The Power of a Paws … uh…Pause

My cat, Cicely, insists that I step away from my computer from time to time to play with her on my office floor. We wrestle on the rug, I pat her tummy, she kneads me with her paws. It’s a veritable kitty love fest, a Pause with Paws, so to speak. When Cicely and I are done with our romp, she retreats to the corner for a nap, and I return to my desk and the work at hand. I always feel better for having paused to play, rest and renew my inner resources.

Pausing, at the right time, and for the right reason, can be a great gift—not only to ourselves, but, when we are giving a presentation, to our audience. A well-placed pause can add the most delicious drama to a story or point you want to land. And it’s often the key ingredient in a joke well told.

Pausing allows your audience to breathe, to feel, to take in a point you’ve just made, or to orient to a new topic. I counsel my coaching clients to build in what I call “rest stops” throughout their presentations, giving their audiences time to catch up with them, or to rest their brains for a moment. I liken it to the turning of a page to a new chapter in a book, when you are forced to let your brain rest for a moment while you move to the next section. I also suggest a pause right before you begin your speech: Take a moment to breathe, center and connect with your audience before you utter a word.

If reading that last sentence makes you anxious, if, when you’re presenting, you’d rather rat-a-tat a stream of words like a machine gun than take even the smallest of pauses because silence makes you feel vulnerable, consider this: It’s your vulnerability that makes you even more approachable to your audience—if you’re willing to let them in.

So take the time to Pause—during your work day, during your presentations. You cat—and your audience—will appreciate it.

SOURCE: http://abecssbr.com/ann-arbor/ann-arbor-2011/guest-columns-ann-arbor-201...