Heard an interesting concept recently. “What do you do in your gaps?” What an interesting observation. Let me unpack this for us. The thought was that we all are focused every day on what we need to do. Our task list. Our emails. Our projects. Our networking and everything else that we pile on ourselves. But, in the middle of all of these things. In the middle of all of this stuff we have gaps. Gaps. Those short amounts of times between our stuff. Gaps.
The challenge was, “What are we doing with our gaps?” Do we find that those moments between our task or To-Do list are filled with creating more task? Looking to push things forward for me and make things happen for me or is there something better we could do with our gaps. That’s when it hit me. I can be so focused on the job. So focused on my task list, so focused on me, that I lose the opportunity to look up and look out. Could I begin to just take those few moments of gaps throughout the day and focus on something bigger than me and my company and my journey? Could I re-purpose my gaps. Yes I think I can.
My goal moving forward is to try to use my gaps for helping others. In the middle of what I’m working on, to stop and think about and reach out to someone to see if I can help them on their journey. Can I begin to fill my gaps with others? Just a few moments a day where I pause, take a breath and think who can I help in the next few minutes? Who can I inspire, motivate, equip or encourage before this gap moment passes and I get back to my long list of stuff?
Gaps. I’m going to try to re-purpose mine. You want to join me and we might be able to help someone else’s journey today. We got this! Let’s go change someones life!
bmink@choiceconsultingman.com
Great post! I’ve found that being prepared for the gaps is the key. If you have to come up with ideas, or figure out who to contact, etc, the gap quickly vanishes. If you can make efficient work of it and have a plan in place, those gaps can be huge.