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Squiggly Careers

Spaciousness – How to manage your attention, not your time

Squiggly Careers

AmazingIf

Business, Management, Careers

4.9838 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

🦞 Join our Learn Like a Lobster Sprint: https://bit.ly/4oZzJ3F In this episode, Helen and Sarah explore the idea of spaciousness at work — a powerful alternative to constant busyness that’s less about managing time and more about managing attention. Borrowing brilliance from Megan Reitz and her research on spaciousness, they unpack why doing more isn’t always the answer, and how creating space can help you think better, feel calmer, and work more meaningfully. Episode 524 🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster 🇺🇸 PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn 🇬🇧 Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 What is spaciousness (and what it’s not) 03:40 Why spaciousness is about attention, not time 06:37 The four dimensions of spaciousness 08:35 From “doing mode” to spacious ways of working 13:08 How tech, meetings and metrics keep us busy 18:47 Why we self-sabotage spaciousness 19:30 The 45-minute focus experiment 21:00 Interconnection and mapping your work system 24:05 Letting go of “shoulds” at work 27:06 What you want to feel proud of this year 29:05 Staying curious and open (even when you’re sceptical) 31:13 Measuring learning instead of just outcomes 🎯 What You’ll Learn - What spaciousness really means at work - Why being busy can block curiosity and insight - The four dimensions of spaciousness and how they show up - Practical experiments to create more focus and clarity 📚 Resources Mentioned Megan Reitz’s research on Spaciousness: https://www.meganreitz.com/spaciousness #165 Setting Yourself Up For Success – How to speak up at work with Megan Reitz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgO1R1IL3w AI tools for summarising reports (Claude) Episode on noticing: https://youtu.be/rid3L_XdePQ For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 🏃‍♀️ Join the Skills x AI Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=l7kODG3JpopH0Irz 📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction 📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

We're really excited that we are back again with another Squiggly Careers Skill Sprint. Over 25,000 people have learnt with us on our sprint and we'd love you to come and learn with us in January. We are going to be learning like lobsters. And the reason this matters is because learning has never been more important at work, but it's also never felt harder to do. And we think that lobsters are the

0:22.5

role models that we've all been missing. So sign up for the sprint at squiggly sprint.com and you'll

0:27.4

join a community of people who all get to learn like a lobster and overcome those barriers

0:31.4

that are getting in the way of their growth. Hi, I'm Sarah. And I'm Helen. And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast, where every week we borrow some brilliance from a person, a place, sometimes even an object.

0:45.2

And we try to turn that curiosity into useful action for you and your career.

0:50.4

And today we are going to be talking, we sort of borrowing brilliance from a person and, I guess, a topic is a bit of a, is a bit of a report.

0:59.2

Report, a report.

1:00.5

Sounds very grown up, doesn't it?

1:02.4

I'm a big buildup.

1:03.3

We're talking about spaciousness, everybody, which might be a new term.

1:07.4

It was to me when I heard about it, I was actually at an event where somebody, a previous podcast guest that I'm a big fan of called Megan writes who has written a book called Speak Truth to Power. And she was talking about a new report that had been released called Spaciousness. And I thought, how have I not read this? Like, I follow your work. I'm a big, like, I'm a fan of what Megan does. Have I not read

1:27.7

this report? And I like, you know, I just kind of like like the word and I've talked to a few

1:32.3

people about it. And it's a word that seems to connect with people conceptually. And so Sarah

1:37.9

and I wanted to take the research that Megan has done around spaciousness and what it means

1:43.6

to people and how we can develop it

1:45.5

and turn it into something that's really useful for the Swiggly Careers community.

1:49.9

And I guess as a bit of a heads up as well, Megan is turning the report into a book.

1:53.7

So there is more work from Megan coming on this topic.

1:56.1

So I think if what we're talking about resonates with you today and feels like it's useful,

2:01.7

I would definitely recommend following Megan so that you are first in line for when that book

2:06.3

comes out.

2:07.1

One of the things that's interesting actually is when she talks about the research that

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