Tom Lemanski's

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Pause Button

With Smart Devices immersed in our routines, we’re presented with pause options for:

  • DVRs
  • YouTube Videos
  • Music Apps
  • Gaming Devices
  • With our cars, we always have a brake pedal.

What about other activities where we have figuratively hit the gas pedal?  If you lack a visual pause button are you less inclined to stop?  Do you know when to say when?

Five Good Times to Find and Press Your Pause Button

  1. You’re leading a discussion and multiple members of the group begin looking at their watches
  2. You’re burning the midnight oil working on your laptop, suddenly notice it’s 3 AM and you have an early morning meeting.
  3. The staff at the Golden Coral is standing at the door waiting to go home.
  4. You’re perpetuating a no-win argument with your significant other (or any stakeholder).
  5. The guy who just cut you off in traffic has a concealed carry license.

What do these items have in common? They all involve a triggering event or overriding emotion that threatens your ability to maintain composure or control.

This is not the ultimate list. I’m spit-balling here. My hope is that it gets you thinking about your own situations where you wish you would have paused. So, feel free to share your favorites in the comment box below. For these and any of your more targeted Pause Button Moments, I offer this simple yet effective tool for better self-control.

The Six Second Pause

Stop Watch

By Marcel Schwantes, Principal and founder, Leadership From the Core   from Inc. Article

One of the best tricks to responding with your best-self is to exercise a six second pause and gather your thoughts before you speak. Why six seconds? The chemicals of emotion inside our brains and bodies usually last about six seconds. During a heated exchange, if we can pause for a short moment, the flood of chemicals being produced slows down. When you are frustrated or upset, before you say something harsh, this precious pause helps you to quickly assess the costs and benefits of that, and other, action. Applying this consequential thinking in the moment helps you to make more careful choices.

Consider past situations where you couldn’t find your Pause Button, or figuratively ran a Stop Sign.  How could a six second pause have created a better result?