Pausing

"We're building the plane while we fly it."

I first heard this 12 years ago while working at a large after school organization in Massachusetts.There was rarely time to pause and reflect, assess or refine, because the building was literally full of little humans every day and they needed our immediate care and attention. I continue to use that phrase in my work today. As The Advot Project grows, we’re forced to make decisions and refine our systems while programming continues throughout the year. Time keeps passing, students need serving, programs need leading, and we just keep doing the work.

I got really sick earlier this year. And then Naomi did. And then our administrator, Carly, did. And then it was spring break. And then Naomi traveled out of the country.

We paused because we had to. 

Yes, programming continued and business was still attended to and everything got done, but not at the crushing speed that we can sometimes hit when everything and everyone is running at full steam.

I started to pay attention to what was happening in the pause.

One team member stepped up in a new way.

I was able to reach out to contacts I hadn’t had time to when it was busier.

I had time to attend a transformative training, the takeaways of which will benefit the entire organization.

I was able to look ahead a few weeks and move projects forward in a way that will help us better reach our end of session goals.

We were able to tackle an organizational task we had been putting off.

We had time to promote another team member, which is something we had been planning to do for months.

Sometimes the plane we're building has to land, so we can refuel and get to our next destination as smoothly and safely as possible.

Pause.

Reflect. 

What might you accomplish today if you do?