before we can maximize our potential.
Corporate culture sets expectation that our lives are dictated by our outlook calendar… it is time we take back our time and intentionally create the schedule which sets us up for success.
Therefore, let me introduce to you the concept of White Space. White Space:
-increases reflection and action
-focus ones intention
-takes care of physical needs
-ensures promptness
White Space is literally a block of time, placed on your calendar, for the sole intention fo creating space. It is 15-30 minutes of scheduled time with yourself, and it is some of the most valuable time you can reserve on your calendar.
While there are many ways you can maximize 15-30 minutes of White Space on your calendar, we have a 15-Minute White Space Agenda for you to start with. Let’s be clear - scheduled White Space is not a break. Breaks are valuable and have been proven to decrease decision fatigue, increase employee engagement, and promote your health (to name a few benefits). White Space is intentional time to reflect and prepare. It is an active appointment on your calendar to meet with yourself.
Change is hard, especially when you are not the person solely responsible for the schedule of the office. I once tried to institute “No-Meeting-Mondays.” I realized I was spending so much time in meetings, I never had a chance to do the work. Everyone on my team (even my boss) seemed to agree so I thought - “If none of us scheduled meetings on Monday’s, we could all get more done!” I shared the idea and people liked it… but weren’t ready to commit. I shared that I would be doing it and blocked off every Monday. And two weeks later a mandatory team meeting appeared on my calendar… every Monday morning… from that day through forever. So I get it. Just because you want to do it doesn’t always mean it is easy to make happen. Yet, you have to recognize the impact NOT adding White Space to your calendar is having on your health, your reputation, and your relationships.
Baby Steps to Include White Space in your Schedule
-Put 15 minutes of White Space in for this week (right before a meeting/responsibility)
-Identify how you will use that white space (download our 15-Minute White Space Agenda)
-Explain the why and your expectations of the White Space to anyone who is working on or in your calendar
