Our lives are usually spent rapidly transitioning between different roles and environments, each requiring us to be different things to different people. Many of us are juggling work from home, home schooling and parenting – that’s three environments merged into one. Throw in no sport or socialising activities, and you’ve got yourself a lack of Third Space.
The Third Space, as explained by Dr Adam Fraser, is the transitional gap between what we do. The ability to stay ahead is dependent on your ability to leverage this transitional gap and ‘show up’ with the right mindset, emotions and behaviour. Some of us do this well, while others struggle to adapt, carrying mindset from the previous role or environment to the next. All too often the lack of boundaries has negative consequences, most prevalent in today’s COVID-19 situation with work from home.
A lack of boundaries results in a lack of presence – presence for yourself and the people you love who you want to be present for. For some, the travel to work on the train or by car is used as the transitional gap, to dissect the morning’s events (review the success of your morning routine) and mentally prepare for the work day ahead. For elite sports people, it might be the change room or their pre-game preparation, that helps them focus and be present for the game ahead. Even our children, who go to school to get a break from home life and annoying parents that trouble them for chores and cleaning their room!
With today’s work from home enforced for many of us, we now only walk a few metres to get to work. The transitional gap between these different environments has obliterated any boundaries. The Third Space can be anything – 15 minutes in the shower, going for a walk, getting into the garden, doing a home workout, even cleaning and doing the dishes (that is definitely not my Third Space!!!). Whatever it is determines how you socialise and whether you ‘show up’, or whether you obsess and rehash the day.
What were your pre-COVID Third Space or transitional gaps, and how have you adapted? Have you changed into different Third Space habits and was this conscious or subconscious?
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