The Importance of Creating Space in our Lives
Welcome to the Leadership Vision Podcast where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture.
Think about the last time you were waiting for something. Checking out at the grocery store. Waiting in your car for a latte. Staring at the microwave trying to get the leftovers to heat faster.
What did you do with that time?
If you’re like me, you grabbed your phone and frantically started scrolling through any number of apps to deliver a quick hit of information or imagery to satisfy some sort of brain chemistry to feel productive.
Or thinking more broadly about this question: what do you do with your downtime?
Do you fill it with things that make you “feel” productive but perhaps aren’t? How do you define what it means to be productive? Some people consider unwinding at the end of the day with a TV show to be productive, while others get great satisfaction from using their downtime to organize a neglected closet.
On this episode of the podcast, Carrie Jones and I don’t talk about the best way to fill those seemingly unscheduled minutes or moments in our lives, but rather, how to intentionally keep some margin in our lives to simply notice what is going on around us in those rare moments.
In this episode, Carrie will:
- Share what it was like to have time to be present and reflect.
- Discuss her self imposed perfectionist tendencies.
- Reflect on what comes “out” of the silence.
- Provide a simple tip that each of us can use to create these moments.
This topic is one that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. My life, while not hectic or stressful per se, is very full. A job schedule that’s flexible but never-ending, four kids, and a host of volunteer and community things make it feel like I never have time to just be still. If I do have a moment or two, I feel the need to fill it with something, even if that something is a news story about something ridiculous.
This topic is less instruction and more encouragement – to pause and take time to appreciate those moments in our lives that aren’t structured.
The Five Minute Challenge
Towards the end of this conversation, Carries issues this challenge:
Take five minutes, just five minutes…. give yourself five minutes to find those places that are noisy or cluttered or feel overwhelmed and allow yourself the space to see what happens if you just have five minutes of quiet or calm. Then, maybe you stretch it to 10 minutes. But give yourself the permission to see what happens in that five minutes. Observe what’s around you. Allow your mind the space to just be and see what happens, and what comes out of it.
Carrie Jones
We challenge you to do this once in the coming week. Report back in the comments below on what came out of it for you.
About The Leadership Vision Podcast
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. We believe that knowing your Strengths is only the beginning. Our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents. Subscribe to the Leadership Vision Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Please contact us if you have ANY questions about anything you heard in this episode or if you’d like to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
