Pause E-zines

REPRINT OPPORTUNITY: Wow, have these been popular! It’s only taken four months to sell out the most recent print run of two thousand Take A Break booklets. I will be reprinting ‘TAB – 67 Ways To Pause When You Absolutely Positively Do Not Have The Time’ again in the next couple of weeks. 

These booklets are being used by clients for: conference and event give-aways, corporate wellness initiatives, orientation packages for new employees, EFAP libraries, coffee room reading, and gifts for clients, staff and colleagues. See Reader Writes below for one individual’s testimonial to the value of the Take A Break booklets.

At this time of reprinting, I’m delighted to once again offer specially reduced pricing for quantity orders with your corporate message imprinted on the front cover. See this two page pdf ( http://www.pauseworks.com/take_a_break.pdf  ) for a look at the cover with sample imprint, and for custom pricing info on orders. Fax your order form to (306-242-0795) if you are interested in putting these great ideas in the hands of people who matter most in your world.

REFLECTION: I can’t say that I’m much of a fan of Twitter – the on-line instant text service with a per message limit of 140 characters. It seems to me that we have more than enough interruptions in our everyday lives already. However, I recently stumbled across a reference to a twitter service that I can actually see having some merit. (more…)

REFLECTION: Where do you rate on the worry scale? Do you suffer from a rotating series of ‘Worries Of The Day’?  And, if so, how well is that practice serving you?

Do your worries keep you engaged in life? Help you feel needed? Feed the illusion of averting potential disaster?

Or are your worries simply too much to handle? Sending your blood pressure soaring? Interfering with a good night’s rest? Keeping you from enjoying what’s good in your life? (more…)

REFLECTION: When I speak at conferences and deliver seminars on overload and overwhelm in life and work, I am constantly reinforcing the need for us to be as thoughtful as possible about how today’s choices and decisions affect tomorrow’s experience. It’s a ‘lift up your eyes for the long haul’ approach to the challenges that face us every day. 

And no, it’s not always easy to step back from the immediate pressures of the day to respond from a higher plane. One of the most helpful tools in shifting direction is simply asking good questions. I love good questions. I adore great questions! 

It’s for that reason, a message in the recent edition of the Green and White, our University of Saskatchewan Alumni magazine, caught my eye. (more…)

REFLECTION: About five years ago, we redesigned the pond in our backyard garden. Moved it further out into the yard. Increased the size. Changed the shape. Added a creek and waterfall. We, and the birds, have enjoyed it greatly.

However (and don’t you love the sense of foreboding in that word?), for the last couple of years, the water level kept dropping. We’d top it off, and a few hours or days later it would be several inches lower. The pond never went completely dry. It just dropped 8 or 10 inches and sat there – thumbing its nose at us (or at least that’s how it felt!). 

And so the problem solving and experimenting began. Check for evaporation. Not at that rate. Check for leaks in liner. Nope. Check for wet, swampy areas around the hose connections. Nope. Shore up creek walls. Problem continued.

This spring, with the problem not having resolved itself over the winter (so much for wishful thinking), it was apparent the time had come for a major deconstruction. And, so that’s what I did on the weekend. 

I ripped the creek bed apart from waterfall to pond basin. And what did I find? (more…)

REFLECTION: As we spoke about overload pressures in the workplace, one seminar participant expressed dismay at how many meetings she had to attend. In her view, they were far too frequent, and ate up far too much time. 

As a long time employee in the organization, there wasn’t much that was new to her on any agenda. As a result, at most meetings she felt like she was just putting in time, twiddling her thumbs, and spinning her wheels. Meanwhile her ‘real work’ was piling up at her desk.

You may have felt that way yourself, especially if you’ve been around for a while. The new information shared at a meeting may amount to 5 or 10 minutes. The rest of the time is spent going over what may be, for you, old ground and tired issues.

I was especially interested, though, to hear one of her co-workers offer another perspective. (more…)

REFLECTION: Many of you are smack dab in the busiest years of your lives – with work, family and community obligations filling your hours and days. In mid-life when you find yourself trapped in the midst of the busyness, it can be a challenge to reach out for help.

A couple of years ago, I dropped in for a visit with my dear Aunt Eileen. At over 80 years (or at any age for that matter) Eileen was one of the most loving, supportive and accepting individuals I’ve ever known. By that time in her life, she had lost her husband, faced several health challenges, and after a lifetime away, relocated to her home province. Here she was surrounded by family, but short on friends. In a word, she was lonely. (more…)

REFLECTION:  I spent a couple of days last week on the farm where I grew up giving my folks a hand with a household reno project. The stairs from the kitchen to the basement were a bit worse for wear and in need of a spruce up. 

The work flow went like this:

* Pry off the old tiles and linoleum

* Scrape, sand and scrub away the glue and backing

* Apply two coats of paint to the stringers and steps

* Trim and install a new set of vinyl treads

* Stand back and admire the work

Of course, no project ever goes smoothly, and this one wasn’t that straightforward; but still, this was a great experience for a number of reasons.   (more…)

REFLECTION: After months of hunkering, huddling and hibernating, spring has sprung in Saskatchewan. And not just according to the calendar (which rarely ever gets it right), but according to life in the ‘hood. Signs of the season are everywhere. 

Snow all but evaporating under the high-sky sun. Robins singing up a storm, scouting nest sites. Bikes rolling down the streets. Kids swarming the playgrounds.  

If you listen carefully, you can hear the tulips calling to each other:  Wake up! Wake up!  Well – I made that one up – but the rest are true!

And, to top it all off, yesterday I sipped a cup of coffee in my shirtsleeves in the great outdoors. (more…)

REFLECTION: Did that title catch your attention? In challenging economic times, anything related to economizing and budgeting tends to loom large on the radar. But, rest assured I’m not talking about money. 

I am, however, talking about time.

You are probably familiar with Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fit the time available. I don’t know what kind of experience you’ve had with P’s Law, but I know I’ve experienced it in action again and again. (more…)

Today’s message is a departure from the usual format of your weekly Pause e-zine. So, be forewarned. If you are someone who is offended by even a hint of self promotion (and I know there are some subscribers on every free e-zine distribution list for whom this is the case), just skip today’s message and return next week to our ‘regular programming’.

This message is intended for all those subscribers who are interested in the context for the weekly Pause message and the latest in new developments at my end. 

It’s been almost a year now since I began working on a further focusing of business offerings and the website and materials that represent it all. Those efforts culminated recently with the launch of my newly reincarnated website:  http://www.patkatz.com. I’m delighted to invite you to explore the brand new site, and to think about how my work and message might be helpful in your organization.

Here’s the backstory to what you will see on the site. (more…)