Amy and Andy Neary discuss why unscheduled time matters. They argue that leaving gaps in your day creates space for creativity and unexpected connections that planned time can't produce.
Chapters
Happy Monday and welcome back to the highly caffeinated conversations with amy and Andy, episode 13. So I wrote a blog over the weekend and I wanted to share with you and it was titled the Magic is in the Space in between and what I've Realized. And as much as we both, Andy and I, preach on routines and schedules and time blocking to be really efficient, lay a good foundation for your day. With time off, I've realized that I have myself so scheduled and in such a routine that I don't leave space for magic. I don't leave space. And the magic being a conversation with a neighbor, chatting with a friend after yoga class because I gotta hurry. Because I, like, only gave myself five minutes to get home to get ready for work. And even at work, I have myself so tightly scheduled with patients that sometimes I don't leave that space to like, have that last chat, let them have space to ask that last question. Because I'm already thinking on to my next patient and how I'm trying to stay on schedule. And so as much as I do believe there is something to be said about routines and schedules, it's also leaving blank space in your day. Like I have done with having space to think and downtime, I've had more time to come up with ideas, be creative, just daydream. And I think this goes for your kids too. Allow your kids time to be bored. Remember back in the day when you were bored and you tell mom, I'm bored, and she'd say, go find something to do or I'll find something for you. Which meant chores. And so you had to think of something to do and that's when you got creative. It's okay. Our kids are the same. We have their schedule so filled. Or when they say that they're bored, we're quickly trying to find something for them to do. Like, this is a space for like, even as us adults, it's good to be bored. To allow your time, you, your brain to have space to think and daydream. New thoughts, new ideas.
And how it applies to the business world is we're all working in 2D now, right? All our meetings are done via Zoom. And when we do it that way, it's easy to schedule back to back to back to back to back meetings or calls. I found myself doing this last week and not giving myself the stress space. But here's what happens. Amy called it not leaving space for the magic. A mentor of mine said, leaving space for the miracles. When you schedule meetings back to back to back to back with about five minutes left, you're already thinking about the next meeting. You're counting down the time. You're starting to get nervous and sweaty because this meeting's gonna go over, and you're not leaving the space to have a solid conversation with whoever you're talking to at the end of that meeting. So my advice is now that. Especially now that all our calls are either over the phone or. Or virtual, leave space between your calls so that you can end your current conversation appropriately. And, heck, who knows what could come out of that end of that conversation. So whether it's personally or whether it's in business right now, you must leave space for the magic to happen. So tell tomorrow.
