They Just Asked You A Question You Cannot Answer. Now What?
Pausing Without Looking Lost - Buy Yourself Some Time!
Someone in the meeting asks a question you weren’t expecting. The room goes quiet. Everyone is waiting for your answer.
Your mind goes blank for a second. You don’t have the answer ready, and you can feel the silence getting longer.
Sound familiar?
Most non-native speakers panic in this exact moment, worried that any pause makes them look unprepared. But the most confident communicators do something different: they buy themselves some time.
What does it mean?
To buy yourself some time means to use a short phrase or a deliberate pause to delay your answer slightly, giving yourself a moment to think before you respond.
It is not the same as avoiding the question. It simply creates a small, natural gap between hearing it and answering it, a gap that almost every confident speaker uses without anyone noticing.
Picture a Chess Player
Picture a chess player sitting across from their opponent. They don’t have to move the second their opponent’s hand leaves the piece.
They take a breath. They look at the board again. Maybe they even reposition a piece they’ve already decided not to move, just to use a few extra seconds.
Nobody watching thinks they are unprepared. They simply look thoughtful. That small pause, used well, is exactly what buying yourself some time looks like in conversation.
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