Space Is Where The Magic Happens: how to find the space to be more creative

How much space do you have?  Not just physical space, but headspace and space in your diary?

In all aspects, space can be hard to come by in our busy lives but it’s one of the essential ingredients for creativity.

There will have been times in your life, when mental, physical and time-based space opened up and your imagination started churning out idea after idea.  For me, this is often on holiday.  With teenage kids snoring through a well deserved holiday lie in, I creep out to the balcony, with the feeling of all the space in the world and I write.  Last year’s summer holiday was particularly bountiful in ideas and I came back not only with renewed oomph, but also a detailed plan of how the next few months were going to pan out.

It doesn’t need to be a fancy foreign holiday though, just a walk in the local park can create space for a shift to occur.  I also find space emerging on journeys, especially on trains with the landscape whizzing past the window.

Space can be cultivated through travel and time in nature, but you can also create it in your day to day without needing to be on a train or sitting on a pretty balcony.  This is where we get detailed on the types of space as some will be more important to you than others.

Physical Space:

The surroundings of where you work and generate ideas have a massive impact on the efficacy of that toil.  A cluttered, busy area literally reduces the amount of space you have.  This might not bother you and it might actually be a source of inspiration, but for some, a bit of a tidy and a declutter to create a more serene inspiring environment could make the difference between procrastination and creation.

I’m not suggesting a full Marie Kondo approach here as that’s a tad too ruthless (and even Marie herself has admitted she’s rather lost her discipline since having kids - understandable!).  Set a timer for 20mins max to clear your space and create a more conducive environment for your creativity to flourish.  It’s unlikely to be perfect, but that’s not needed here.  Just an incremental improvement is all that might be needed to move the needle and for purposeful, rewarding action to occur.

Headspace:

When things are unclear and there’s lots going on, it creates what I like to call white noise:  that mildly confused buzz in your head which inhibits your ability to focus and makes prioritisation harder.  

There’s lots you can do to reduce this white noise and gain clarity, but it’s super important you approach this with self compassion and accept that not all methods will suit you.  We’re bombarded with different ways you can become a higher, more successful being and most (speaking from my own experience) won’t work and some are downright silly.  For example, I’m not going to be getting up at 4am to increase my success.  Nope.  Not a chance, that's not for me!  

If you try something and it doesn’t work, that doesn’t mean you’re the problem.  It just means you’ve not found the right approach… yet.  Or, you have previously found some excellent approaches but in the busyness of life, you’ve forgotten the ones that work well.

With that in mind, what’s needed is some support to remind you what you already know and to cultivate a playful approach to try some new ways of clearing out the confusion so you can proceed knowing what your priorities are, the core “why” of what you’re doing and a step-by-step plan to make the action more manageable.  

For me, this is where coaching comes in.  It’s pretty much all I work on when I’m being coached.  But there are also self-coaching methods that could be useful too (especially if finance is a barrier to 1-2-1 coaching).  Even something as simple as journaling can help regulate your nervous system and help you get clear on what you want, why and how you are going to achieve it.

Space in the diary:

I’ve left this one till last because it, for some, is the hardest one to work on as often demands on our time are outwith our control, whether through work schedules, caring responsibilities or other external factors.

However, there will always be more space you can find.  It might be tiny, but it is there if you want it enough.

Are there creative tasks that you can get done in a short stint, say in 30 mins?  Can you make space for that today or tomorrow?  For longer stints, where can you compromise?  Is there anywhere in your schedule where you can pause, delete or delegate to make space for something you think is a priority?

Again, speaking this through with a coach or someone else who can support you will make a big difference, especially if that person can question the stories you are telling yourself about your time.  It’s very easy to slip into the narrative that you have no time for yourself or your own projects at all.  Sometimes that might be true, but most of the time it isn’t accurate.  You do have some choices that you can make - choosing to scroll a little less and use that time more constructively, getting up a tiny bit earlier (not 4am though unless that’s your bag, or you’re a farmer ;), asking for a bit of help to free up some space and so on.

Which type of space is the most constrictive for you at the moment?

For me, it’s perpetually a combination of them all in an ever shifting bar chart of demand.  Sometimes time-space is the biggest issue, other times it’s headspace and so on, but they all play a role.  Accepting that this is the case and actively, positively and optimistically taking the time to challenge my assumptions and free up some space is utterly magic.

For then you get the reward.  Space to create, to allow the mind to wander, to bombard your imagination with loads of “What if” questions that lead to marvellous things being made and out of our heads and into the world. And that, is indeed, absolutely magic.

If I can help with this through coaching or mentoring, do get in touch.  But I’d also love to hear from you if you’ve your own ways of making space that work for you that you’d be willing to share.  You never know who it might help :)