In a culture that increasingly asks you to move faster and do more to be effective, the idea that what you actually need to do is stop seems crazy.

Now, I don’t mean to stop for the sake of stopping. What I am talking about is the need to train yourself to take a Pause (I call them Purposeful Pauses). When you begin to routinely take a few moments to intentionally stop, you can begin to notice when you are living your life on autopilot. And, you can begin to notice when you are, in fact, not bringing your best self to those things in your life that are most important-at work and at home.

For most of us, until we stop, we don’t even realize that this person masquerading in our skin is not living the life we had imagined, or making decisions aligned with our deepest held beliefs and principles. Over time, life happens and if we are not awake, we can be missing out on the possibilities to live that imagined life.

In small ways and over time, we get pulled along into the relentless need for greater, and more, and bigger, and better. And along the way we lose sight of the reasons we chose to join this organization, or do this work, or volunteer, or even have a family. But, when we take a pause, when we allow the dust to settle, we can begin to see that there is another way of being with the chaos and complexities that surround us. We are able to put down all the ways we distract ourselves from truly living in this moment. And it is then that we can begin to step off the autopilot and begin to make more conscious choices.

If you want to lead with excellence, you need to more consistently make choices that are not reactive but responsive. Choices that are creative and compassionate, and choices that sometimes require grit and courage. These are often the choices made by leaders who have found the ‘win-win-win’-approaches to business that are good for the company, good for the employees and good for the society. All over the world, companies like Home Depot, General Mills, and Target have become involved with social issues by supporting our Veterans, fighting illiteracy, feeding the hungry, and the list goes on. Win-win-win ideas also have shown up as initiatives related to sustainability, corporate responsibility or fair wages.

But there is so much more to do and when we are on autopilot and not fully attentive to what is here in our lives to notice, there is no space to find these win-win-wins. This is where we need to put a few Purposeful Pauses into our days. A few breaks in the non-stop busyness to allow the mind and body to stop and pay attention.

The alternative is to live a life that is robotic and it often shows up in our organizations as employee disengagement. There is nothing that will lessen the potential of an organization more dramatically than an apathetic workforce. And, when we are robotic, what is the effect on our ability to connect with our colleagues, customers, patients or clients? We are physically in the same room but so distracted by our busyness that we might as well be in the next county. Purposeful Pauses allow us to be more fully present, and that presence is felt-it feels like respect, true collaboration and caring. The lack of presence is also felt.

So, would adding a few Purposeful Pauses each day allow you to be more present, to recharge your mind and body, and to cultivate the spaciousness for some new ideas? Why not try it out? Here’s how:

Taking a Purposeful Pause

1. Choose some activity that you do every day-walking to your desk, for example.
2. Each day when you walk to your desk, make it a Purposeful Pause by staying focused on the activity-notice your feet striking the ground, the air on your skin, the colors of the walls, the people you pass.
3. Each time your mind tries to carry you into the future or the past with ruminations, to-do lists, planning for tomorrow, redirect your attention to the present moment, the experience of walking to your desk. This redirection brings you back to the present moment, the only moment you can affect.

As you engage in this training on a daily basis, you will begin to notice how often you are not being present for your life. And that is the beginning of your opportunities to choose something different. Purposeful Pauses don’t add time to your schedule so why not make them a habit? What you notice may astound you.

This article “What’s Working: Taking a Pause to Lead with Excellence?” by Janice Marturano was originally posted on the Huffington Post.  To read the original article, click here.

Janice Marturano is is Vice President, Public Responsibility and Deputy General Counsel for General Mills Inc, and Founder/Executive Director, Institute for Mindful Leadership. Don’t miss her upcoming workshop in New York City – Sign up here!

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