Chatting in the sun.
Not rushing.
Not producing.
Not proving anything. Just… sitting still.
It’s not always easy to choose, is it? Especially for high-achievers. And leaders-in-waiting.
Stillness can feel like guilt. Rest can feel like a risk.
But this?
This was a lovely moment of calm.
One of those quiet, golden pauses that resets something important.
And I have felt the benefit for days:
Progress doesn’t always look like motion.
Sometimes, it looks like pausing on purpose.
Why Stillness Feels Hard – But Matters More Than You Think
There’s a reason rest feels counterintuitive when you’re used to operating at pace.
In career psychology, we talk about action bias – the tendency to prefer doing something over doing nothing, especially when we’re under pressure.
But the irony?
Some of the most important recalibrations don’t happen when you’re busy moving forward.
They happen in the space between.
That’s where clarity catches up.
That’s where meaning surfaces.
That’s where your next step becomes visible – not because you pushed harder, but because you finally paused long enough to notice.
So if you’ve been telling yourself you’ll wait to slow down until the ‘right time’?
This might be the right time.
Because what you protect now – how you sit with stillness – shapes how you show up when it’s time to start again.
What I’m Protecting Right Now
This week, I’m protecting the spaces that give me that.
➜ Deep coaching conversations
➜ Purposeful windows of time to write with intention
➜ And yes… moments in the sun, chatting over cups of things like this one
The rest? It can definitely wait.
What are you cultivating, in the quiet slivers of your summer?
