The Value of Free Space

I’ve been doing a slow read of Adam Grant’s newest book, Hidden Potential. Not because it’s hard for me to get through but rather because like a deliciously rich dessert, I want to savor it and take my time enjoying it.

We were recently reflecting upon professional learning needs for next school year at the high school. This past week, our building leadership team did an excellent job of planning a professional learning day that was filled with connection, fun, practical strategies, time for reflection, and even sessions led by our ever so talented Teacher Academy students.

During this stop, start, continue exercise, we engaged in a conversation about how important it is to have time to pause and reflect, so we can catch our thinking and shift our thinking and thus in turn, shift our instructional practices. And simply because this work is hard and a little rest is important too.

This got me thinking about something I read in Hidden Potential. It was about the importance of play or idol time. I loved learning that Lin-Manuel Miranda came up with the idea for Hamilton while on vacation, floating on a raft in a pool, and drinking a margarita.

I’m sure you’re thinking that sounds lovely, but I can’t float all day every day drinking margaritas.

But it does make me wonder what it would look like to simply make more space for a little bit of nothing in our work, so our brains can process, invent, reflect, and refresh.

Here are a few ideas for space-making:

Professional Learning Days: Instead of scheduling sessions back-to-back during PD days, what if there was a 45 minute to an hour block of time for independent learning and reflection? Much like reading logs killed my love of reading as a student (sorry, might just be a me-thing), I don’t think we need to be overly prescriptive with what people produce during this time. Time to think, talk, reflect, and explore is immensely valuable.

Put Your Phone Away: I’ve found that even when I don’t need my phone or don’t need to be on my phone, I can be tempted to look at it. I don’t like how it makes me feel and yet I will continue to do look at it. This past week I enjoy two different conversations at work. For both of those conversations, my phone was either put away or in the other room. It was so nice to have the space to be fully present for these conversations which really mattered to me and to enjoy time with people who matter deeply to me too. I’m bad about putting my phone away at home. Even when I’m cleaning my house, I carry it from room to room with me. More space from our phones is a healthy practice. When we step away from our phones, it sends a signal to our brains that it is safe to let ourselves be fully where our feet are planted which can improve the quality of our thoughts and ground us in the beauty of moments.

Space for Informal Dialogue: I mentioned the two meetings above, and you may be thinking that this is a blog post about free space, and yet you are talking about meetings. But you know how there are certain people who are good for your spirit and you think maybe you might be good for their spirit too? Well, I made time this week for us to simply enjoy each other. Without a formal agenda, we dug into all sorts of topics of interest from house cleaning tips, to sharing wins and struggles, and then even dreaming up ideas for the work next school year. The work moved forward but so did the relationship. The way through the work is through the relationship. Culture is not how we feel. Culture is what we do which impacts how we feel. It also drives our results. And we are never done building culture. Without it, we have nothing.

From meetings to emails, managing the “stuff” so can enjoy our work is something very important to me. So important, in fact, I wrote about it in Legacy of Learning. Where might you make some space for yourself? Perhaps it won’t be on a pool raft with a margarita in your hand, but let’s value free space and what it can do for our the quality of thinking, our energy levels, and the quality of our work.