Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to start looking at open space differently. Yes,
Speaker 1: you have so much you could be doing with that time,
Speaker 1: but open space invites opportunity, often opportunities that don't appear
Speaker 1: when you cram your schedule full. One of my cardinal
Speaker 1: rules of time management is to leave some open space
Speaker 1: in a schedule. That is, because stuff comes up, things
Speaker 1: take longer than expected, things go wrong. When you have
Speaker 1: open space, you can deal with these inevitable emergencies without
Speaker 1: taking time away from other things that you care about.
Speaker 1: If you've got two hours open at the end of
Speaker 1: the workday, a client's new questions don't derail your planned
Speaker 1: after work workout. You can fit both. If you've got
Speaker 1: Friday open, then Thursday's unproductive team brainstorming session that has
Speaker 1: to be redone doesn't force you to cancel next week's activities.
Speaker 1: There is slack to absorb the overflow. But even if
Speaker 1: things don't go wrong, this open space can still be useful.
Speaker 1: Many of us don't have a whole lot of time
Speaker 1: to think or to follow threads in our lives, or
Speaker 1: even read articles all the way to the end. I
Speaker 1: was speaking with a woman recently who mentioned that when
Speaker 1: she had left a Friday open and didn't schedule any
Speaker 1: meetings or calls, she decided to use the time to
Speaker 1: analyze the previous year's sales. The resulting report has proved
Speaker 1: incredibly useful for her team and company. If she had
Speaker 1: a day full of meetings, that probably wouldn't have happened.
Speaker 1: She also came up with an idea for a podcast
Speaker 1: guest for her show, someone unexpected for her field, but
Speaker 1: who would work great. Without the space to think, she
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been pondering that question. Open space invites opportunity
Speaker 1: in a way a cluttered calendar. Can't you get an
Speaker 1: email from someone you enjoy talking to, so you pick
Speaker 1: up the phone and call and come up with some
Speaker 1: great ideas. Together, you read an article all the way
Speaker 1: to the end and come up with other good ideas.
Speaker 1: I know that it is hard to leave open space
Speaker 1: when there is so much going on. People often tell
Speaker 1: me that it feels irresponsible to leave time open. If
Speaker 1: someone has been trying to meet with you for two
Speaker 1: weeks and you see that Friday is open, it seems
Speaker 1: wrong to tell them guess what not this week either.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. If you really wanted that meeting
Speaker 1: to happen, my guess is that you would have made
Speaker 1: it happen. If you don't, then it is mostly someone
Speaker 1: else's agenda, and putting it during your open time we'll
Speaker 1: keep you from thinking up stuff that might prove far
Speaker 1: more useful. Open space doesn't stay open, but it can't
Speaker 1: be filled with the useful stuff if you fill it
Speaker 1: with less useful stuff. So today, think about your schedule
Speaker 1: and think about where you can force in a bit
Speaker 1: more open space. Can you schedule an open hour after
Speaker 1: lunch or before quitting time? Can you leave a morning
Speaker 1: open each week, or maybe an afternoon? How about all
Speaker 1: day Fridays tend to be good for this. It can
Speaker 1: be hard at first, but over time it might get easier,
Speaker 1: and as you start coming up with great ideas, you'll
Speaker 1: become more motivated to leave the space open. You get
Speaker 1: a meeting request and think, hey, is this worth foregoing
Speaker 1: my really good ideas to have Chances are no, so
Speaker 1: you move it elsewhere and you feel less busy while
Speaker 1: getting more done in the meantime. This is Laura thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. That's b E the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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