When I show most people this image that I created and ask what they see,
everybody says that they see some variation of a question mark and two periods.
When I ask them what else they see, I get weird looks as if there
isn’t anything else to see in that image. Most people can even tell you that the two
periods represent your past and your future and the question mark is what are you doing today.
They wouldn’t be wrong. But here is where we get our focus
all wrong. As a society, we are either focused on not repeating the mistakes of our past or
focused on what we are going to do in the future. Our past could be five minutes ago or fifty years
ago. Our future could be what we are going to order at the drive-through in thirty seconds
or thirty years from now. We focus on what we are doing
and make awesome lists to keep us on track and keep us moving ahead.
We focus on what we are reading, what we are studying,
what we are watching and listening to. We focus on where we were wronged,
the injustices that have happened to us, and what society needs to do to give us equality.
What if I were to tell you that in the image above there is more white space than there are
actual markings in the image? Would you shift your focus?
White space is discussed a lot in the design industry.
It is defined as “the unprinted area of a piece of printing, as of a poster or newspaper page…White
space is as effective in a layout as type.”. I was reading about the use of white space in
website and graphical design and discovered that white space can be every bit as important as the
space occupied by user interface elements because it supports the visual integrity of a space.
In design, white space is also called negative space. It’s not blank space though because it has
a purpose. Jocelyn K. Glei in her blog calls it, “balancing the rest of the design by throwing what
is on the page (or the screen) into relief. The white space helps focus your visual attention.”
If white space is effective in design, can it be effective in our personal lives
and enable us to actually be more productive?
Glei’s blog talks about applying white space not just to your design but to your daily schedule as
well. By applying white space to your daily schedule, you “create an environment that
nourishes innovation and imagination”. The possibilities and opportunities in
lifestyle built with a white space planned into it become endless.
Another article I read defines this lifestyle as “how we create the mental capacity to play,
explore, learn, connect, rest, all without guilt or distraction.”
By shifting our focus to the white space rather than the filling in of the space,
we allow opportunity to come into our lives to be creative.
By being creative, we allow endless possibilities to come into our lives breaking open the mundane
and enabling us to become the true pictures of ourselves that we were intended to be.
Simply put, wherever you have goals and dreams, this is where you need white space in your life.
Do you desire to have a deeper relationship with that special someone in your life?
Rather than being continually active, rushing from one activity to the next,
set aside time to just hold hands. You don’t have to do anything and in that
not doing anything time, you will create the opportunities to deepen your relationship.
Maybe you are trying to build a business or create sustainable income through a side hustle
like writing. Do you want to be more creative and productive?
Then schedule white space into your calendar. White space is not sitting around doing nothing.
Rather, it is intentional time you set aside to allow the whisper of wisdom
and wonder to fill your heart, mind, and soul. You can create white space when you go for a walk,
when you sit and stare at the breeze blowing through the trees outside your window.
You create white space by intentionally setting your electronic leash aside and ignoring the
calls, texts, social media notifications, and you walk away from your smartphone.
I promise that just as your eyes are drawn to the white space on a website,
you will be drawn to a lifestyle with white space intentionally scheduled in.