More Space! More Space!

You’ve probably heard the story of the person who visits a guru, seeking wisdom. As the visitor chatters on, the guru pours tea in a cup. The visitor keeps talking and the guru keeps pouring until the tea is running over the sides of the cup.

“Stop!” cries the visitor. “There’s no more room in the cup!”

The guru tells the visitor that the cup is like the visitor’s mind. If there is no space, you can’t add more ideas or wisdom. In our frantic and frenetic world, we can’t add good things of any kind to our life until we make space for them.

Make Space So You Can Be More Productive

Too many of us, myself included, work too many hours. More work means more productivity, right? Well, no.

John Pencavel of Stanford University studied productivity. He found that, as you increase the number of hours, productivity increases . . . but only up to a point. After 50 hours a week, the growth in productivity slows down. Past 55 hours, productivity plummets.

Make Space to Recover

When I studied industrial engineering, I learned if you wanted to get the most from a machine or an assembly line, you didn’t run it at full speed. You got both the most lifetime production and the longest life if you ran the equipment at 75 percent of maximum.

Life experience says that’s true of us, too. You do the most over a day, a week, or a lifetime if you don’t go full speed all the time.

We’re most productive when we take time off.

Time off can be a 20-minute break after an hour of work. It can be a full day off. Time off can be a vacation. The natural human cycle is not work, work, work, work. The natural human cycle is work, recover, work, recover.

BCG experimented with giving their consultants a scheduled day off from work. They called it “Predictable Time Off” or “PTO.” The consultants loved it. Clients rated their work at least as good as teams without PTO and generally much better.

Make Space for Good Ideas

The best way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas. The good news is that human beings are wired to have ideas. But, there’s a catch.

We don’t get ideas when we’re trying to effort our way to them. When we’re concentrating, up against a deadline, or stressed, the ideas just don’t come.

To get good ideas, you must relax.

Do something where you’re relaxed and you don’t have to pay attention to what your body is doing. Some examples are taking a shower, driving, walking, polishing silver. Then you can put your body on autopilot and let your mind roam free. When it roams free, it will start throwing good ideas at you.

Learn two idea-producing activities. One should be an inside activity. That’s for days when the weather is bad or when you want to be near your files and computer. The other should be outdoors. Walking in nature is best. If that’s not possible, walk where you don’t need to spend your precious attention on things like traffic signals and other people.

Make Space for Opportunity

Richard Branson says business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one coming. That’s sure true, but if you want to take advantage of those opportunities, you need to have space in your life.

You need the space to add one more thing to your to-do list. You need the space to reflect on the idea and whether it fits in with your grand scheme of life.

Remember this: Every time you say no to one thing, you leave yourself space in your life to say yes to something better.

Bottom Line

A productive and happy life doesn’t result from days filled to overflowing with activities. Make space in your day and your week for recovery. Make space in your schedule for creativity. Make space in your life so that you can say yes to that big opportunity.