Welcome back to Episode #50 of The Daily Interaction podcast. Today’s topic is on The Power of Pausing. What can pausing do for your communications if you just take a few seconds to be silent and to insert a pause in every aspect of every communication? The results are astounding, every time I have done it and now I want to encourage you to do the same.
But first things first!
Contest, Rules, and Prize: Our ONE-YEAR Anniversary for the podcast is coming up in 2 weeks. On August 1st, 2012, The Daily Interaction Podcast turns one! I am celebrating YOU, my constant listener. Let’s get to it!
Here are the qualification rules for our first ever podcast contest:
In the comments section here on Episode 50 blog post, leave a comment telling me two things:
Number 1= Why do you listen to the show?
Number 2=What can I do to make it better in Year #2?
You can qualify by adding the comment either on Episode 50 here or on Episodes 51 or 52 so you have 3 chances to enter the contest but why wait? I close the contest on July 25th, Wednesday noon eastern, and pick winner and announce it on Episode 53. Do it now!
I will randomly select a SINGLE WINNER. Winner’s Award: A $30 Gift Certificate to Amazon. I LOVE Amazon and if you never shop there, it’s a great time to start. They have everything, including what got them started first: books!. Whatever your taste, I feel confident that when it comes to Amazon, you won’t have trouble finding something that suits your fancy. (Boy, I wish they knew I do so much marketing for them for free 
)!
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The Power of Pausing Show Notes:
1. The powerful reasons why you need to pause, the reasons why pausing makes you look professional and how lack of pausing sometimes makes you foolish. I talk to you about the benefits of pausing in a communication.
2. I define what a pause is and what it is not, why you do not want to make baby sounds, how to think with your mouth closed. Also, I talk to you about the repercussions of pausing especially if you are not used to it. The art of coming off auto-pilot and thinking about what you are going to say consciously. How do you do it? Why should you bother? What is the end result?
3. How to build anticipation with your audience by inserting a little pause in your speech, and when and how to do it so that you make your core message extremely memorable.
4. How to make interviews and other conversations work in your favor by your carefully placed pauses.
5. One of the best places to pause is during a negotiation, and with this one, I tell you about my role of an interpreter at the age of 13 for my father whenever we had any transactions happening in Turkey. This particular story is about buying our green Honda Grundig! And why it’s a good thing to make your opponent a little uncomfortable during negotiation.
6. I close with a recap on the most powerful reasons to pause, and this quotation on the power of silence by one who knew how to choose his words to reach our hearts, Rumi:
“There is a way between voice and presence where information flows. In disciplined silence, it opens. With wandering talk, it closes.”
If you love The Daily Interaction – you probably do or else why would you be listening? – please give us a shout on iTUNES! Thank you thank you for showing your LOVE!
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{ 17 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }
I like your post Farnoosh especially the fifth tip though I’ve not been following the Daily Interaction Podcast, i just came across your blog some days ago via Entrepreneurs-Journey. But i like love what i see here.
Keep it up.
Hi Theodore, thank you – are you not playing the contest with answering the questions? And I am delighted that Yaro brought you here, thank you.
Hi Farnoosh; another great show, I know that by listening I will get a positive message that can improve me in some way be it personally, socially, or professionally. And in the future I hope you will continue to speak on the topic that moves you for that week. Your podcasts are like a preacher’s summon to me. If he speaks on a topic he knows he has to or one that was dictated by church officials its never as good as when he speaks to what moved him in his life that week. Here’s hoping the podcast never becomes a job or a chore and that it remains one of your passions. take care, max
Hi Max, too kind as always – and this is a brilliant contest entry but more than that, it is a huge confidence booster for me to know listeners like you exist. You are awesome Max. Thank you so much…..!!!
Hi Farnoosh; I just wanted you to know how much i enjoy the shows and to tell you that the most important parts are your honesty, sincerity, and passion. And it makes me feel a little better knowing someone as successful as you can still need her confidence boosted. smile take care my friend, max
Too kind, Max. You know even the people in the highest rungs of the ladder need a little encouragement once in a while…. and I am happy to return the favor anytime
!
that’s good to know Farnoosh; but most of them make things seem so easy that you can’t believe they have doubts. looks like lisa and i are getting close to uploading the new version of my site. she is having to teach me lots of new things, so i may need a little confidence and encouragement soon. smile take care friend, max
Its nice to listen to 21 plus minutes of audio. I hope I can really join on the contest. Congratulations with your podcasting and I hope I can tune up listening to your show.
Hi Dylsen, do come back and answer the questions to join the contest. It’s super easy and I am delighted to have you as a listener…..!
I stumbled upon your podcast via Stitcher. I pride myself for being open-minded and am always curious to find interesting resources that will motivate me, push me further and make me a well-rounded individual in order to live a ‘prolific life’. What I enjoyed about the podcast was that it wasn’t too long or repetitive, it was concise and to the point yet allowed for real-life examples (which I love). In future episodes I’d like you to tackle how to get out of a rut, to push past over- thinking which, in my case, leads to inertia, the status quo. Also, how to find passion again in you carrer or hobbies once the feeling is lost. I will certainly need to listen to past episodes. Fantastic!
Hi Louise, so so happy to have you here. All your points noted, and I am going to take all of your requests to heart, THANK YOU for sharing and for playing the contest and most of all, for being a listener. Your kind words go a long way. Happy that you are enjoying the show and remember, you can get all the past archives on my media page as Stitcher doesn’t display all of them…. just most recent ones.
Dearest Farnoosh,
Another amazing podcast episode!
You made great points about the need to have pauses in so many areas of your life. In the professional, personal, networking – pretty much any & every area of our lives – can benefit from pausing, listening to what others have to say, and allowing ourselves to actually absorb what we’ve heard before we start speaking again. You also made a great point when you mentioned that you don’t want to constantly be interrupting someone when they’re talking. Everyone I know, and probably anyone in general, would feel as though what they’re saying isn’t important to you if they’re always being interrupted…plus, it’s rude (or at least I think so) to do that.
What I love about the podcast is that: every topic you talk about can be/is directly related to any part of life (career, networking, friendships, family, education, personal growth & choices, etc.) and is helpful/useful in improving our relationship with others and ourselves, you are always so passionate about the things you bring to the podcast, and I love listening to your voice because I can actually feel your enthusiasm and how much you care for your listeners just from listening to you, even though I’m nowhere near being in the same room as you.
In the coming year of T.D.I, I’m honestly not sure how you could improve the podcast…it’s amazing already. With your passion and amazing personality the podcast will continue to be amazing. I, personally, loved your episode about the choice to not have children…it’s a subject that is controversial, and it was great to hear from you about your personal choice and the fact that just because we are women it shouldn’t be a “must” that children are a part of the future for everyone. Maybe there could be some episodes (not meaning the majority, or even a lot…but maybe every now & then) that are on a topic that influences, affects, and is helpful to women specifically…just a suggestion.
No matter what, I am a lifelong listener of T.D.I and reader of yours!
You’ve done absolutely wonderful with both the blog and The Daily Interaction podcast! Congratulations on the first birthday of T.D.I!…and thank you for including all of us directly into the celebration!
Hello amazing, prolific, kind and wonderful Cassandra, how delightful your response is. I am just speechless, really. THANK YOU thank you so much. And this is a heart-felt contest entry and a huge encouragement to me, you just have no idea. One struggle I have (which I am now openly admitting
) is that I am trying to keep the topics relatable to “Daily interactions” otherwise, I can talk about SO MANY things – ie) the stuff I talk and write about on the blog – but I am going to expand and explore in different directions in Year 2 and your suggestions are taken under serious advisement, rest assured.
As to the power of pausing, oh yes. It’s a powerful tool to learn and to put into practice. And we all know the benefit but to do it, that’s another story
!
Thank you Cassandra for being here. I value you infinitely as a listener!
Amazing Farnoosh,
I always wake up excited on Fridays because I know there is a new episode of T.D.I, and once I’ve listened to the new one I start counting down until the Friday…(“Okay, one week…3 more days…tomorrow’s Friday again!” 
lol) They’re definitely something I look forward to all week, because even for just 20 minutes I can put my headphones in and take that time just for me. And I think it’s great that you have so much that you’d like to talk about…I’m betting it takes a lot of self-discipline to only talk about topics considering daily interaction 
I am so excited for you that T.D.I is reaching its 1 year point, and I can’t wait to see it continue going forward even more successfully for many more to come!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed my comment and that it touched you so much!…every word was the absolute truth.
You are definitely right – knowing how something will benefit us is one thing…actually doing those things (especially the pausing in conversations/speaking) is an entirely different step.
I am really looking forward to listening to all your future episodes and learning more amazing things from you!
*Blush*! If this is not true love, I don’t know what is. You are very sweet, Cassandra. I can’t wait to be listening to one of your shows one day. I have some fun ideas for Year 2 of podcast that I will share with all of you in future episodes. I hope you’ll enjoy them. Big hugs for all your kindness!
My husband is a pauser, I am a talker! I have learned to be patient and wait for him, but have not learned to be the pauser myself… I also am in Toastmasters, and definitely try to not make “baby sounds!” – that’s probably the take away from this podcast for me – don’t make the baby sounds if you are trying to have some credibility w/ your listener. ALso, the pause builds expectation – good to remember and practice.
Here’s my suggestion for upcoming shows, or maybe 2 suggestions. I work with a global team. How about a podcast on 1) best teleconference techniques and 2) communicating with others who do not speak English as a first language or have a heavy accent. They cannot understand me very well and I cannot understand them very well either AND we are not talking face to face so there are no visual cues. Thanks! Char.
Charlene, very funny, I love your sense of humor.
I am so glad the “baby sounds” analogy hit home for you – it’s all the stuff we both know but I wanted to give it a name so it makes it a lot more aware for us. I see that it worked. So happy.
All your suggestions taken into heart and I can’t wait to create those shows for you and for other listeners who will no doubt benefit from it. I worked with global teams throughout my 11-year career, both in person and virtually and the challenges you mention are real and I have some tips on working in those situations. Thanks for playing in the contest, dear Charlene!