Pace ~ “the speed or rate at which something happens” says my trusty online dictionary.

Pacing yourself.  Pacing your energy. Pacing your speed. Pacing your rate of speaking.

Why am I sharing this with you at this time?

Well.  This very week, as I sign off for the festive break, I worked with a client who had never really considered pacing herself.

Let’s call her Jane.  

Jane reports to the Board of her organisation and she was struggling and actively shying away from making presentations and updates. She hated it.

Now when she and I started discussing what she hated, why, how she knew she hated it, what she’d tried etc something interesting came out.

As I listened to Jane I could hardly keep up with what she was saying!  And I’m a listener who’s paid to listen and digest what someone’s saying.  Crikey.

Jane’s pace, her speed of delivery, was just so fast.

I asked her if she was conscious of this.  Yes and no was the essence of her reply.

Why is this important?

Well, because Jane spoke so quickly and did the same in any presentations she delivered, she didn’t give herself time to think, to breathe, to consider – in the moment – what was coming up.  She just, as she said “rattled through it as quickly as possible.“

Where’s the joy in that ?  

Where’s the opportunity for questions or comments from her audience, however small?

So.  I shared with Jane how another client had prepared herself for an important presentation.

Rather than use a script, this other client had written out all she wanted to say and included pauses with dots ….. underlined words to emphasise and boldened headlines or subject changes.  All clues for her to pace herself.

All these pointers slowed her down.  Helped her to relax and, critically, made it a much smoother experience for her and her audience.

Jane took this steer and off she went.

That very next week Jane delivered a paced, thoughtful update to the Board using the words she’d noted but including the helpful pointers in her notes.  Only pointers she could see.

She was so excited and also amazed at how she actually enjoyed it!  And is now looking for other opportunities now to use this simple, but rarely considered, way of delivering a message.  Maybe you’ll look at how this way of preparing could support you too?

Just as in life day to day, we must pace ourselves.  

Expending energy and then regrouping.  Working out how much is ‘enough’ when committing ourselves.

So , with a house full of loved ones over the Christmas break at different points, I too shall be adding pauses and working out when’s enough!

A final word on the matter…

=====================

 And in other news…

=================

We had a festive drinks party here in our home last weekend.  It made me get my act together and put the Christmas decorations in place.  Jeffrey enjoyed seeing his special jumper come out again 🥳.and Douglas was as laid back as ever!