August 19, 2010 | Posted in: Leading Hartfully

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Have you noticed how some books are easier on the eyes to read, you can get through them more quickly and your eyes get less tired? Or how vastly different The Wall Street Journal design is from USA Today? The reason is white space. The margins where there are no words. The graphics that are bold, separated by space where your eye can rest. If there are too many words, typed too small and too tightly packed, it’s daunting and your eyes don’t get a rest. No wonder USA Today breaks sales records as a most-read newspaper – it’s fun and easy to read and we get our info in quick snippets in an entertaining way.

It’s the same with our lives. We need white space. We need space between our words, between our activities. We need bigger margins in our lives to breath, rest,  accommodate unexpected opportunities, spontaneity, unanticipated visits, friends in need, surprise social invites and other things that pop up without plans.  If you are so over-scheduled that you can’t embrace an unplanned phone call from a friend, then you may need to eliminate some things to expand the wiggle room in your schedule.

Research has shown that we build more resilience to stress when we have more leisure moments in our lives. This could be a 10-minute tea break, or a trip to Tahiti. It seems that busy-ness has become a badge of honor these days. I hear people part complaining; part bragging about how busy they are. Especially when I’m around my Professional Speaking buddies at conventions. I never fail to hear about how much they’re on the road and how many dates they’ve booked and they don’t have time for family or friends.  Well, whose fault is that?  We can say no.

I’m in the continuous improvement loop for widening my margins in my life and making room for me, for leisure, for unexpected moments. Some people personally have a hard time saying no, then they blame it on their schedule and say “I’d love to, but my schedule is packed”. Make room to go with the flow and honor what you feel like doing in the moment. If I know a meeting will take 30 minutes, I schedule it for 60 so I have some prep time, follow-up time and some wiggle room before the next appointment. I’m less stressed. I don’t keep my next appointment waiting because the earlier call ran long. I manage myself in my time allotted and I allot more time.

Widening our margins gives us a break. Making room for more white space, then not filling it up again may go against the grain of the success-driven society, but it will help us live longer, be more productive, be less-stressed, less cranky, more healthy and generally more enjoyable to be around. If we don’t protect our own energy, then we won’t have any to give to others. If we give away all our energy, then when something really great comes up, we won’t have the time nor the energy to say ‘yes’.

Take a look at your calendar. Take stock of how you handle unexpected people/things that pop into your life. Are they welcome or are they stressful? We need time to think, to recharge, to reboot ourselves so we’re more productive and more present for the things that matter. So listen to yourself talk to others about how you do your life. Are you complaining/bragging about your busy-ness, or are you happy with the flow? Busy-ness is not necessarily a badge of honor. It may be a sign of mismanagement of your time and your life. Take the wheel and drive your schedule the way you want to go, instead of letting your schedule drive you.

Create some wiggle room, some white space and widen your margins. All the people around you will be glad you did. And you can stop complaining/bragging about how busy you are and enjoy a phone call, a play date, a cup of coffee with a colleague or take advantage of an unexpected opportunity. More ideas to energize at our talk show The Energized Entrepreneur Show.