Do you carve out time in your week to pause and reflect. This Labor Day weekend, I did something different. I went on a hike by myself to get away and have a quiet time to take some time to think about what I’ve been thinking about.
In the 15 Laws of Growth, John C. Maxwell teaches the Law of Reflection – learning to pause allows growth to catch up with you.
Peter F. Drucker said, ” Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quite reflection will come even more effective action”.
There are many different ways of growing and an infinite number of lessons to be learned in life. But there are some kinds of growth that come to us only if we are willing to stop, pause, and allow the lesson to catch up with us.
The Power of Pausing
Through the power of pausing, Maxwell teaches how four reasons why taking some to reflect can help you grow.
1. Reflection turns experience into insight.
2. Everyone needs a time and a place to pause.
3. Pausing with intention expands and enriches thinking.
4. When you take time to pause, use your I’s.
Investigation – Pausing means more than just slowing down to smell the roses. It means stopping and really figuring them out.
Incubation – taking an experience of life and putting it into the slow cooker of your mind to simmer for a while.
Illumination – “at the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you” – Jim Rohn.
Illustration – the process of putting flesh to your ideas.