Skip to content
Josh Linkner
Josh Linkner
Speaker, Author, VC and Entrepreneur
  • MEET JOSH
  • SPEAKING
  • VIDEOS
  • CONSULTING
  • LEADERSHIP
    • TOP LEADERSHIP KEYNOTE SPEAKER
    • KEYNOTE TOPICS
    • LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMMING
    • LEADERSHIP STREET CRED.
    • INNOVATIVE VS. TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP
    • LEADERSHIP KEYNOTES: WHAT TO LOOK FOR
  • BESTSELLERS
    • HACKING INNOVATION
    • THE ROAD TO REINVENTION
    • DISCIPLINED DREAMING
  • EXPERIENCE
    • INDUSTRIES
      • ASSOCIATIONS & CONFERENCES
      • AUTOMOTIVE & MANUFACTURING
      • CONSUMER PACKAGE GOODS
      • ENTREPRENEURSHIP & STARTUPS
      • FINANCIAL SERVICES
      • HEALTHCARE
      • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
      • MEDIA & PUBLISHING
      • REAL ESTATE
      • TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY
      • VENTURE CAPITAL & PRIVATE EQUITY
    • JOB FUNCTIONS
      • FINANCE
      • HUMAN RESOURCES
      • LEADERSHIP
      • MARKETING
      • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
      • SALES
  • BLOG
  • BOOK JOSH
  • MEET JOSH
  • SPEAKING
  • VIDEOS
  • CONSULTING
  • LEADERSHIP
    • TOP LEADERSHIP KEYNOTE SPEAKER
    • KEYNOTE TOPICS
    • LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMMING
    • LEADERSHIP STREET CRED.
    • INNOVATIVE VS. TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP
    • LEADERSHIP KEYNOTES: WHAT TO LOOK FOR
  • BESTSELLERS
    • HACKING INNOVATION
    • THE ROAD TO REINVENTION
    • DISCIPLINED DREAMING
  • EXPERIENCE
    • INDUSTRIES
      • ASSOCIATIONS & CONFERENCES
      • AUTOMOTIVE & MANUFACTURING
      • CONSUMER PACKAGE GOODS
      • ENTREPRENEURSHIP & STARTUPS
      • FINANCIAL SERVICES
      • HEALTHCARE
      • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
      • MEDIA & PUBLISHING
      • REAL ESTATE
      • TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY
      • VENTURE CAPITAL & PRIVATE EQUITY
    • JOB FUNCTIONS
      • FINANCE
      • HUMAN RESOURCES
      • LEADERSHIP
      • MARKETING
      • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
      • SALES
  • BLOG
  • BOOK JOSH

White Space

“It ain’t about the notes you play,” legendary trumpeter Miles Davis once proclaimed. “It’s about the notes you don’t play.”

In the art world, the unused space around a painted object is known as white space and is considered equally important to the image itself. The open space frames the work, providing the necessary contrast to allow the image to stand out. Think of those nearly blank print ads with a small Apple logo in the middle of a sea of white, and you’ll realize that great advertising also uses white space for impact.

If the white space creates better art, why do we pack our calendars with the same squeeze-it-all-in mentality as a game of Tetris? Our caffeine-gulping, type-A, grind-’em-up-and-spit-’em-out culture leaves about as much white space as a Times Square New Year’s Eve.

The challenge with this always-on approach is that we miss the most important opportunities to be creative. If you’re heads-down on your to-do list, you largely spend your hours on transactional work. Task-oriented. Focused on deliverables. Unfortunately, when you’re heads-down you aren’t able to notice the world around you. The opportunities to create. To advance your art. To explore the possibilities.

Compare this to heads-up time. When you lift your head up and give yourself permission to have unstructured time, you’re able to savor fresh patterns and ideas. By giving yourself some white space on the schedule, you’re not wasting time but rather putting it to a higher use. In the same way artists, musicians and poets would never clutter their work by squeezing in the maximum amount of brush strokes, notes or words, packing your schedule like a can of tuna confines rather than liberates.

In our always-on work culture, allowing for some white space is easier said than done. I suggest you start small, by taking a White Space Challenge. Try a 30-day experiment in which you carve out just 5% of your time (two hours from a 40-hour week). Schedule this time like an important, unchangeable meeting. But instead of being task-oriented, allow your mind to wander and explore. Go to a museum, take a walk, listen to music. Spend time reflecting instead of doing, just for a couple hours a week.

Miles Davis thought about musical notes as a pathway to connect periods of silence. Celebrate the holes in your schedule instead of shun them, and that white space will help you create beautiful music.

April 19, 2015
Tags: artcreativityjazzmiles davismusic
Share this post

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:Look UpNextNext post:Learning and Unlearning

1 Comment

  1. Bob Barker says:
    April 20, 2015 at 8:53 am

    Really excellent thought worth sharing broadly, Josh. Thanks!

Comments are closed.

Recent Rants
  • Superpowers and Kryptonite
    April 15, 2018
  • Patching the Potholes
    April 8, 2018
  • Endangered Species
    April 1, 2018
  • The Mark of a Professional
    March 25, 2018
  • The 3 Big Lessons from the Collapse of Toys ‘R’ Us
    March 18, 2018
Archives
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • October 2009
Follow us on:
© 2018 THE INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED CREATIVITY, LLC.
Subscribe to Josh's Blog:
Josh Linkner
Josh Linkner
Speaker, Author, VC and Entrepreneur
  • MEET JOSH
  • SPEAKING
  • VIDEOS
  • CONSULTING
  • LEADERSHIP
    • TOP LEADERSHIP KEYNOTE SPEAKER
    • KEYNOTE TOPICS
    • LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMMING
    • LEADERSHIP STREET CRED.
    • INNOVATIVE VS. TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP
    • LEADERSHIP KEYNOTES: WHAT TO LOOK FOR
  • BESTSELLERS
    • HACKING INNOVATION
    • THE ROAD TO REINVENTION
    • DISCIPLINED DREAMING
  • EXPERIENCE
    • INDUSTRIES
      • ASSOCIATIONS & CONFERENCES
      • AUTOMOTIVE & MANUFACTURING
      • CONSUMER PACKAGE GOODS
      • ENTREPRENEURSHIP & STARTUPS
      • FINANCIAL SERVICES
      • HEALTHCARE
      • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
      • MEDIA & PUBLISHING
      • REAL ESTATE
      • TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY
      • VENTURE CAPITAL & PRIVATE EQUITY
    • JOB FUNCTIONS
      • FINANCE
      • HUMAN RESOURCES
      • LEADERSHIP
      • MARKETING
      • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
      • SALES
  • BLOG
  • BOOK JOSH