Musos Pauses Dreamlining
The power of the pause in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter, is often an underestimated asset. Taking a conscious moment to pause can enhance relationships, productivity, the quality of our meetings, decision-making and overall well-being.
Lessons from Musos
I’m a big fan of making connections where the connections are not obvious. Therefore, lately, I have been considering what music can teach us about the importance of factoring conscious pausing into our lives.
‘It’s the silence between the notes that holds the key to all music’. – Attributed to Claude Debussy. OR
‘The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes, ah, that is where the art resides’. – Artur Schnabel. Austrian Pianist.
These musos bring home, extremely eloquently, the power of silence, spaces and rest stops. When researching this article I looked up the symbol for rests in music. A Fermata jumped out at me. It is Italian for stay or stop; also known as a hold, pause, colloquially a birds eye or cyclops eye or as a grand pause when placed on a note or a rest. Grand pause sounds good, as does the symbol of a birds eye – a birds eye view perhaps?
Applying Fermata
Dr Adam Fraser refers to this in his ‘The Third Space’ work. He advocates using the power of the pause to transition successfully between what you have just left behind and what you are moving into. It’s about showing up with the right emotions, thoughts and behaviours. Elite players in sport use it. They put the previous space (or people) behind them and they focus on being the best, where they are going. I use it when I have back-to-back coaching calls or meetings. It is never fair to bring the energy or agenda of the last meeting into the new meeting. Allowing space in-between also enables grounding and slowing. There is nothing more off-putting than someone who rushes into a meeting either late or on time, bringing with them a frenetic ‘on the backfoot’ energy.
Patterson, Grenny et. al. in the book Crucial Conversations – Tools for Talking when the Stakes are High, and Dr Thomas Gordon a famous conflict resolution specialist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, stress the power of the pause when navigating risky, controversial or emotional conversations. Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, backs this up with his famous quote: ‘Seek First to Understand and then be Understood’. Pausing is a key strategy in creating safety in conversations and transforming anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue.
If pauses can turn notes into art, then what can pauses do for our work, our relationships, our lives and potentially for the world?
‘Halfway between here and there, it’s a destination in its own right’. – Copywriter, Qatar Airways.
This tagline is memorable and although it was referring to the Doha Business Lounge and it’s an old Ad campaign now, its message is clear and timeless. Never rush through a transition and never underestimate the power of a pause to provide you with a strong platform from which to springboard.
Dreamlining
I invite you to consciously plan your pauses. Write them into your work and life plans or new year’s resolutions. Why not use dreamlining? Dreamlining is the systematic process of outlining your ideal lifestyle and making a plan to realise your dreams. (Blend of dream and streamlining). Dreamlining was introduced by Tim Ferriss in the book ‘The Four-Hour Work Week’.
Are there any particular ‘hotspots’ you’d like to fix? Is there one thing at work or in life which is currently not serving you? Could applying a grand pause be the solution? Could you commit to consistently applying this grand pause over the next three months and see where this leads? I shall leave these questions with you to ponder, or better yet, to pause on.