This time of year might be fun or frenzied or both for you. I'd like to suggest it's a very good time to practice taking a PAUSE -  to take a deep breath and reflect on where you've been and how you are feeling about work and life right now. Perhaps you did that over Thanksgiving with family and friends.  It is good to take a PAUSE at work as well. Too often we keep running forward without taking the time to learn enough from what's gone before or to stop and evaluate if we're headed in the right direction.  This is true at all levels - individual, team, and for your entire organization. We are all far more productive and effective when we make and take the time to reflect and think.

Our culture is often one of "what have you done for me lately?" and "what have I accomplished that matters?" in measuring our individual success and/or progress. We count everything from gas mileage to the second by second changes in the stock market.  But do we measure happiness and satisfaction nearly as often?  No, we don't.   We need to stop long enough to THINK and to FEEL and then make good choices for our work and our lives.

Since you ARE the CEO of your life and you ARE in control of what you think, say, do, and feel...how about giving yourself the gift of time - just a moment - I wouldn't want you to panic!  Let's take a quick inventory of what's happening in your present moment - the one you are living right now.

PAUSE:

Pleasure: Make a list of the things that occurred today at work or outside of work that brought a smile to your face, made you laugh out loud, or simply gave you a feeling of being happy.

Attitude: Check your attitude. Overall, is your attitude positive or negative? Do you feel more abundance and hope in your life,  or more scarcity and worry?  Why? Since emotions are contagious, what are you catching and what are you spreading? Are those the things you want in your life at work and at home?

Understanding: On a scale of 1-5 with 1 low and 5 high, how would you score yourself on truly understanding yourself and knowing why you feel and think and respond the ways you do? How much self-awareness do you have?

Silence: When and for exactly how many minutes today have you given yourself time without technology buzzing and binging at you?  How much time have you given yourself to think, ponder, and pause without interruption? When did you last give yourself permission to take a time out of time and simply breathe, refresh, reboot? Do you ever schedule quiet times to just think on your calendar?

Empathy: We need to truly have empathy for others' experiences and feelings, particularly when we are leaders. We also need to have some empathy for ourselves. When did you last give yourself a break and allow yourself to create space or push a little less hard? 

I hope you will take a PAUSE and truly quiet your mind so you can actually hear yourself.

How Gratitude Can Help...

Because the simple act of expressing gratitude changes your brain chemistry to a calmer state and lowers your heart rate, you might want to start there. I hope you will remember what you are grateful for every day because even that small act will help you take mini-pauses to reflect and breathe.

And when you've finished your list, you can start all over again tomorrow and again the next day and the next.  Perhaps you will find your cornucopia of gratitude takes you to new places. You may even find yourself wanting to share more of what you already have - knowledge, good fortune, love, wisdom, ideas at work and much more.

I'll start.  I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you who have already purchased my book and for several people who have told me it's a great gift for the leader who is hard to shop for!

If you do read my book, I will be grateful all over again if you can make the time to add your opinion up on Amazon or Barnes and Noble review sections. People do read the reviews, so I appreciate them all!