I was thinking about a close friend of mine and considering giving her a call. My blackberry messenger sounded and there was a note from her sending Easter greetings. Many may say “what a coincidence!”, but given the frequency of incidence of coincidence in my life, my initial reaction was to express gratitude. The reality is we are all quite capable of increasing the number of coincidences in our lives – what is required is that we become increasingly aware of self others and environment – that we attempt to be fully present at all times.
Imagine as a leader, heading to a meeting, thinking that a certain piece of information would be a valuable input and lo and behold one of your colleagues enters and starts off the meeting by saying that I brought this because I thought it would be useful – the very piece of data you wished for has appeared ……..
The practice of being present, allows us to establish a resonance within ourselves and with our environment. As we increase the frequency with which we take our “Time Out”, we will observe how we become more in tune with our environment and our environment in tune with us. As leaders of our organisations, we know the importance of having a pulse on and being able to “sense” changes in our organisations.
My suggestion is that the next time you go to grab the phone to call a client, PAUSE – TIME OUT and just take a minute to become conscious of your breath, follow it in and out slowly for that minute. At the end of the minute, is the call still a priority, or has a new clarity emerged.
Time Out ….. the intentional ending of an incomplete task
are you ready for a time out? 