Have you been experiencing the power of the pause?
Winter can prompt a pause.
Where I live, here in Sequim, WA, we are just melting out of a very unusual ten days or so of freezing temps and a few days of very large snowfalls. We’ve been socked by the power of the pause.
Now that it’s melting, my crocus are back out—so you know how our seasons usually work here.
During the weather, however, events had to be cancelled, travel wasn’t possible—without much snow-removal equipment, everyone gets stuck when you are dealing with a couple of feet of snow. Many people don’t even own snow shovels or snow boots—so some were really housebound.
My response
My initial response was exhilaration. (Snow Day! Holiday!) Following fast on its heels, came frustration. I was responsible for a number of events that had to be cancelled and rescheduled, requiring logistics and communication.
But after that, I started to notice…
The power of the pause:
When urgent requirements fall away, we suddenly have the choice to embrace the important.
The 4-quadrants and graph of Importance and Urgency come, I think, from Stephen Covey’s highly effective habits.
Without awareness, we fall into the trap of spending much of our time on those urgent situations that are not really important in the long run. (Quadrant #2 on my chart) By important, I mean the things that impact our movement toward personal fulfillment. Quadrant #2 is purely putting out fires.
Next, we tend to the urgent and important. (Quadrant #1) These are often the important things we have procrastinated on so long, they now have an urgent deadline. That urgency can affect how well we do those important things. Pressing deadlines don’t always leave time for quality work.
The non-urgent and unimportant is also a place we spend a lot of time (Quadrant #3)—it’s in this category that pastimes like Facebook, television, and recreational reading, among other habits, fall. This quadrant is very pleasant, and it sucks time. We look up and wonder where the time went. The answer is “nowhere important.”
It’s Quadrant #4 where we aim to spend time: the purely important. When we can delegate the putting out of fires (or ignore the fires when practical), and prioritize the important instead of the pleasant, we are mindfully choosing to put our energy where it can have the most positive impact possible. Exercise, quality relationship time, time focused on learning and growing, creative pursuits, all fall into quadrant #4.
This is the power of the pause. The urgent falls away, the pleasant gets boring, the important presents itself to be embraced.
May I live from this wisdom without all the shoveling!
Coach’s Challenge:
Practice the power of the pause. Take a look at the 4 quadrants above. Notice, as you go through your usual routine this week, which quadrant you are in. Once you’ve observed where you tend to spend the most time, pick one important and non-urgent thing each day to prioritize over your usual routine.
Feel free to leave me a comment below!