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Space …The Essential Frontier

15 August 2018

There’s an old joke that runs thus…

Q. How many ears does Captain Kirk have?

A. 3

…His left ear, his right ear and his final frontier.

Ho ho. Geddit?!

Always makes me smile, that one. Of course Capn Kirk was also famous for boldly going through space to find new planets and generally have a high old time of things. He enjoyed his space.

As Douglas Adams put it, at the start of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, ‘space is big, really big.’

And so it is. What’s easy to forget though, when we look up to the stars, is that space is really all around us down here on earth.

We rush about from meeting to meeting and then rush home to cook dinner and prepare for the next day. We check our smartphones constantly in case anyone has sent us a new tweet or email. We are deluged with tasks and people and social detritus, all wafting around us and demanding our attention.

What is good is space. Space to be on our own for a while. Space to breathe. Space to be calm in.

Relationships at home and at work all seem to run more smoothly when we take time to find space and just BE for a while, instead of doing or thinking.

A space for being in allows our thoughts to unwind and gives us an opportunity to reconnect with ourselves.

We can offer others some space too and we can recognise when a colleague is under pressure and give them space to complete a task.

Often saying nothing is the most useful form of communication. The silence we offer people reminds them that we respect their needs too. We can back off and let them enjoy their space.

When was the last time you had space for yourself? When did you take an hour, or a day, or a weekend to have time just for yourself?

If the answer is ‘not sure’ or any variation on that, then maybe it’s time to boldly go and make some space for yourself.

My favourite space is when I’m sitting on the sofa with my phone on silent and quietly playing one of my ukuleles. The gentle music is a good distraction from the world and after a while I find myself feeling calmer and ready to face the task I’ve been putting off.

We are all important. We can all ask for some space. We can all enjoy exploring the essential frontier!

Have fun in your space this week!

Next week: Collaborative Selling