The Pause: A Great Skill to Have for Introverted Leaders

In the busyness of work, pausing is so underrated. But pausing is a great skill to have as a leader, and can benefit you in many ways.

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Many of us live our lives as if we are on a treadmill. Constantly on the go. Even when resting, our minds are going ten to the dozen. Constantly being in this mode stops us from tuning into ourselves and developing an awareness of what is really going on for us.

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Living your life this way is not beneficial for you personally or professionally. Neither is it beneficial for those around you or for the people that you lead. It can lead to irrational, unhelpful thinking, ineffective decision making, and to allowing your emotions to lead and drive you.

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There are so many benefits to giving ourselves time to pause in so many areas of our lives. Whether it be a few seconds or a few hours, here are some of the benefits that pausing can give:

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Stressful and demanding situations

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In stressful and demanding situations, it allows you to check in with yourself and discern what is going on for you. Allowing yourself time to pause can help you think more rationally, put things into perspective, and to see things more clearly.

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Have you ever responded to a stressful situation in the heat of the moment, only to later regret the way you responded? Pausing before you react in such situations can help you respond in a more measured way and get a better outcome. This is particularly so when dealing with other people.

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It enables you to take stock of your thoughts

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We each have thousands of thoughts a day, but many of us don’t stop to think about what we are thinking about and whether those thoughts are helpful or not.

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Given that what we think and believe affects how we feel, which in turn affects how we act and behave, pausing to check your thoughts can help you to see whether your thoughts are helping or hindering you.

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Pausing when speaking

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When public speaking, if you are feeling anxious, you may find that you speak faster because subconsciously, you want to hurry up and get your talk over with. This can negatively affect how you come across.

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You start to breathe faster, and you are in a heightened physiological state, and your mind is full of worrying thoughts. Worrying about how badly you are performing, or that you are making a fool of yourself, or that people are not listening to what you have to say, or it could be something else.

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Letting your mind race ahead with worry in that way only makes you feel even more anxious, which negatively affects your speaking performance. Pausing allows you to bring your mind back to the present, and reduce the heightened physiological state, enabling you to focus on the here and now.

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It helps you to exude presence

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Pausing can help you to exude presence. It can give you the ability to command the room and get the attention of other people. Former US president Barack Obama is someone who is known for doing this very well.

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There is even a YouTube video from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert titled ‘Just Five Straight Minutes Of Obama Pauses’ which is exactly that. A full 5 minutes showing different clips of Barack Obama pausing during a speech at the University of Illinois. The video has had over 190,000 views!

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It helps you recognise when you are experiencing introvert drain

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I describe introvert drain as those moments when you have been overstimulated and your energy has been depleted. This could be as a result of back-to-back meetings or working all day in an open plan office. It could be as a result of spending lengthy periods of time in environments where there is a lot of external activity going on around you, such as being amongst lots of people with lots of activities going on.

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When feeling like this, we are not at our best. We are more likely to want to disengage, retreat, and go inwards. If you continue to push on, this not only negatively impacts you, but can also have an impact on those around you and how you are perceived.

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Pausing can help you to recognise that it is time for you to retreat and recharge.

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These are just some of the benefits of pausing, there are many more. And pausing is beneficial to all leaders, not just introverted ones.

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What other benefits of pausing would you add to this list?

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Unfavourable bias towards introversion and any other oppressions as a result of other intersecting identities may have taken away your power. You may have internalised these biases and/or oppression without even realising it.

This can show up as self-hate, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and other self-limiting beliefs. In this episode of the podcast, I make you aware of the fact that this can happen, so that you can check whether this is the case for you and do something about it so that you reclaim your power.