Harnessing the Power of the Pause: Strategies for Busy Leaders

Does your work day fly by? Or does it sometimes stand still? I hope it does both! And here’s why.

Every day, busy leaders scramble to check off the myriad responsibilities on their plates. Minutes and hours race by, and there often doesn’t seem to be enough time to complete existing projects. Nevermind time to move ahead key initiatives you yearn to start. We get caught up in the urgent, missing out on moments to reflect that would help propel us forward in meaningful ways.

Getting out of this treadmill trap was a leadership lesson brought to my attention early on by an unexpected teacher—my dog Grace. Today marks the fifth anniversary of her passing, and I thought it was an excellent opportunity to pause and reflect on the many lessons she offered me.

For long-time readers, you’ve heard my stories about Grace, who shared some of the most valuable insights of my career about what it means to:

• Build trust by recognizing the individual’s uniqueness (rather than expecting them to be who you wanted them to be)
• Lead with vulnerability and empathy
• And focus on what matters.

Grace shows up in many of my stories as timid and nervous—sometimes to a frustrating degree, especially at the start of our relationship. Yet she was reinforcing her own needs by being unapologetically herself, often being vulnerable and staying in the moment. She innately knew the value of making time each day to pause, walk in the woods, and get into our bodies.

The Importance of a Pause

Time together on our walks was intentional. It made space for reflection and often led to some of my most creative thinking because I could suddenly see the bigger picture again.

Thanks to Grace’s daily reminders (and now Zuzu and Lucy’s), I’ve sustained this rhythm over many years, through the ebbs and flows of a lively consulting practice. What I’ve come to learn is that when it feels most counterintuitive to step away from the busy-ness—that is exactly when it’s most needed.

When we are in constant rush and race mode, we lose track of what’s important. Our most meaningful desires can get lost or washed away without even an awareness of what’s happening. Striking a balance between the finite and panoramic yields more than you can imagine.

Practical to Purposeful

So here are three tried-and-true strategies I rely on to stay grounded:

1. The well-known Eisenhower matrix is a helpful tool to support good time management, especially for those looking for an easy productivity resource. It’s a straightforward way to assess your daily activities and make intentional decisions for yourself and your teams! The process reminds us to spend time on what’s important, not just urgent.
2. Schedule a block of time—even five minutes!—each day to pause, reflect, and assess your regular activities. Are you doing the things that are meaningful to you? Are you taking time to work on strategic priorities? We can forget how spending five minutes consistently over a period of time can advance something monumental. As the adage goes, we overestimate what we can accomplish in a day but underestimate what we achieve in a year. Don’t make that mistake. Make sure you take time to do the things that are important even if you don’t think you can afford the time. Otherwise, it will cost you in other ways.
3. Honor and celebrate milestones! Use them as a metric for what you have achieved and to propel you forward in your future dreams. For instance, make a habit of marking events on your calendar that will help you remember key moments of importance. The five years since Grace’s passing have flown, and I feel her presence every day. Each lesson she shared made a difference, and keeping her memory strong reminds me to follow the path she and I walked together, making me a better human.

Stillness in the Storm

I hope you find your own way to be still at some point each day. Those quiet moments bring clarity about what you really want and how to move it forward. Famous baseball player Leon Brown put it so well: “The answers you seek never come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still.”

To find that stillness, there first must be a leader graceful and brave enough to pause and set down the urgency in honor of greater goals. It’s always a privilege to be invited in during these moments as a guide, accountability partner, and resource.

I welcome you to reach out so we can share a virtual cup of coffee and talk more.