I came across the idea a while back – tucked away in a book someone recommended. Didn’t think much of it at the time. But recently, I had a bit of a forced pause of my own. Ended up in hospital for a short stay. Nothing serious, but enough to bring everything – work, life, the lot – to a halt for a good few weeks.
No calls. No meetings. No heading off to the footie at the weekend! Just stillness.
Now, I’m not someone who takes kindly to stillness. I like to be on the move, solving problems, getting stuff done. That’s just how I’m wired. But with no choice in the matter, I did something unusual. I leaned into it. I stopped. Properly.
And in that quiet, the idea came back to me. The Power of the Pause. It’s not about slacking off. It’s not about lying on a beach with a cocktail (though I’m not knocking that either). It’s about the intentional act of stopping – creating space to think, to breathe, to reassess. In that pause, I started seeing things more clearly. With no noise, no deadlines, no rush… it all came into focus. I thought about the business, how it’s evolved, and what I’ve actually built and achieved over the past 35 years.
Not just a freight forwarding company, but a system. A team. A structure that keeps moving, even when I’m not in the driver’s seat. And I realised – that’s the real point of it all. Not to create something that ties you down, but something that gives you freedom. The freedom to step back when you need to. To rest. To think. To let go of the wheel without the whole thing swerving off the road.
The world tells us that success means doing more, moving faster, staying busy. But sometimes, it’s the pause that gives you the biggest leap forward. Because in the stillness, you finally hear what matters. You see what’s working, what’s not, and where the real value lies.