Spaciousness

Often, I see people write about work-life balance. This idea is misaligned in my view. It ought to be life-work balance. We need to prioritize the living. The classic question resonates here: do you live to work or do you work to live? There is no doubt that our work matters and how we do that work ought to matter as well. I wrote about life-work balance and some ideas to help you work towards it?here.?

Today, I want to expand on these tips and offer a new idea to help cultivate life-work balance. This idea will help with those feelings of overwhelm we have become accustomed to, particularly over the past 18 months.?

I want to introduce you to the concept of spaciousness.

In?her Forbes article, Gia Storms explains that in Japan, the concept is referred to as “yutori, or life spaciousness. She includes a quote by?Naomi Shihab?Nye from her book?Voices in the Air,?which I’d like to also share with you here:?

"Recently, when I had the honor of visiting Yokohama International School in Japan to conduct poetry workshops, student Juna Hewitt taught me an important word — Yutori — 'life-space.' She listed various interpretations for its meaning — arriving early, so you don't have to rush. Giving yourself room to make a mistake. Starting a diet, but not beating yourself up if you eat a cookie after you started it. Giving yourself the possibility of succeeding. Juna said she felt that reading and sorting poetry gives us more yutori — a place to stand back to contemplate what we are living and experiencing. More spaciousness in being, more room in which to listen." -?Naomi Shihab?Nye

Spaciousness in the dictionary is defined as: having enough, abundant space or room, ample. In her?article,?The Art of Finding Spaciousness,?Samantha Wallen describes spaciousness as, “the place that lives beyond stuff, concept, language, agenda, to-do lists. It’s the place you touch when you pause, rest, become quiet and still.”?For the purposes of my discussion here today, I’ll be talking about spaciousness as ways we can bring more space, rest, and play to our lives and how we can reclaim our time for ourselves, increasing our life with work balance.??

Where can we find spaciousness??

?Spaciousness is available to us in many life areas. I’d like you to think about spaciousness in the following:

Our time:?

We can think about this concept as spaciousness in our calendar and our time. We can be conscious of what we’re booking, who we’re meeting with, and for how long. For example,?

try booking 25 minute meetings instead of 30, or 50 minutes instead of an hour. This way you’re creating extra time for yourself within your calendar. Sometimes even 10 minutes can make a difference.?

Our physical space:

We can think about gaining spaciousness through the act of going outside or having time outdoors.?We know that just 20 minutes of outdoor time in open space creates a sense of abundance and limitlessness.?We see an increase in?problem solving, innovation, critical thinking, and creativity when we get outside.?When we’re inside all day we feel shortage, we feel scarcity. So we want to give ourselves the opportunity to get outside and experience all that is outdoors. It also gives us time to wonder, to think, and to come up with ideas.?

Our activities:

In my most recent white paper,?Summer: The Season of Play for Everyone (Even Grown-Ups)?I wrote about the importance of play, for both kids and adults alike. Spaciousness with our activities includes allowing ourselves the space to play, to find joy through play.

We know that play is not just essential for kids; it can be an important source of relaxation and stimulation for adults as well. It fuels?our?imagination, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. What is more, for us, play is a gateway to empathy, communication, and relationships. By allowing yourself the space to play, you’re actually gaining a multitude of benefits while doing it.

Our communications:

We have been collectively navigating a global pandemic and the changes in our personal and professional lives for over 18 months now. One of the changes we were forced to adapt to, and quickly, was the ways in which we communicate. Zoom meetings have become more popular than ever and our emails have likely hit an all time high. As I wrote in?my article for Psychology Today,?we find ourselves sending and receiving more and more emails and with the boundaries of work and home blurred, we have become accessible via our inboxes at all hours.

We need to create spaciousness with our communications. Set boundaries with your emails. Go off camera when you’re on a zoom call or try an old-fashioned phone call.

Spaciousness Ideas:

Here are some practical ways you can create spaciousness in your life, helping you achieve a greater life-work balance.?

1.?Have a system for thought capturing?

Utilize notebooks, post-its, i-Notes, etc. to capture your thoughts and ideas. When an idea comes up, record it and move on. Avoid trying to hold multiple ideas while working on other things.?

2.?Declutter your space?

An organized desk supports an organized mind, much like the above trick, you don’t want a cluttered mind. Create space by quite literally cleaning up your space.?

3.?Mono-tasking versus Multi-tasking

Mono-tasking or time-on-task helps with flow. We complete tasks more efficiently and at a higher level when we’re focused on one thing. Spend more time-on-task by eliminating distractions and setting boundaries.?

4.?Batch your work flow:

“Just quickly checking” anything, even for one-tenth of a second, can add up to a?40% productivity loss?over the course of a day, and it can take us?23 minutes?to get back into the zone after task switching. Turn your phone on ‘do not disturb’, close your email, avoid the urge to scroll Instagram, and focus on what you’re doing at that moment. Then allow yourself time and space between tasks, batch your workflow

5.?First Hour Rule:?

“With the First-Hour Rule, you commit to working on that tough project for the?first hourof each day. When that hour is up, you stop if you want to. If you?really?want to keep going, you do.” - David Kadavy

In his?article, “The ‘First Hour’ Rule,”?Kadavy explains that implementing the first hour rule allows you to build momentum for your day. You feel accomplished first thing in the morning and you feel better overall about that tough project. In fact, by doing this you create space for the rest of your day by not focusing on the project you should be doing but are avoiding.

6.?Email boundaries?

Remember email is?an asynchronous form of communication?– be mindful of the sense of urgency to respond. Turn off your email notifications on your phone or laptop, this will help you stay present with whatever the task at hand is. For more practical tips on changing your relationship with email for the better, read my article?here.?

Final Thought

An awareness of the desire to create spaciousness and ease in your work day is key. You need to be aware that you want it and start working in practical ways to create it.?Build fit breaks and mindful minutes into your day map – and stick to them. Take the breaks before you FEEL as though you need to. The more you implement these ideas, the more you normalize spaciousness, and the greater your chance of?cultivating life-work balance.?

?Take good care friends,?

Dr. Robyne HD

?

?