– Judith O’Callaghan –

Power of Conscious Pause (Part 1)

A saying that was often repeated by the elders was: Complete your outdoor work and prepare your field; after that, you may build your house.

The intention of the saying was to ensure that we take the time we need to get the priorities right before jumping into action. The elders also believed that hurried action does not necessarily end up with fruitful results.


The elders over time introduced a period of conscious pause before embarking on any major undertaking e.g: projects, business or partnerships. They also scheduled a period of conscious pause at regular intervals

During this time, the key members of the family, extended support team and well wishers came together to pray and prepare for the journey ahead. This phase helped everyone be informed, prepare for the journey and move ahead. They also evaluated the progress and situation as a whole during the planned ‘conscious pause’ period.

This period of conscious pause ( phase0, in modern terms) serves a very important purpose in the digital business transformation.

We have seen this conscious informed period has helped many organisations define  or re-define their purpose, identify their tribe for the journey.

The following are the key aspects worth thinking through during the period of conscious pause

💜Know your personal values, the values of your organization. Know what you stand for and what’s important to you. Value alignment is a key aspect, if someone is not totally aligned in value and purpose, it is an opportunity to re-evaluate the situation.

💜Know your industry, who you are serving. Understand what is important to them. Over a period, the industry and the stakeholders would have changed. Knowing what is important to them connects us to the real purpose, stakeholders interest and equips us with information that would enable us to be relevant.

💜 Know who needs to be involved and would be impacted. Know how to engage , communicate and manage them. In any initiative, there will be many who will need to be involved and there will be many who will be impacted. Getting clear on who needs to be involved and who will be impacted will provide the much needed clarity to actively engage those who need to be involved and manage those who will be impacted.

💜Know what can we give and what do we need to receive. These tangible or intangible items could be game changers. This is the circle of life, the strength of any initiative is determined by the intangibles that will be achieved. Having a clear understanding of the ‘circle’ will be a game changer

💜Take time to know those who have been through the journey before and learn from them. Those who have walked the path before will be able to provide more information on the journey ahead and prepare us for the challenges that come along. Speaking to as many as possible who have been through the journey equips us with intel and information that would make our journey smoother and informed.

These information would serve as natural risk mitigation measures. In addition to preventing failures, it provides game changing perspectives and opportunities to look for solutions in the places we least expect. 

The team at Ancient Wisdom forums run this conscious pause exercise as a workshop for various stakeholder groups.The workshop and the engagement serves as an effective tool to ensure Transformation success.


don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? ( Luke 14:28 to 30 )

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