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I listened to a recent podcast where the British actor Bill Nighy said something about his apartment that has stuck with me. He loves uncluttered space and keeps his living space deliberately spare. He said that any new object must be pretty special to deserve the space it is going to take away from him. It is a simple idea, and it applies well beyond interior design.
Imagine your schedule is an apartment. Have you filled it floor-to-ceiling with stuff that does not deserve to be there? Has some of the valuable space you need to do your job most effectively been overtaken by clutter?
The crowded calendar
I work with senior leaders who are, without exception, busy people. What still surprises me is how many wear that busyness like a badge of honour. Ask how things are going and the answer is usually “flat out” or “manic,” said with a half-smile, as though being permanently overwhelmed is proof of important work.
When I dig into what is filling the diary, the picture shifts. Recurring meetings that lost their purpose two quarters ago. Updates that could be an email. Catch-ups held out of habit. And scattered in between, just enough time to react to whatever lands next, but never enough time to think about what should come next.
One leader I worked with, let’s call her Sarah, mapped out a typical week and found only a couple of hours of unscheduled time across five days, fragmented into fifteen-minute gaps between back-to-back calls. She was not leading. She was surviving.
Why space matters
Space in your schedule is not a luxury. It is where the real work of leadership happens. Thinking. Creating. Planning. Connecting dots that only become visible when you slow down enough to see them.
I have yet to meet a leader who had their best strategic insight during a packed Wednesday of seven consecutive meetings. Those insights arrive when there is space. On a walk. In a quiet morning before the inbox takes over. Often on our own time, or on family time.
The difficulty is that space does not feel productive. I have been guilty of thinking this way many times. I would protect time on my calendar for strategic thinking, then cheerfully give it away the moment someone asked for a meeting. The meeting felt concrete and the thinking felt vague. It took me longer than I would like to admit to realise that I was consistently prioritising the urgent over the important.
Making space earn its place
So how do you reclaim space? The same way that Bill Nighy curates his apartment. You get ruthless about what earns its place in your schedule, and you protect what remains.
Audit your recurring meetings. Question every standing commitment. Does it still serve its purpose? Do you need to be there? One leader I coached freed up four hours a week simply by declining meetings where he was an observer, not a contributor.
Block time before you need it. If you wait until you have a strategic question to find thinking time, you will not find it.
Protect the boundaries. Space only works if you defend it. Say no to things that are not special enough to earn it.
Start small. One hour a week. One question that matters. See what happens.
Sarah made changes gradually. Within a month she had protected two time blocks each week, and the quality of her decisions improved noticeably. Not because she was working harder, but because she finally had room to think.
Space is not the absence of work. It is the condition that makes your best work possible.
Look at your calendar for next week. What is in there that is not special enough to deserve the space it is taking from you?