How to create more space in your day (without waiting for the world to change)
- Clare Kenny
- Jul 12
- 7 min read
In today’s always-on world, creating space in your day can feel impossible! We’re constantly juggling back-to-back meetings, overflowing inboxes, and digital distractions - all while trying to take care of our wellbeing?!
But you don’t need to wait for a quieter week or fewer emails. The truth is, no one will hand you space, you have to create it yourself.
Here’s how to reduce distractions, set better boundaries and reclaim your time so you can thrive at work and feel better doing it.
Start with boundaries (even if it's uncomfortable)
Want to reduce stress and prevent burnout? Start by setting workplace (and personal) boundaries.
Boundaries help you protect your time, energy, and focus. Without them, it’s easy to end up overwhelmed and undervalued.
Try this...
Say no without guilt. Every thing you say yes to means saying no to something else. So make sure you are saying yes to the right things.
Protect your calendar. Meetings aren’t your only job (no really!) Your ACTUAL work matters.
Communicate clearly. People can’t respect your boundaries if they don’t know what they are.
Reflect...
What’s one situation that left you feeling resentful at work?
What need or value was being compromised?
What boundary could protect that in future?
“Choose discomfort over resentment.”
Brené Brown
This is my favourite quote. It's a powerful reminder that setting boundaries can feel uncomfortable in the moment, especially if you're used to saying yes or avoiding conflict. But that short-term discomfort is worth it if it saves you weeks (or even months or years!) of quiet resentment, frustration and burnout.
Boundaries protect your time, your energy and your wellbeing. They are hard, but they are worth it.
Take better breaks (they’re your secret weapon)
Breaks aren’t a luxury, they’re a productivity tool.
Studies from Microsoft and Stanford show that short breaks...
Prevent decision fatigue
Reduce stress between meetings
Improve creativity and focus
Instead of powering through, try stepping away (even for five minutes!) A quick walk, a few deep breaths, or simply pausing between meetings can help reset your brain and improve your performance.
Taking breaks isn’t lazy. It’s how you do your best work.
Master your meetings
We’ve all been there - back-to-back meetings all day, followed by an evening spent catching up on the actual work. If your calendar feels like a game of Tetris you’re constantly losing, it might be time for a meeting reset!
Most of us are in far more meetings than we need to be. And while some are essential for collaboration and alignment, many are legacy habits that no longer serve a clear purpose.
Creating space starts with asking better questions about how and why you meet.
Start with a little meeting audit. Ask yourself...
What is the purpose of this meeting?
What would happen if it didn’t go ahead?
Is this meeting solving a problem - or avoiding a decision?
Is it an outcome-based meeting or just a calendar placeholder?
If nothing would be lost by cancelling it, you’ve just found yourself some extra time!
Now let's rethink the timing
Does it really need to be 60 minutes? Most meetings can be done in 25 or 45 minutes. Outlook and other tools can be set to default to shorter meeting lengths to give people breathing room between calls.
Build in buffer time. Avoid booking meetings back-to-back. Microsoft research shows even a short break between meetings helps your brain reset and reduces stress levels (see above!)
And explore alternatives
Not everything needs to be a meeting. Consider...
Sending a short update email or Loom video
Using a shared document or project board for async collaboration
Sharing a voice note instead of jumping on a call
Ask yourself "Is a meeting the best use of everyone’s time here?”
Be intentional about who’s in the room
Every meeting attendee should have a clear role. If they don’t, they probably don’t need to be there. Give them the gift of not inviting them!
Can someone attend on behalf of the group and share back?
Could people input asynchronously instead? (especially across time zones)
Could a smaller group move faster and more effectively?
Also consider the cost. Literally. Think about the hourly rate / salary of the people in the room. Is this meeting worth the collective time investment?
Review recurring meetings
Many recurring meetings are never questioned, they just keep going and going and going.
Try...
Reducing the frequency of team catch-ups
Alternating between agenda-based and drop-in style formats
Setting a quarterly review of all recurring meetings to ensure they’re still adding value
Why not try picking one meeting this week to cancel, shorten, or handle another way. Let that time be your first reclaimed moment of space, and model a more intentional way of working.
Strip out the noise
One of the fastest, most effective ways to create more space in your day is to reduce digital distractions. Every ping, notification or open tab pulls your focus away from meaningful work and drains your mental energy.
Our attention is a limited resource, and the modern world is designed to hijack it. But you can take back control - with a few intentional changes.
Start with these practical actions...
Turn off notifications for non-essential apps, including email, messaging, and social media. Most notifications are someone else’s to-do list, not yours.
Schedule check-in times for emails and messages. Try the ‘three email meals’ a day rule - once in the morning, once after lunch, and once mid-afternoon. Almost all emails can wait a few hours to be responded to!
Use focus modes or ‘Do Not Disturb’ features on your phone or laptop to create protected work blocks.
Remove temptation by deleting or hiding distracting apps from your home screen, logging out of platforms, or even installing app blockers during work hours. I find that just putting my phone out of arms reach works a treat!
Add friction: Make distractions harder to access. The extra steps will give your brain a chance to pause and ask, “Do I really need to do this right now?”
James Clear’s bestselling book 'Atomic Habits' explains that habits are formed through a loop of cue → craving → response → reward.
The environment around us shapes this loop, so if you want to change your habits, change your environment.
He offers four laws for building better habits (and four inversions for breaking bad ones):
Step | Build a Good Habit | Break a Bad Habit |
Cue | Make it obvious | Make it invisible |
Craving | Make it attractive | Make it unattractive |
Response | Make it easy | Make it difficult |
Reward | Make it satisfying | Make it unsatisfying |
To reduce digital distractions...
Make the cue invisible by removing visual triggers like apps on your home screen or open browser tabs.
Make the craving unattractive by reframing the reward. Remind yourself that checking Instagram doesn't truly recharge you, real rest or connection does.
Make the response difficult by adding friction (log out, block sites, move your phone away).
Make the reward unsatisfying by tracking the cost. Keep a quick journal: "How do I feel after 10 minutes of scrolling vs10 minutes of deep work or rest?"
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you
wish to become.”
James Clear
You don’t need to overhaul your whole life. You just need to cast enough daily votes for the person you want to be.
Do you want to be calm and focused - or constantly reactive and overwhelmed?
Do you want to spend your days moving with intention, or pulled in 100 different directions?
Each time you put your phone down, protect your focus time, or turn off notifications, you’re casting a vote for calm, for presence, for the version of you who values space and clarity.
Create white space in your schedule
In design, white space helps everything else breathe. You need the same in your day for your brain to actually work at it's best.
White space is unstructured time between tasks or meetings. It gives your brain a break and boosts your ability to focus, reflect, and reset.
Try...
Blocking time between meetings
Delaying replies to create uninterrupted work time
Scheduling transitions between work and home responsibilities
Ask yourself - when was the last time you weren’t consuming anything, no screens, no noise, just quiet?
Align with your values
If your work regularly goes against your personal values, it will slowly drain your energy and motivation.
Ask yourself...
What kind of work feels meaningful and aligned for me?
What kinds of clients or projects don’t sit right?
What values matter most to me, and how do I honour them at work?
It’s okay to say no to things that compromise your wellbeing. Your values matter.
Reclaim your focus time
Multitasking kills productivity. To create space, you need focused time to do deep work.
Block out focus time in your calendar
Don’t confuse free time with availability (!!!)
Consider batching meetings (e.g. all in the morning) to preserve long stretches for concentration
Tools like Microsoft Viva Insights can help identify and protect your focus hours
Just because you can take another meeting doesn’t mean you should.
Use your space with intention
Once you’ve cleared some space, resist the urge to fill it with more to-dos. Use it for something that replenishes you...
Move your body - it doesn’t have to be a workout, even just a quick dance in your kitchen
Breathe deeply: In for 4, hold for 4, out for 6
Laugh with someone
Do something creative
Connect with someone you care about
Or just be still, even for 10 minutes
Tell yourself “No one needs me right now. I don’t need to be productive in this moment. I am allowed to just be.”
You are the architect of your day
Creating space isn’t about grand gestures or going off-grid. It’s about the small, consistent choices you make every day.
You won’t get it right all the time - and you don’t have to. What matters is that you keep choosing the kind of day, and the kind of life, you want to build.
Ask yourself - 'What would the calm, focused version of me choose right now?'
Cast a vote for that version of you. One choice at a time.
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