What the heck is White Space?

By now I'm sure someone has mentioned 'White Space' in a conversation in the context of business, work, learning or life within your listening range. But what exactly is White Space?

White Space could be down time between tasks or initiatives for some people (like myself typically). For some, it could be time they've carved out of their schedule as 'unstructured'; to flush out ideas that have popped up in the day or week that need more than a fly-by-night approach. For others, it might be easier to think of white space as "Me Time", which is easy to do on the weekends but not so easy to justify at the office.

The main idea behind white space is to free yourself from others' obligations and work on your own. This white space time might be spent on self care, personal projects, future goal identification, or just an amount of time to see where a random thought might go. It's wide open and undefined except by time. It's NOT the time you take your lunch, return a thousand emails, finish up the proposal for the expansion. It's the time you take to think, or go beyond, below, beside, across from, behind, or upside down from everyone and everything else - this is quality time for you and your brain.

If it's still too abstract, don't worry. Look for another post called White Space 101: Schedule and Fill.