Space Between Stimulus and Response: 3 Ultimate Reflections

Space between stimulus and response is the idea I keep coming back to at the end of every year. It shapes how I think about goals, change and leadership in the year ahead. “Between stimulus and response there is a space.In that space is our power to choose our response.In our response lies our growth…

Space between stimulus and response illustrated by a person standing between two arches, symbolising choice and freedom

Space between stimulus and response is the idea I keep coming back to at the end of every year. It shapes how I think about goals, change and leadership in the year ahead.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
This quote, often attributed to Viktor Frankl, reminds us that the space between stimulus and response is where our real leadership lives.
In this New Year reflection I want to offer three perspectives on how this space can support you as a leader.

1. The space between stimulus and response as your inner boardroom
Most senior leaders I work with do not suffer from a lack of information.
They suffer from a lack of space.
Messages, meetings, crises and decisions arrive like a constant stream of stimuli.
When there is no space between stimulus and response, we react on autopilot: defend, attack, rush, agree “just to move on”.
The space between stimulus and response is like an inner boardroom that you carry with you.

In that boardroom you can:
notice what is really happening,
listen to your emotional state,
remember what matters in the long term,
and only then choose your response. Research on mindfulness and emotional regulation shows that even very short pauses can improve the quality of our decisions and reduce impulsive reactions.
A practical New Year question for yourself is:
How often do I give myself this inner boardroom
– even for a few breaths – before I respond?

2. The space between stimulus and response as protection for your team
Leadership is never only about you.
Your responses become part of the nervous system of the whole team.
When there is no space between stimulus and response, people quickly learn to:
avoid bringing bad news,
hide mistakes,
guess “the right answer for the boss” instead of saying what they really see.
Psychological safety drops, and with it the quality of decisions.
When a leader practices the space between stimulus and response, the team gradually internalises another pattern:
it is possible to bring a difficult fact and still be heard,
it is possible to admit a mistake and use it as material for learning,
it is possible to express an unpopular opinion and stay respected.
Organisations that deliberately create such conditions show higher levels of innovation and more thoughtful decisions.
A useful reflection for the New Year:
What signal do people receive from my reactions –
“here we need to protect ourselves” or “here we can think and search for better solutions”?

3. The space between stimulus and response as your New Year practice
Many New Year resolutions sound like:
“I’ll react less.”
“I’ll be calmer.”
“I’ll stop trying to control everything.”
These are resolutions about outcomes.
It is more helpful to choose a practice.
Instead of promising yourself to become a perfect version of you, you can:
notice at least one moment every day when you consciously create the space between stimulus and response;
use a short pause ritual – one breath, a quick scan of the context, a reminder of your values;
ask yourself one question before an important response:
“What response would be aligned with the kind of leader I want to be a year from now?”
Over time this practice stops being an effort and becomes part of how you live and work.

New Year wish
My New Year wish for you is simple:
May you have a year in which you discover and honour the space between stimulus and response –
the space between what seems necessary and what is truly yours to do –
and may you find the courage to choose wisely.
If you feel that this is the year to create more space in your leadership – for better decisions, healthier boun1daries and clearer strategy – you are welcome to connect with me. On this website you can explore how I work with leaders and teams, and we can schedule a conversation about what you want to create in the coming year.