NEGATIVE SPACE
5 ways to create room between tasks or projects
As many of you know, I took a few weeks off for a breather. Well, not a breather so much as some space to enjoy the recent release of my middle grade novel, A Touch of Blue. This outdoor adventure is structured around lessons in photography. One lesson I’d like to expand on as it relates to projects and project management is NEGATIVE SPACE.
In her book Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, Gloria Mark advises people to build negative space into their day. Negative space in your day helps you re-focus on the things that are most important—your wildly important goals. Like an artist uses negative space on the canvas or a photographer takes advantage of negative space within the frame, the negative space helps the focal point pop.
Negative space between projects gives us time to reflect. Negative space can also be helpful for letting our minds wander to think about our next big thing.
We don’t need to be productive all the time. I am a proponent of time management because time management helps us accomplish the things we must do, so we have the time to achieve the things we want to do. It can foster a more relaxed existence so we’re not harried all the time.
Negative space leaves space for rest, rejuvenation, and reflection.
In addition to my book release, I recently returned from a trip where I led a course on project management for scientists. I hadn’t taught the class in several years, and I changed a lot this time around. I needed time to reflect on how things went. In project management, this is the closeout step you need to assess and think about lessons learned for future projects.
And (luckily😊) I had plenty of time for reflection when I found myself at Chicago O’Hare for nearly seven hours. Although I had my laptop with me, I did not go through email. I did not look at next week’s schedule. I did not join the frantic bustle of people trying to make connections in Concourse F. I used the negative space to ponder.
This is not Chicago O’Hare.
For those of you NOT finding yourself with an extra seven hours in an airport, here are some suggestions for building in negative space:
Prioritize: Start by identifying your top priorities and focus on completing those first. By allocating time and energy to your top priorities, essential work gets done without compromising on quality. Intentionally leaving space around these priorities gives them the attention they deserve.
Build buffers around tasks: Don’t fill every minute of your day. Build in time for unexpected delays or additional breaks—and put these buffers on your online calendar so others don’t fill your schedule. Consider buffers around meetings and travel, too. I like to pause between finishing one book or audio and starting the next. This allows me time to let the ideas sink in and think about ways to improve my own life or writing.
Pause before saying “yes” : Give yourself enough time to consider whether the request is essential or part of your personal mission. Like Pavlov’s dog salivating at the ringing of a bell even when there is no reward, we sometimes say yes when someone asks for help, without really thinking about it. Would someone else be better suited for the task? Remember, every yes, is a no to something else.
Learn to say “no” : Our schedules get cluttered because we find it challenging to say no to requests. Be selective about what you choose to take on. Make a set of rules for yourself if you need to (for example, say “no” to all emails announcing free webinars). By declining more often, you free up time for important priorities and create more negative space in your schedule.
Schedule downtime: Treat this as an essential part of your schedule. Block off periods of time specifically dedicated to activities such as planning, reading, or deep thinking. I block an hour a day on my calendar in the morning for planning and prioritizing. It doesn’t always work out, but at least this prevents others from adding meetings to my calendar for that one hour.
“The first step to crafting the life you want is getting rid of everything you don’t.”
– Joshua Becker, Becoming Minimalist
Negative space serves several crucial purposes in time and project management: rest and rejuvenation, reflection and strategic thinking, room for flexibility and adaptability, and creativity and inspiration. By deliberately creating space in our schedules, we can do all these things more effectively.
Negative space in photography or art allows the subject to become the focal point. With practice, we can create the needed negative space in our lives to allow enough time for each good thing to be savored.
Love it! A great reminder to take everything into consideration - including the negative space! Great connection with your wonderful novel too
So true. I’m a firm believer that the brain needs time away. When I worked in technical support roles I would be trying to resolve problems and analysing data trying to figure out what went wrong. Eventually I would just walk away, to the great frustration of my boss, I’d simply walk out and down the canal side and after around thirty minutes of not thinking consciously about the issue, ping! The solution came.
Brains need time to process information in the background.