Spare minutes are the negative space in your life where you need to take advantage and use wisely. As an independent creative director, I don’t have someone to make sure all my tasks are getting done. It’s really easy to become a consumer instead of a creator and not take advantage of the moments given to me.
One of the questions I get asked most often is “How do you do so much?” In addition to writing this kind of content, I run my own graphic design studio from home and do work for clients, I film weekly videos for my YouTube channel, I run a weekly podcast with a co-host called “Design Speaks”, I teach Design Concepts every fall at the local art university, I am also the Education Director on the board for AIGA New Mexico. I make it a point to attend local creative get-togethers like Tuesday’s Together and Creative Mornings as well as AAF lunches when I can. In my personal life, I am married and have two kiddos. I do part-time homeschool with them two and a half days a week. Because I work from home I also do home things like clean and cook and do laundry, etc.
So how do I get so much stuff done?
Well, naturally I finally started to look at my life through the lens of design thinking. In graphic design (as well as other creative fields), negative space is valuable and important. In art, negative space is “the space around and between subjects of an image.”. Negative space is the breathing room that can make a design more effective if it is used correctly and allows for a better understanding of the design.
So it goes then that negative space in your life is the space around the major things in your life that can be used effectively as well.
Essentially, what I do to get things done with my busy schedule is use some of the negative space in my life more intentionally. So what exactly is negative space in our lives and how can we use some of it more effectively? Negative space is the spare minutes, those times where you might normally scroll through Facebook or play a game on your phone. It’s the minutes that can add up to hours, it’s those times that you could easily waste but don’t have to.
I have decided to make conscious efforts to use these moments to my advantage. Here’s some examples:
- Waiting in the pickup line at my kids school — 15 minutes — Post to social media (business-related), listen to a podcast, edit a photo using a mobile app, follow-up on emails, create something on my iPad
- Getting ready in the morning —30-60 minutes — Listen to new music, an audio book or podcast
- Standing in line at the grocery store —5 minutes — Use Evernote to jot down ideas for my business
- Watching my daughter’s soccer practice — 1 hour — Sketch for design projects, take photos for later use, etc.
- Driving to and from errands — 10minutes – 1hour — Use a voice memo or voice to text app to record Blog thoughts or content for Podcast
The main idea is to make sure you know what you want to get done in these times and always have something prepared. It’s way to easy to fall into the trap of using all these valuable spare moments on consuming instead of creating. IF at the beginning of your day you can see what you need to get done and can plan for the extra moments you may have, you can really harness that time and feel great about the “little” things you can accomplish in those moments.
Now I want to be clear, I don’t think it’s necessary or wise to use EVERY spare moment. I think margin is important. There should be some blank space left in your life for your sanity and overall health. If you are doing something every second of every day you will burn out and then will be effectively useless until you can recover. So there’s definitely some balance there but using the negative space wisely is the key to me feeling productive and accomplished.
STEPS to Using the Negative Space in Your Life:
- Every night, keep a notepad of the major and minor things you hope to accomplish the next day
- Think about what your day will look like (errands, chores, meetings, etc.)
- Write down times you think you have here and there that you can utilize (see my examples)
- Look at that list of things you hope to accomplish and find areas in those times you can do them.
- Once you’ve identified these areas, make sure to take any tools with you that you’d need to accomplish those things
After awhile, being prepared for these usable moments will become a habit. Even if I haven’t exactly planned out what these moments will look like, I always make sure I have tools available to me in case I have a “chance” to do something.
TOOLS I keep handy:
- My Phone
- A “kit” of sorts with various pens, lettering markers, pencils, a moleskine notebook, post it notes, a mini ruler
- A sketchbook
- My Action Method planner or my Ink+Volt planner; or both depending on what I’m working on.
- My iPad or laptop, again depending on the day
- Headphones
- A book (physical, digital, or audio)
- Podcasts (on my phone)
The key is to be prepared and be mindful of the moments you can use to create instead of just consume.
I hope this helps you feel more accomplished and allows for more rest because you’ve done more than you ever thought possible in the negative spaces in your life. Design is a wonderful world. I hope you’ll join me here, because design, creativity, and every spare moment matters.