Leave Yourself Some Blank Time

Recently, since I started thinking about slowing down even more, all the podcasts I listen to, the books I read, and the shows I watch seem to suddenly talk about the same thing:
Leaving blank space in your life.

It’s interesting, sometimes when you notice something, the world starts responding to you in its own way.
It feels like everything is reminding me to slow down.

Many great artists, writers, and scientists actually left big blanks in their daily lives.
For example: Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, Darwin, Beethoven, and many others.
They didn’t work all day at full speed, most of them worked only about four hours a day, top.
After that,
Murakami goes running,
Beethoven takes long walks in nature,
Darwin rests or wanders.

When you leave blank space, you give yourself time to reflect and to process.
Take Beethoven again, like many other composers, he loved to walk.
Walking gave him the space to open his feelings and absorb the world around him, walking helps him to find inspiration.
For me too, after a walk, the stuck parts of my music often disappear.

Blank space gives you time to connect, to yourself, and to the world.
It’s when you can really feel your feelings.
Am I happy?
Am I actually tired?
Is everyone around me okay?
If your schedule never stops, if you’re just chasing to-dos one after another, there’s no time to feel.
And if there’s no time to feel, there’s no time to connect.

Recently, I’ve been trying to work only in the mornings, using my full energy to focus for a four-hour slot.
After that, I run, have tea, read, or watch something funny.
It’s hard, my instinct is always to use free time to work more, to earn more.
But as Naval said, freedom is your greatest asset.
If money takes away your freedom, then it’s no longer an asset.
So I remind myself every morning: I want a peaceful, free mind, not a restless, hustling one.

I know free time feels like a luxury for many people today.
But even 30 minutes of blank space a day, it’s worth trying.