December 9, 2024 • 11 mins
In this final episode of 2024, Nathan Freeburg reflects on the concept of Ma, a Japanese idea of the "space in between" that fosters creativity, clarity, and connection. Inspired by Albert Read's The Imagination Muscle, Nathan explores how Ma can enrich leadership, parenting, and daily life by valuing pauses, silence, and purposeful disconnect. Through personal stories, cultural insights, and practical takeaways, Nathan invites listeners to create more space in their lives for reflection and innovation.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The meaning of Ma and its role in Japanese culture.
- How to integrate the beauty of pauses into leadership and parenting.
- Practical ways to embrace silence, reflection, and purposeful disconnection.
- Why the spaces in between tasks and moments matter more than we think.
Key Takeaways:
- Value Pauses for Reflection and Innovation
- Take intentional breaks to spark creativity and thoughtful decision-making.
- Schedule time for team brainstorming or personal reflection without an agenda.
- Embrace Silence to Build Deeper Connections
- Allow pauses in conversations to foster meaningful dialogue and trust.
- Practice listening instead of filling every moment with noise.
- Create Space for Purposeful Disconnect
- Set aside device-free moments or quiet hours for focused work.
- To cultivate clarity, incorporate small habits, like avoiding phones first thing in the morning.
Episode Highlights:
- Nathan’s love of reading and how unexpected lessons from books influence leadership and parenting.
- The concept of Ma as “the pause where life deepens its imprint,” and its presence in Japanese traditions.
- Reflections on Jerry Seinfeld’s “garbage time” and how it parallels the idea of Ma.
- Practical steps to honor pauses in leadership, family life, and personal growth.
Additional Resources:
- Book: The Imagination Muscle by Albert Read.
- Related Leadership Vision Blog Posts and Podcast Episodes: Click Here.
- YouTube video on the power of silence in conversations.
Final Thoughts:
Nathan challenges listeners to reflect on how they can embrace Ma in their lives and leadership. By honoring the spaces in between, we can rediscover what truly matters, foster creativity, and cultivate stronger connections with others.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Share how you’re incorporating Ma into your leadership or personal life:
📧 Ema
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Read the full blog post here!
CONTACT US
- email: connect@leadershipvisionconsulting.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast,
our show helping you buildpositive team culture.
Hello everyone, my name isNathan Freeberg and for our
final episode of 2024, I wantedto share an idea with you.
That's something that I'm goingto try to do more of in my life
in this coming year and I wantto invite you to do the same.
So first, a little story.
(00:20):
A little story.
I love reading.
I read a wide variety of books,from fiction and nonfiction,
spanning all kinds of genres anddisciplines biographies, spy
novels, thrillers, mysteries, afew books on neuroscience, and I
just read a book about castles.
(00:40):
It's super fun.
I love it.
I set a goal every year formyself to see if I could read
more books than the year before.
It's a way to stretch mythinking and just find.
For me, it's really fun to findunexpected connections to
leadership and parenting andperformance and growth and just
life in general, and I'm alwaystrying to draw lessons from
(01:02):
whatever it is that I'm readingand apply it to my life, like
what's going on right then in mylife, I've gained lessons on
parenting from spy novels andI've learned leadership and
business lessons from parentingbooks, and I've just found lots
of helpful lessons from othersources and other things that
you may not always think of astop of mind when you think of
(01:25):
that topic.
Basically, I'm just trying toread widely and learn lots and
then apply those lessons to mywork, to my family and to other
areas of life, and so what Icame across recently I think is
going to be helpful to you asyou think about your leadership
this year.
(01:49):
A few months ago, on our weeklyvisit to our local library, I
stumbled across this book, theImagination Muscle, by Albert
Reed.
In short, this book is aboutgrowing the thing in us that
leads to more imaginative ideasand solutions to the problems we
face in our lives.
It explores how we canstrengthen our imaginative
capacity, whether in the arts,business or personal growth, by
simply expanding the types ofinputs that we give ourselves
(02:12):
and applying those lessons morebroadly.
So you can tell why I wasimmediately drawn to it.
Now, towards the end of thebook, page 248 to be exact,
there was a section on a conceptfrom Japanese culture called ma
, a word that I'd never reallyheard of before, but I almost
immediately recognize it assomething that I need more of in
my life.
(02:32):
So what is ma?
Well, ma is a Japanese conceptof the space in between.
It's not just emptiness betweenobjects or moments.
It's a space that actuallyholds its significance and
beauty.
Albert Reed describes ma as thepause where life deepens its
imprint.
It's the silence, not the noise, the restraint not the excess.
(02:54):
It's the thoughtfuldeliberation between actions,
the stillness between momentsand the pause that allows
creativity and imagination tobloom.
Now, in Japanese culture, theyfind this concept of ma
everywhere.
It's in the deliberate pause atthe end of a bow.
They find it in the spacebetween the spokes of a wheel
and even the simplicity ofikebana, the Japanese art of
(03:16):
flower arrangement, where asingle flower and a crooked
branch can create balance andevoke meaning Versus.
When you think of like a US orWestern culture flower
arrangement that is just packedso full of greenery, you can't
really tell what is going on.
Ma reminds us that the spacebetween things or the pauses in
life are not empty.
(03:37):
There's a reason for them.
They're essential.
They allow us to recalibrate,to reflect and rediscover what's
important Now.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has adifferent idea for this, that he
calls garbage time.
When he's talking about thetime that he wants to have with
his kids, he talks about it assome of the most important hours
(03:58):
that he spends with them.
It's the time when you're justdriving to a practice or you're
waiting in line or whatever itis that you're doing.
Between the things that you'requote unquote doing, he says
you're just sitting there havinga bowl of cereal and not
talking.
That's everything he says.
Now, as I reflected on this ideaof Ma, I realized how relevant
it is to our leadership, to ourcreativity and obviously to our
(04:22):
parenting and perhaps everysingle aspect of our lives.
So often we're just rushing Iknow I am from one thing to the
next, from meetings to projects,to school events or personal
milestones that we kind offorget to honor the spaces in
between.
But it's in those spaces, thosepauses, that's where the beauty
and imagination and creativitycan thrive.
(04:44):
According to Reed, now, inleadership, these moments of ma
might be the time between bigprojects or financial deadlines
and the stillness after orbetween meetings.
In parenting, maybe it's thequiet before bedtime or that
time riding in a car when youcan have a meaningful
conversation or not say anythingat all.
(05:04):
In our personal lives, maybeit's early in the morning, in
that stillness, before anybodyelse gets up, and we have
anything that we absolutely haveto do.
Ma teaches us that in thosemoments when we can slow down,
we can pause, when we canbreathe, not just to rest, but
in those moments we can actuallycreate space, can breathe not
just to rest, but in thosemoments we can actually create
space for something new toemerge.
(05:24):
Now, there really isn't acomparable word for this idea of
ma in English, and maybe it'sjust because our Western society
and culture are toouncomfortable with these spaces
or these ideas of pause.
But I want to challenge you andhonestly, I wrote this thing
and I'm recording this mostlyfor myself.
But I want to challenge you and, honestly, I wrote this thing
and I'm recording this mostlyfor myself.
But I want to challenge you andmaybe this is something that we
(05:44):
can all do together that as wethink about the beginning of the
next season I'm recording thishere at the beginning of
December 2024.
So, as we think about the yearahead, or if you're listening to
this in the summer, as you'rethinking about even tomorrow or
the next season, whatever thatis I want to challenge you with
these three takeaways as you tryto implement some of the
(06:06):
concepts of MA into your dailylife.
These are just three simpleactivities you can, like I said,
do today, or maybe spend somemore time thinking about how you
might implement them as part ofa broader team initiative.
So the first one is to valuepauses for reflection and
innovation.
Leaders often feel pressure tokeep moving forward, to make
(06:27):
every moment of every day anopportunity to do something, but
Ma teaches us that pauses areessential for thoughtful
decision making and creativity.
Now, this might soundcounterintuitive, but schedule
regular time for personalreflection or team brainstorming
sessions where maybe the focusisn't really on any immediate
outcomes, but it's just onimagining new possibilities or
(06:50):
just thinking into what could be.
This is time when you're justthere, with no particular agenda
.
These pauses can be moments ofgreat clarity and inspiration.
I would also encourage you tohave these pauses in your day as
often as you can.
The second one, or the secondchallenge, is to embrace silence
to build deeper connections.
(07:10):
I found this video on YouTubethere'll be a link in the show
notes of a I think it was aJapanese professor talking about
how, americans, they want tofill every single second during
a conversation with just moreconversation, and at Leadership
Vision, we've talked a lot aboutthe importance and the power of
listening, and so, with that inmind, in your next meeting or
your next one-on-oneconversation, don't rush to fill
(07:33):
the silence.
Instead, maybe allow somepauses to happen.
Naturally, that was anintentional pause.
This can encourage deeperthinking, more meaningful
contributions and maybe even astronger sense of connection
among your team or with whoeverit is that you're talking to.
Silence can be uncomfortableJust then, it was uncomfortable
(07:55):
for me to do that, and maybeit's just uncomfortable at first
, but it can also be incrediblypowerful for building trust and
fostering authenticity.
And third, and finally here,create space for purposeful
disconnect.
It's really popular right nowfor like a digital detox or to
get off of social media, and Ihighly encourage you to do those
(08:17):
things because in ourhyper-connected world,
purposeful moments of disconnectthey're just more important and
harder to come by than ever.
So try setting aside somedevice-free time during your day
or creating quiet hours foryour team just to focus deeply,
without any distractions.
These moments of Ma canrecharge your mind and cultivate
creativity in ways that maybeyou didn't realize.
(08:39):
Maybe you didn't even know thatyou needed them.
Encourage your team also to usethese intervals just to reflect
and refocus before diving backinto their work Something that I
do that's a really small thingis that I leave my phone up here
in the studio to chargeovernight, instead of grabbing
it first thing when I wake up.
It's a physical barrier.
I have to, you know, walk partof the house over here to above
(09:02):
the garage to get it, and I justI don't do that in the morning
until I absolutely need to.
And so I have these times,these moments of reflection,
that I would really encourageyou to find ways to do Now.
The beauty of Ma lives in itssimplicity and its profound
impact.
The beauty of Ma lives in itssimplicity and its profound
impact.
As leaders, we're often sofocused on action and output
(09:24):
that we overlook the power ofthe spaces in between.
But by intentionally embracingthese pauses whether for
reflection, silence, garbagetime or purposeful disconnect we
can lead with greater clarity,creativity and presence.
Now, as you think about youryear ahead or maybe it's even
just the day ahead I want toencourage you to take time to
(09:45):
identify and honor the Ma inyour own life and in your
leadership.
Create some space for yourselfand your team, and definitely
your family, just to slow down,to reflect and recalibrate.
It's in these pauses, in thesemoments, in these spaces between
things that we rediscover whattruly matters and where the
seeds of our most imaginativeideas are planted, and,
(10:06):
hopefully, with a little morespace in each of our lives, we
can be more fully present forthe most important parts.
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast, as
always.
I would love to hear yourthoughts on this episode or any
of our other material that we'veput out there, and I would
would love to hear your thoughtson this episode or any of our
other material that we've putout there, and I would also love
to hear how do you find, howhave you find?
(10:27):
How are you finding, howeveryou want to say that space to
honor the in-between moments?
Let us know, let's keep theconversation going.
You can reach out to us, nathan, at
leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
You can visit us on the web,leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
You can find us on Apple iTunes, on Spotify, wherever you get
your podcasts.
I would just love to.
(10:48):
Maybe we can encourage eachother.
What are the ways that you'refinding space?
What are the ways that you arecreating and making and
cultivating space to flex yourimagination muscle and apply
that to bigger and deeperproblems in your life?
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast.
You can click on the links inthe show notes for more
information.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
(11:12):
thanks for listening.
You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast,
our show helping you buildpositive team culture.
Hello everyone, my name isNathan Freeberg and for our
final episode of 2024, I wantedto share an idea with you.
That's something that I'm goingto try to do more of in my life
in this coming year and I wantto invite you to do the same.
So first, a little story.
(00:20):
A little story.
I love reading.
I read a wide variety of books,from fiction and nonfiction,
spanning all kinds of genres anddisciplines biographies, spy
novels, thrillers, mysteries, afew books on neuroscience, and I
just read a book about castles.
(00:40):
It's super fun.
I love it.
I set a goal every year formyself to see if I could read
more books than the year before.
It's a way to stretch mythinking and just find.
For me, it's really fun to findunexpected connections to
leadership and parenting andperformance and growth and just
life in general, and I'm alwaystrying to draw lessons from
(01:02):
whatever it is that I'm readingand apply it to my life, like
what's going on right then in mylife, I've gained lessons on
parenting from spy novels andI've learned leadership and
business lessons from parentingbooks, and I've just found lots
of helpful lessons from othersources and other things that
you may not always think of astop of mind when you think of
(01:25):
that topic.
Basically, I'm just trying toread widely and learn lots and
then apply those lessons to mywork, to my family and to other
areas of life, and so what Icame across recently I think is
going to be helpful to you asyou think about your leadership
this year.
(01:49):
A few months ago, on our weeklyvisit to our local library, I
stumbled across this book, theImagination Muscle, by Albert
Reed.
In short, this book is aboutgrowing the thing in us that
leads to more imaginative ideasand solutions to the problems we
face in our lives.
It explores how we canstrengthen our imaginative
capacity, whether in the arts,business or personal growth, by
simply expanding the types ofinputs that we give ourselves
(02:12):
and applying those lessons morebroadly.
So you can tell why I wasimmediately drawn to it.
Now, towards the end of thebook, page 248 to be exact,
there was a section on a conceptfrom Japanese culture called ma
, a word that I'd never reallyheard of before, but I almost
immediately recognize it assomething that I need more of in
my life.
(02:32):
So what is ma?
Well, ma is a Japanese conceptof the space in between.
It's not just emptiness betweenobjects or moments.
It's a space that actuallyholds its significance and
beauty.
Albert Reed describes ma as thepause where life deepens its
imprint.
It's the silence, not the noise, the restraint not the excess.
(02:54):
It's the thoughtfuldeliberation between actions,
the stillness between momentsand the pause that allows
creativity and imagination tobloom.
Now, in Japanese culture, theyfind this concept of ma
everywhere.
It's in the deliberate pause atthe end of a bow.
They find it in the spacebetween the spokes of a wheel
and even the simplicity ofikebana, the Japanese art of
(03:16):
flower arrangement, where asingle flower and a crooked
branch can create balance andevoke meaning Versus.
When you think of like a US orWestern culture flower
arrangement that is just packedso full of greenery, you can't
really tell what is going on.
Ma reminds us that the spacebetween things or the pauses in
life are not empty.
(03:37):
There's a reason for them.
They're essential.
They allow us to recalibrate,to reflect and rediscover what's
important Now.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has adifferent idea for this, that he
calls garbage time.
When he's talking about thetime that he wants to have with
his kids, he talks about it assome of the most important hours
(03:58):
that he spends with them.
It's the time when you're justdriving to a practice or you're
waiting in line or whatever itis that you're doing.
Between the things that you'requote unquote doing, he says
you're just sitting there havinga bowl of cereal and not
talking.
That's everything he says.
Now, as I reflected on this ideaof Ma, I realized how relevant
it is to our leadership, to ourcreativity and obviously to our
(04:22):
parenting and perhaps everysingle aspect of our lives.
So often we're just rushing Iknow I am from one thing to the
next, from meetings to projects,to school events or personal
milestones that we kind offorget to honor the spaces in
between.
But it's in those spaces, thosepauses, that's where the beauty
and imagination and creativitycan thrive.
(04:44):
According to Reed, now, inleadership, these moments of ma
might be the time between bigprojects or financial deadlines
and the stillness after orbetween meetings.
In parenting, maybe it's thequiet before bedtime or that
time riding in a car when youcan have a meaningful
conversation or not say anythingat all.
(05:04):
In our personal lives, maybeit's early in the morning, in
that stillness, before anybodyelse gets up, and we have
anything that we absolutely haveto do.
Ma teaches us that in thosemoments when we can slow down,
we can pause, when we canbreathe, not just to rest, but
in those moments we can actuallycreate space, can breathe not
just to rest, but in thosemoments we can actually create
space for something new toemerge.
(05:24):
Now, there really isn't acomparable word for this idea of
ma in English, and maybe it'sjust because our Western society
and culture are toouncomfortable with these spaces
or these ideas of pause.
But I want to challenge you andhonestly, I wrote this thing
and I'm recording this mostlyfor myself.
But I want to challenge you and, honestly, I wrote this thing
and I'm recording this mostlyfor myself.
But I want to challenge you andmaybe this is something that we
(05:44):
can all do together that as wethink about the beginning of the
next season I'm recording thishere at the beginning of
December 2024.
So, as we think about the yearahead, or if you're listening to
this in the summer, as you'rethinking about even tomorrow or
the next season, whatever thatis I want to challenge you with
these three takeaways as you tryto implement some of the
(06:06):
concepts of MA into your dailylife.
These are just three simpleactivities you can, like I said,
do today, or maybe spend somemore time thinking about how you
might implement them as part ofa broader team initiative.
So the first one is to valuepauses for reflection and
innovation.
Leaders often feel pressure tokeep moving forward, to make
(06:27):
every moment of every day anopportunity to do something, but
Ma teaches us that pauses areessential for thoughtful
decision making and creativity.
Now, this might soundcounterintuitive, but schedule
regular time for personalreflection or team brainstorming
sessions where maybe the focusisn't really on any immediate
outcomes, but it's just onimagining new possibilities or
(06:50):
just thinking into what could be.
This is time when you're justthere, with no particular agenda
.
These pauses can be moments ofgreat clarity and inspiration.
I would also encourage you tohave these pauses in your day as
often as you can.
The second one, or the secondchallenge, is to embrace silence
to build deeper connections.
(07:10):
I found this video on YouTubethere'll be a link in the show
notes of a I think it was aJapanese professor talking about
how, americans, they want tofill every single second during
a conversation with just moreconversation, and at Leadership
Vision, we've talked a lot aboutthe importance and the power of
listening, and so, with that inmind, in your next meeting or
your next one-on-oneconversation, don't rush to fill
(07:33):
the silence.
Instead, maybe allow somepauses to happen.
Naturally, that was anintentional pause.
This can encourage deeperthinking, more meaningful
contributions and maybe even astronger sense of connection
among your team or with whoeverit is that you're talking to.
Silence can be uncomfortableJust then, it was uncomfortable
(07:55):
for me to do that, and maybeit's just uncomfortable at first
, but it can also be incrediblypowerful for building trust and
fostering authenticity.
And third, and finally here,create space for purposeful
disconnect.
It's really popular right nowfor like a digital detox or to
get off of social media, and Ihighly encourage you to do those
(08:17):
things because in ourhyper-connected world,
purposeful moments of disconnectthey're just more important and
harder to come by than ever.
So try setting aside somedevice-free time during your day
or creating quiet hours foryour team just to focus deeply,
without any distractions.
These moments of Ma canrecharge your mind and cultivate
creativity in ways that maybeyou didn't realize.
(08:39):
Maybe you didn't even know thatyou needed them.
Encourage your team also to usethese intervals just to reflect
and refocus before diving backinto their work Something that I
do that's a really small thingis that I leave my phone up here
in the studio to chargeovernight, instead of grabbing
it first thing when I wake up.
It's a physical barrier.
I have to, you know, walk partof the house over here to above
(09:02):
the garage to get it, and I justI don't do that in the morning
until I absolutely need to.
And so I have these times,these moments of reflection,
that I would really encourageyou to find ways to do Now.
The beauty of Ma lives in itssimplicity and its profound
impact.
The beauty of Ma lives in itssimplicity and its profound
impact.
As leaders, we're often sofocused on action and output
(09:24):
that we overlook the power ofthe spaces in between.
But by intentionally embracingthese pauses whether for
reflection, silence, garbagetime or purposeful disconnect we
can lead with greater clarity,creativity and presence.
Now, as you think about youryear ahead or maybe it's even
just the day ahead I want toencourage you to take time to
(09:45):
identify and honor the Ma inyour own life and in your
leadership.
Create some space for yourselfand your team, and definitely
your family, just to slow down,to reflect and recalibrate.
It's in these pauses, in thesemoments, in these spaces between
things that we rediscover whattruly matters and where the
seeds of our most imaginativeideas are planted, and,
(10:06):
hopefully, with a little morespace in each of our lives, we
can be more fully present forthe most important parts.
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast, as
always.
I would love to hear yourthoughts on this episode or any
of our other material that we'veput out there, and I would
would love to hear your thoughtson this episode or any of our
other material that we've putout there, and I would also love
to hear how do you find, howhave you find?
(10:27):
How are you finding, howeveryou want to say that space to
honor the in-between moments?
Let us know, let's keep theconversation going.
You can reach out to us, nathan, at
leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
You can visit us on the web,leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
You can find us on Apple iTunes, on Spotify, wherever you get
your podcasts.
I would just love to.
(10:48):
Maybe we can encourage eachother.
What are the ways that you'refinding space?
What are the ways that you arecreating and making and
cultivating space to flex yourimagination muscle and apply
that to bigger and deeperproblems in your life?
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast.
You can click on the links inthe show notes for more
information.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
(11:12):
thanks for listening.
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