TEN Episode 107 Audio Edited
00:00:00 Gino Wickman
Hello and welcome back. This episode I call "Creating Space," and it's basically a little bit of a spin on discipline number two, taking time off. So I have a theme for this year, for 2026, for myself personally and in business, and that theme is to create space. And so what I did at the end of last year is I freed up my time commitments in two companies to create an opening. But I freed up about 25 extra days going into this year to just, again, create space and an opening and basically just see what comes. And things are already coming, and I'll share that in just a little bit.
00:00:52 Gino Wickman
What led to this podcast episode was not the theme for the year, although that was one of the data points that brought me to this. The real aha moment was when I was sitting in the Bahamas with my wife on vacation, staring at the ocean while simultaneously reading a book. Reading a bit, pausing, looking at the ocean, then reading some more.
And so I was reading an amazing book called The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, the music producer, and it's truly a masterpiece on being creative or creating anything. And where I found it extremely profound is it outlined the exact process that I went through in creating EOS and then the exact process in writing Traction and the exact process in all of the other books I've written and anything I've created.
So it was just this incredible, profound experience reading and being reminded of the science of creating things. And I believe all entrepreneurs are creative. I frankly believe all humans are creative. I believe we're meant to create. I believe it's in our souls.
00:02:15 Gino Wickman
With that, I digress a little bit, bringing us back. One of the things that Rick Rubin talked about in the book and in the creative process of creating things, he talked about how we have to allow time and space to let things come in. More on letting things come in in just a minute.
But what I want you to think about is think about whatever it is that you are working on, what you are trying to accomplish. It might be building a career. It might be an idea that you want to bring to the world. It might be a business that you want to start, a product you want to create, a nonprofit you want to start, a book you want to write, an app you want to create. It could be as simple as a garden that you want to begin or simply trying to solve a really big problem.
So we, the driven, we work hard at what we do. We go hard. We toil, one of my favorite words right now, to accomplish the thing that we're trying to accomplish, to bring the thing we're trying to bring to the world. But we can't do our best work. We can't fully bring it to the world in its full form if we don't come up for air, if we don't step away from it, if we don't take breaks, if we don't turn our brains off at intervals, if we don't let it fully sink in from time to time, if we don't let our soul catch up.
00:03:59 Gino Wickman
So back to allowing things to come in. When we do take the break to create the space, we receive insights, downloads, perspective, clarity. These things come out of nowhere. I have a loving way of saying when it came out of nowhere, it came from somewhere.
So there is a higher power speaking to us, and we just have to slow down, create space, create an opening so we can listen and receive. And so how do we do that? How do we go from toiling to creating space to allow these things to come in, to allow ourselves to catch up? And it's simply to take time off.
00:04:50 Gino Wickman
Here we go. Discipline number two. But remember, we're doing a spin. So if you struggle taking time off, think about it differently. Think about it as creating space. Think about it as creating that opening.
And so here's the spin. Creating space can be as simple as you practicing that powerful discipline number two, taking time off by taking those nights off and those weekends off and those vacations that you've committed to, and the magic will happen.
Because in the Bahamas, during my aha, I realized all the different ways that I create space, and it came so clear to me. And I want to share those with you as hopefully a smorgasbord for you to glean some ideas, to customize a way for you to create space up and over things as simple as just taking time off.
00:05:56 Gino Wickman
And so here are some other ways that I personally create space.
The first one is the one we all know, and that is discipline number four, be still. And so things like meditation, contemplation, journaling, prayer, these are great ways to create space, create an opening, and allow things to come in.
The next is clarity breaks. So for as long as I can remember, so for me almost 30 years now, I've been taking clarity breaks. These two-hour windows of time sitting in a coffee shop, and I've been teaching it to the business world for as long as I can remember. It's a powerful opportunity to contemplate and again create that space.
00:06:43 Gino Wickman
The next obvious one, as I already mentioned, is vacations. But some of my biggest ahas have come from vacations. Just sitting there reading a book, staring at the ocean, some of the greatest ahas come through me. And when they do, I just quickly put them in my phone for when I return. I don't spend any time thinking about them. I just get these flashes of thoughts and they just come to me. I grab them and they're there waiting for me when I return.
00:07:12 Gino Wickman
The next idea is just simply time block in your calendar space. Next week block an hour, two, three just for time to think, ponder, create space. Have nothing planned, but just simply space.
00:07:31 Gino Wickman
Next, as I alluded to and mentioned, it's just turning it off every night. When you come home at the end of the day, when you're done preparing for the next day, turn it off and just be with your family, be with your friends, be with yourself.
00:07:46 Gino Wickman
Next is weekends. Truly take weekends off so that when you come back on Monday you are fresh and you're seeing everything with a fresh set of eyes.
00:07:56 Gino Wickman
My monthly sabbatical. Some of the most profound ahas have come to me during that one month off, creating a whole month of space. And as I've talked about, I forget what I do for a living. My goal is to completely forget. And I hope that I come back fresh and recharged and wanting to continue to do that. And for 30 years running that's exactly what's happened.
But each time I come back I'm a little clearer, I'm a little fresher, and I see things better. I'm a little bit different. I'm a little better each time.
00:08:30 Gino Wickman
And then some other things are things like mini breaks. So I have a friend that taught me this and he said, "Take mini breaks throughout the day." And so these are just one, two, three minutes to just pause, take a few deep breaths, and just take a mini break. Some powerful ahas flash during that.
00:08:50 Gino Wickman
Now this next one is going to seem a little weird.
And so this one is going to the bathroom. And I'm going to give you two examples on this one. The first is I was discussing this with my podcast producer in our previous recording last month. And there's a funny thing that happens for me when I'm recording these podcasts.
When I go take a bathroom break after recording an episode I get these flashes of ideas about the content, either that we just recorded or the content I'm about to record. So it's just a form of walking from here to the bathroom, going to the bathroom, and coming back. Those few minutes where my brain is just turned off. There's an opening that's created and things flash in. So do with that what you will.
00:09:35 Gino Wickman
But the second funny bathroom comment is a friend of mine, going back now almost 40 years when I struggled with the thought of meditation. He was a big meditator and what he said was, "Start by when you go to the bathroom, don't do anything. Don't think about anything. There's a great opportunity in the day for a few minutes of you to just not do anything."
And he's right. It's very profound. And so a lot of us are actually staring at our phones when, if we just turn it off and create a little space, you get some ahas when you go to the bathroom. I'll leave it at that.
00:10:10 Gino Wickman
And then the last thing that comes to mind is taking a shower.
So as funny as that sounds, there is something about a shower that I get some of my best ideas. And even on podcast day, there was one episode today where just taking a shower and turning it off, half of the podcast came so clear to me.
And so again, when we just turn our brain off, create that space, create that opening, things come in.
00:10:39 Gino Wickman
So if you are struggling to turn it off and take time off, consider thinking of it differently. Think of it as creating space, creating an opening so you can receive more, hear more, see more, and be more. Be more creative, be more productive, be more clear, be more peaceful.
So I urge you to take a minute right now and pick from the laundry list of creating space ideas that I just gave you and customize it for you. Pick the ones that work best for you and then put them in your calendar. And I urge you to do it right now.
00:11:28 Gino Wickman
Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us. And please tune in for the next episode. Until then we wish you all the best in freeing your True Self. Stay focused and much love.
