How a pause changed our lives?!
And we decided to keep punctuating thereafter
My first encounter with the pause was when I took a hiatus from work! As I stepped back, I was blessed to observe from the stands, the others caught up in the rat race. Businesses wanting to grow in a flash by attempting to net millions overnight; Corporates on an overdrive, stressing their staff to think on their feet, work overtime and eat away their personal space in the name of fast-tracking their climb up the Corporate ladder; Professionals on a sprint race to survive in the world of the ‘super-fittest’ and therefore ‘multi-task’ in the workplace by biting more than they could chew!!
The power of my pause made it easier to see the pattern in all this madness which was commonplace irrespective of the ‘Sector’ or the ‘Professional domain’. The inordinate pressure to think on the feet and make decisions in a flash in the name of agility, almost like vending machines coughing up goodies on the weight of the coins dropped!!! But there are also organisations which took a break to reflect and refresh their way forward. There used to be an old Slogan once used by coca cola, “the pause that refreshes”. Learning to pause allows growth to catch up with you.
From there on, one of those pleasant Bangalore days when I decided to catch up with an old school friend over coffee, she a Market Researcher and me from Organisational Development Professional, we both ended up discussing the power of the pause. A few minutes of silence thereafter and within no time we decided to start up our Consulting firm called Punctuate Consulting(punctuations being the inspiration for our entrepreneurial journey) bringing the power of the pause to organisations and markets. Today, we have come a long way and we are creating our own success stories over the PAUSE...just think about it...
Pausing can help convert a failure to feedback!
Pausing can help draw insights from experience!
Pausing can help check if you are headed in the wrong direction and provide you the time and space to make a course correction!
Pausing can help re-charge, re-fuel and re-focus!
Pausing can help question and clarify what needs to be sustained and what can be let-go!
Imagine the potency of organisations that can think under pressure and at the same time have the ability to reinvigorate from the power of the pause! Imagine the dynamism of organisations which enable their people to stay focused and deliver consistently on time and yet allow them the leisure of time and space to solve the core issues and not just the day’s crisis!
Needless to say that there would be times when gears need to be shifted to keep the momentum on but there also needs to be an awareness and acknowledgement of moments for reflection and thought which can be missed out in the rush to make it to the finishing line.
To pause and reflect is incredibly valuable!
So…Pause! Question! Enable!
