๐ฏ The Margin Principle
Why leaving a little room in your life might be one of the most intentional choices you make.
Read time: 3.2 minutes
Welcome to Better at Life, the weekly newsletter where I share one simple, actionable idea you can put into practice today to build better habits, sharpen your mindset, and live with more intention.
Last Sunday, I shared the launch of my book, Better at Life: Negotiating Finite Time and Infinite Choices.
After spending so much time writing, revising, and preparing for that moment, you might think my first instinct would be to slow down and enjoy it.
Instead, I caught myself thinking about what comes next.
What else needs to be done? What could I improve? What’s the next project?
There’s something a little ironic about writing an entire book on making intentional choices with our finite time, only to immediately start filling the space that finishing it created.
Apparently, I’m still practicing what I write about.
But I’ve been wondering why it’s so difficult to leave a little room in our lives, even when we’ve worked hard to create it.
And I don’t think this only happens with big projects.
An open hour becomes a meeting. A quiet evening becomes an opportunity to catch up on something. Five minutes waiting somewhere becomes five minutes checking email.
We’ve become remarkably good at filling the margins of our lives. Podcasts during the drive, emails between meetings, phones while we wait, and errands squeezed into every open Saturday.
Eventually, there’s very little room left for anything unexpected.
No space for a conversation to run long, time to think after a meeting, or opportunity to notice that we’re tired and need a break.
I call this The Margin Principle.
The idea is simple: space in your life isn’t necessarily empty. Sometimes it’s what allows everything else to work.
Write this down:
Margin isn’t wasted space. It’s what gives the rest of your life room to breathe.
This Week’s Action
Look at the week ahead and find one place where you’ve filled the margin.
Maybe your meetings are stacked back-to-back. Maybe every evening has something scheduled. Maybe the first thing you do when you have ten free minutes is reach for your phone.
Choose one small space and leave it open.
Give yourself 15 minutes between meetings. Take a drive without listening to anything. Leave one evening unscheduled. Go for a walk without your phone.
Then pay attention to what happens.
The goal isn’t to become less productive. It’s to see whether a little unclaimed space makes you better at the things that actually matter.
Why This Works
When every minute is occupied, everything becomes fragile.
One meeting runs late and the rest of the day falls behind. One unexpected request creates stress. One difficult week leaves no room to recover.
Margin gives you flexibility, but it does something else too.
Some of our best thinking happens when we’re not actively trying to think. A solution appears during a walk. You remember someone you’ve been meaning to call. You finally process a conversation from three days ago.
When we eliminate every quiet moment, we also eliminate many of the moments where perspective shows up.
Try This
A while back, The Capacity Trap asked whether the problem was really productivity or whether we were simply carrying too much.
The Margin Principle takes that idea one step further.
Even if you can fit something in, ask:
Does this space need to be filled?
Capacity asks whether there’s room. Margin asks whether some of that room should stay empty.
This week, try The 15-Minute Margin.
Find one 15-minute opening in your schedule and deliberately leave it unclaimed. No email, scrolling, podcasts, or catching up on tasks.
You can walk, think, sit outside, or simply let a conversation run a little longer.
Notice how it feels to have a little room that doesn’t need to produce anything.
Weekly Reflection
Before you move on from this email, look at your calendar and ask yourself:
Where has my life become too tightly packed?
What do I automatically fill my empty moments with?
Where would a little more space make me more present, creative, or patient?
Write it down, then choose one margin to protect this week.
If this idea feels useful, feel free to pass it along to someone who might need it.
A full life and a full calendar aren’t the same thing. Sometimes the space between things is where you finally have enough room to notice the life you’re already living.
See you next week โ a little better at life.
______
Dr. Chris Mullen
Bring Better at Life to Your Organization
If these ideas resonate, this is also the work I bring into organizations and leadership teams.
I partner with organizations that want clearer thinking, stronger decision-making, and more sustainable performance.
Engagements typically include:
- Keynote speaking for conferences and leadership events
- Leadership development workshops for teams and managers
- Team strategy sessions focused on alignment and execution
For senior leaders seeking deeper application, I also maintain a small executive coaching practice.
