Comments on: Needs More Whitespace

By: Drew Barnard

Drew Barnard — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:28:12 +0000

Nicely said :)

By: Guy Park

Guy Park — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:40:16 +0000

Fantastic read Derek.

I noticed your 2nd point about Meetings take up whitespace and a comment on checking emails less, which reminded me of a book I read called “The 4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss.

Tim uses a meeting technique where he will ask the client to email the agenda of the meeting. This generally results in a single question, which can be answered in a simple email or phone call rather than wasting it on a meeting.

A Note: the first part of the book conflicted with some personal values, but sticking through it, I did get some real good value/techniques out of it, including the one about checking emails twice a day only (“If it’s important, they will call”).

Hope this helps =)

Hope that helps.

By: Derek Neighbors

Derek Neighbors — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:12:16 +0000

All of these are excellent. Meetings seem to suck up the most whitespace and it is so rewarding when you add it back into your life. Sometimes meetings are necessary but often we can control the length and effectiveness.

By: Robin Brunner

Robin Brunner — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:43:38 +0000

Lunch? You mean that mid-day period with no clients scheduled when I try to learn accessible hand coding and attempt not to dribble on the keyboard?
Perhaps I should dedicate a few moments to repeat a peaceful mantra (or have a piece of white chocolate) whilst contemplating this question: What is the sound of one tag opening? Your analogy warms both yin and yang. Thank you, R

By: Stephane Deschamps

Stephane Deschamps — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:47:30 +0000

Hey Derek, you know what? I work part-time. One day that is all for me, and me alone.

Of course most of the time I end up doing laundry, housekeeping and going for the week’s food at the store, but in the end? My brain gets one good day of rest per week.

Try to take a day off every once in a while, it’s good.

Oh, and I never, ever eat in front of the computer. Kitchen, radio, or half an hour of a DVD. It’s very good for my white space, really.

By: feather

feather — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:55:53 +0000

@Andrea: Is Twitter time a whitespace killer? I guess it depends on how you’re using it and how often :) For me, it isn’t an all the time thing, and I try to limit it to short bursts to see what is going on around me. It doesn’t always work, of course. Hmmm. I’ll have to think about this a little bit more…

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:29:17 +0000

So true. But I think the things that really take up my whitespace are email and Twitter. They provide a constant trickle of stuff that slowly fills up every tiny nook.

By: Ruth Ellison

Ruth Ellison — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:41:59 +0000

Love the analogy. Now I just have to practice what I’ve read here…

By: Dave Smay

Dave Smay — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:26:16 +0000

Great post. I agree completely.

Now, how can I apply this to my triathlon training… if I’m going to move up from 70.3 to The Big Show, how do I add white space to that? Well, besides training during lunch instead of working during lunch…

Thoughts?

-@dsmay

By: Alex Bischoff

Alex Bischoff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:07:00 +0000

You’ve put into words what I had been feeling for a while. Nicely done.