When I coach leaders on their presentation and communication skills, a core component to trust and believability is invoking the power of the PAUSE. To most, pausing is scary because it involves silence. Standing silently in front of a group of people is the last thing that anyone wants to do!

Pausing is powerful in speaking because it helps the speaker eliminate filler words and can create emphasis to their words. Even more importantly, pausing creates space for both the speaker and the listener(s) to think and process. While pausing is powerful in communicating with others, it can also be used to communicate with yourself.

In our "rush" crazy world we are always doing something! If we aren't driving from this place to that place, we are occupying our minds with things like television. When do we pause? When to we create space to think and process? Like in most sports, it's hard to assess yourself when you are in the game. Taking a "personal pause' allows you assess the game from the stands or review the game tape.

Make a habit of invoking the pause in your daily life. If the pause button is important enough to have on the remote to your favorite device, it's important enough to use on your favorite person.