The Policy Value of the Pause

A former public servant’s new book on urgency and choice

From Don: I knew Alex Snider first as someone working at the White House to improve government services. In the early days of DOGE he contributed an excellent essay here on how federal employees were deciding whether to stay or go. He has since left the federal government, and written a book about his experiences.

Last year, Don invited me and other former public servants to speak to his University of Michigan students about a devilishly hard question: What do you do when your leadership is acting in ways that feel at odds with your values?

On the surface it was about choices like when to leave the government, when to speak up, and how to pick your battles.

But looking back, I realize we were circling something more fundamental: how to navigate complex choices as we serve the public.

My new book, Sometimes You Should Be Late, which I wrote after leaving a 15-year career in government, has something to say about that question. It argues that one of the most important shifts we can make in our lives is to slow down, not for its own sake, but to help us better align our choices with our values.

Nowhere is that pause more important than in the high stakes world of public policy, especially in these disorienting times.

Government’s Bias Toward Speed

I laugh a little when people joke about government moving slowly. For every DMV sloth in a Pixar movie, there are countless public servants working with haste.

It makes sense: Many are drawn to public service to solve problems, seize windows of opportunity, and serve the people we swore an oath to. Those instincts are beautiful, but they can also become a trap.

I would know. Over my government career, first with the State Department, then in the Senate, and finally working on the President’s Management Agenda at the General Services Administration, I often equated speed with effectiveness.

Sometimes that looked like assuming emails from the White House or ambassadors needed instant replies, clinging to deadlines as if they were written in stone, or moving too quickly past stakeholder concerns.

And it also meant that too often I accepted the default way of doing things because I didn’t slow down long enough to recognize the choices in front of me. Although DOGE has done enormous harm, it has also forced questions about the inner workings of government. Which processes serve a real purpose? Which persist simply because they’ve always been there?

If I’m honest, looking back at my career, I should have slowed down to ask more of those questions.

Why Policy Needs Slowness

That’s why I’ve come to believe that pauses are so much more than personal choices or wellness hacks. They are policy tools. They help us become more aware of our assumptions and biases and give us a better chance of responding wisely to what a moment requires, rather than simply reacting to it.

An example: last year when the Fork in the Road and mass cuts were happening across federal agencies, like many others I was angry and wanted to do something. I decided to write something publicly but most of the outlets I sent an article to wouldn’t publish it anonymously.

But before responding with a rage-inspired “yes” to publishing my name, I took a deep breath, let the anger settle, and decided I wasn’t ready for that exposure. So instead I asked Don to publish my “Forced Fork” essay anonymously in these pages, which allowed me to leave on my own terms when I was ready.

Pause for the Public

Pausing creates conditions for better judgment. In our daily work, it can help us distinguish between false urgency and the real kind, understand whether we are resisting change because it conflicts with our values or simply because it is unfamiliar, and whether we are keeping our heads down because we’re playing the long game or because it’s convenient.

With the lens of my new book in mind, perhaps this is what I should have said to Don’s students: public servants will continue to face complex choices, not only in this administration, but in future ones as well. Navigating those choices skillfully is the work of public service.

Sometimes slowing down will tell you to speak out and stand on principle. Other times it will tell you to pick your battles and be open to a new way of approaching a problem. Without pausing, it’s hard to know the difference, and how best to serve the public in that moment and beyond.

If these ideas resonate–or if you’re skeptical–I’ll hope you join the conversation by checking out Sometimes You Should Be Late.

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Alex Snider is a writer and facilitator who draws on 15 years in public service, including as a diplomat and in domestic policy roles, along with certifications and a decade of practicing and facilitating meditation and group processes. He is the co-founder of Mindful Fed, a cross-government mindfulness community, and writes the Substack Slow Mindfulness.