PAUSE Anytime

After wrapping up our recent series on Meeting Makeovers, we used the past couple of weeks to help you think about using our Pause Framework to interrupt your reactivity so that you can respond effectively and more likely keep your meetings on track.

This week, we’d like to continue talking about the PAUSE and suggest some ways you can incorporate it into your day.

The simple act of pausing helps to decrease your stress, grows your emotional agility, and increases your ability to create psychological safety. So, as far as we’re concerned, it’s always a good time to use the power of the pause!

Whether it’s in your personal or professional life, consider what adding the pause to more of your day could look like. Here are some suggestions we’ve seen work well.

PAUSE ANYTIME

• Pause at the beginning of your day to set your intentions. Use that moment to envision what the day will look like if you’re taking action on your most important priorities.
• Pause before you head into a conversation or a meeting and reflect on how much more successful you’ll be if you’re communicating in a way that’s in alignment with your goals.
• Pause throughout your day as a way to destress and grab a little space. Pause, breathe, and check-in on what you need to do to take care of yourself. Do you need to take a break, drink some water, eat a snack, go for a walk, have a laugh, etc?
• Pause regularly while you’re working to check and see if what you’re doing is in alignment with your goals. Most of us get distracted by all that’s coming at us (questions, other thoughts, colleagues, etc) and only spend a small portion of the day on the work that’s in alignment with our goals. Pausing can help you get back to what really matters.
• Pause every couple of hours to consider how you’ve been showing up. Has it been in alignment with your goals?
• Pause at the end of your day to reflect on how you showed up. Pause and think about your conversations and whether or not there were any discussions that didn’t go as planned. Consider what you’d do differently, and what it would look like to follow-up with them tomorrow to clear the air.

This week, think about how you can use the PAUSE at anytime during the day to support you in taking care of you and taking care of business. It will increase your ability to work with intention so that you can influence others with your best and allow yourself to be influenced by others, with their best.

Let us know how it goes!