Busy, busy, busy, busy. We all know busy is bullshit, but are we all wrapping our arms around the alternative and praising the pause? Pausing – stepping back, reflecting, being ‘quiet’ – is often the one thing within today’s organizations that we’re not doing enough of. We run from meeting to meeting with no time to process in between and then get criticized for not thinking ‘strategically’ enough. It’s time to embrace the pause! It’s time that we step back and reframe what pausing is and what it isn’t. Pausing is a chance for strategic thinking. Pausing is an opportunity to consolidate learning. Pausing is the space to think through implications and ramifications. Pausing is not: slacking off, being unproductive, screwing the pooch or any other deadbeat term you want to give it. Pausing, from my perspective, is a crucial, strategic choice that you can make to proactively calm the chaos that exists in many of our organizations today. One of my favourite ways to pause is by adopting reflection tools like the Productivity Planner and the Five Minute Journal. Both provide forced reflection that helps you develop the muscle. We are in the age of the mind and it’s time we started looking after ourselves so that we can continue to build our capacity to keep up and make an impact in an increasingly complex world.
What can you press pause on today?
