As I was driving into work this morning the phone was buzzing already with emails and texts, employees were calling me, and the day was already stacking up in my head. And all of a sudden I looked at the screen on my dash that controls the audio and saw the pause button on my iTunes control screen. And it struck me that maybe it was time to hit pause on more than just the music. For the next 15 minutes of the commute, I pondered this thought and by the time I put the car in park at work it was pretty obvious to me that I most certainly did need to press pause. On everything.

Life gets going fast and busy for most of us. Our families are busy, our social schedules are busy, and work is always busy. We’ve got to do lists that never seem to get done and goals that never seem to get reached. We’ve got lots of people who need our time and attention and not enough of either to satisfy them all. So we just work harder and faster and sometimes we try to work smarter. We start the day earlier and end it later so we can jam just a little more into each day and hopefully catch up. We think speeding through life at mach speed will prove to everyone how much we want it and prove to ourselves that we are finally worth it.

This morning, when I pressed pause, I thought about the value of that simple act. Instead of worrying about what the day had in store I thought about the value I could add to people. Instead of wondering which deals were going to close this week I gave consideration to how I could make this week better for my staff and our clients. Instead of fixating on all of the “what ifs” out there, I thought about the “what I know nows.” And a calm passed over me. A calm passed over me because that is what pressing pause does – it stops the noise immediately and fully, albeit temporarily. It quiets your world for a few seconds or a few minutes and that quiet provides space for thought.

Do you need to press pause this morning? I know I certainly did and I feel better for it already.