Own Your Own Space

Each of us is “given” a finite amount of “space” in the universe to start our ball rolling. 

NOTE: Space has many dimensions.  There’s physical space, intellectual space, emotional space, work space, play space, and experimental space for personal development.  

Our parents share their space and protect our portion of “starter” space as much as they are able, but they also draw lines on what its limits are.    

The public school system provides a certain amount of shared space for our matriculation through the primary and secondary education system.  And then we have to start carving out our own space, like paying tuition and earning our way through college.  We can expand the parameters of our allotted space by participating in extracurricular activities.  And we can add substantial latitude to our space by meeting and exceeding outside expectations: If we do the homework and get respectable grades, we get to use the car, etc.   

As we mature and require more and more space, the “carving out” gets tougher … especially if we have left some carving untended along the way.  You can’t simply move around the game board if you haven’t rolled the dice and paid your dues.  The GED gets imponderably more difficult when one has parented a child and has a minimum wage job. 

On the job, we are allocated a finite amount of work space.  Different organizations have different minimum configurations of work space.  The average “starter” space for an individual at many places is about 36 square feet = 6’ X 6’.  There is generally a significant amount of shared space beyond that. 

Key Consideration:

If you deign to claim “ownership” of a shared printer or copier or organizational unit (e.g., committee), your stock in space can substantially rise in the overall scheme of things.

Corollary Consideration:

If you don’t take care of the space you have been allotted – i.e., if you don’t demonstrate “ownership”, you lose both practicalities and potentialities.  The name of the game of life is to carve out as much space as you can rightfully “own” and properly tend.

A word about ownership:

To the uninitiated, holding a position of “ownership” means you get to do as you please, get other people to do your work for you, hire and fire at will, take off as many days as you like, etc.  However, if you watch most small business “owners” carefully -- and we're all "small business owners", each responsible for ME, Inc., you’ll see that they generally work 80 hours a week, fill in for workers who don’t show up, are very much concerned about quality, customer relations and overall positive reputation of the organization, and occasionally take out the trash and clean the toilets – i.e., whatever needs doing.  They also go out of their way to make or meet every opportunity to grow their organization or business. 

Bottom Line: Own what space you have, tend whatever additional space you can duly administer, and keep carving out space above and beyond you by carrying increasing levels of responsibility.  If you treat expanded space as though you “own” it, and if you manage that space to everyone else’s expectations or beyond, it becomes your space de facto.  Become an expert owner/manager in all dimensions of space and you will end up with more than enough.  Quartermaster