Creating An Untouchable Space
Image credit: Kate Day and unsplash.
Introduction
In today’s world, it’s rather easy to be busy. We are inundated by meetings (leading to more meetings), email, phone notifications, and the like. That’s why these untouchable spaces are increasingly important. What about emergencies? I find these are few and far between. Short of a family member or friend’s emergency we really don’t have anything that really demands our attention. Those emails, phone calls, tweets, and texts can wait. Just put your phone in airplane mode, tell a loved one where you will be, and unplug.
Health Motivations
A Stanford research paper found that people effectively maxed out their weekly output at around 63 hours. The Atlantic says an ideal formula for work is 52 minutes on, 17 minutes off — time that might be spent stretching, walking, or talking to a co-worker. If you’re suffering from ‘nice guy’ syndrome, take a look at the linked podcast — it may well be that if you keep your emotions bottled up for too long they will boil over. This web site says work stress can release the hormone cortisol, which is hard on your heart. This in turn can increase your risk for stroke, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer. If you can’t remember the last time you took a real vacation, now is the time.
The Untouchable Space
Often in creative fields it can be useful to carve out some time to pursue creative things exclusively. I like to call this time an Untouchable Space. It can be hard to make a whole day per week for these stretches, but I aim for this and sometimes I even reach my goal. If you can’t do a entire day consider some episodes throughout the week, perhaps in three to four hour blocks.
Loved Ones
“No worldly success can compensate for failure in the home” is a statement made famous by David O. McKay. It was reemphasized again with Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s statement, “In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e” (see here). A few years ago I found I was working non stop. At its worst I would collapse on the floor and sleep in my office for a few hours before picking up working again. This only was sustainable for two years or so before I burned out. I now have calendared a date night every Friday with my wife. We do miss some nights; we are by no means the ideal couple. I now try to to make time for my children to play video games or have family time at least 3 nights per week. I by no means make my goal here either, but that’s what I shoot for.
Links
https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyblaschka/2019/07/23/the-fastest-way-to-be-more-productive-is-to-slow-down/
https://tinybuddha.com/blog/slow-way-go-6-reasons-take-time/
https://medium.com/@reganbach/go-slow-to-go-fast-8c3055e723ed
