Fight for your space
Plan Your Next #122
👋 Good morning from Los Angeles! I'm Nate Kadlac, and this is #122 of Plan Your Next. A Sunday newsletter that connects design, creativity, and how you prepare for your next thing.
Fight for your space
There is one way I can blindly recognize you’re good at what you do.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a designer, a speaker, a programmer, a gardener, a Yoga teacher, a meditator, a writer, a decorator, a director, or many other fields I can only anecdotally prove to be true, but I would bet there are plenty.
It’s not instantly obvious to introduce it ourselves, but we all can apply it to many of the things we encounter in our daily lives.
This particular skill does not come easy. It takes constant energy to push back, because it goes against what we’re designed to do. To survive. To react. To fill in the gaps.
But once you see it, it’s everywhere.
If you’re good at what you do, I would bet money you know how to use space to your advantage.
In design—where I’ve spent the most time—it’s instantly obvious how far along a designer is in their visual craft based on how they use spacing. Spacing between lines, letters, and elements, all work together to create a visually appealing design. This is not something you learn on day one, but rather over the years of practice and missing the mark over and over.
Whether it’s in the digital or analog world, how you use space is essential to creating a visually appealing environment.
But spacing as a skill doesn’t only apply to design. It’s all around us.
The space in your breathing as you meditate, space between meals, space in your code, space between seeded plants, space between words, space for your ideas, space between paragraphs, space between 2X4 studs of a home, space for yourself, and many more.
Ultimately, making space is a maneuver that encourages you to slow down and pay attention to the details. Those who have mastered this in their lives are the ones I’m inspired by.
⚡️ Three creative hits for you to check out next
🏊♂️ What’s your ritual?
A beautiful short film about a gent named Walter who has been swimming in the waters of Long Island for 90 years. h/t Swiss Miss
🧳 Oh, hello, you sexy lego suitcase
📣 “When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it good or bad.” —Miles Davis
You don’t need to fail big to learn a lesson. Even slipping up on a keystroke allows us to bury it into the past with something better.
👋 See you next Sunday
As always, my calendar is open to chat about your next adventure, crazy idea, or if you’re feeling creatively stuck.
My goal is to level up the visual vocabulary in the world through my writing, teaching, and design. If you want to support my journey, the best ways are to:
Sign up for the 80/20 design challenge
Become a sponsor of this newsletter (Starting at $50—Please reach out)
Discover your unique visual style by joining my live workshop (200+ waitlist)
Have a great week,
p.s. Words are just words, but if these words made you feel something, would you let me know by tapping on the heart below?
I spaced out reading this until today. It's dynamite. LOVE what you said about space. Brilliant. And so appropriate that you put that Miles Davis quote in. One of my turning points in understanding and appreciating jazz was through listening to Thelonious Monk. His music is ALL about the notes he is NOT playing, and the way he configures space to create the rhythm - the opposite of how a drummer like me thinks about keeping time (of COURSE time is contained in space!). And when you consider the ratio of space and anti-matter in the universe against substance, it's evident how that should be represented here in the material world. Space is the place with the helpful Kadlac man.
Thanks for sharing that video. So good.