I heard this line from Chris Williamson recently that stayed with me longer than I expected:
“The answers you’re looking for are in the silence you’re avoiding.”
It felt uncomfortably true.
Most of the time, I’m not short on information.
I’m short on quiet.
When something feels unclear, my instinct is to fill the space.
More tabs.
More input.
More thinking.
More noise.
But when I’m honest, the moments where things actually work don’t come from doing more. They come from stopping long enough to hear myself think.
Silence has a way of surfacing things we’ve been pushing down.
The doubts we don’t want to face.
The decisions we already know the answer to.
The direction we’re avoiding because it asks something of us.
That’s probably why silence feels uncomfortable.
It removes distraction.
It removes excuses.
It leaves you alone with what’s true.
I’ve noticed this in my work too.
The best design decisions don’t happen mid-scroll or mid-meeting.
They happen when I step away.
When I stop reacting.
When I give the idea space to settle instead of forcing it forward.
Clarity doesn’t shout.
It waits.
And the longer you avoid the quiet, the longer clarity takes to show up.
Lately, I’ve been trying to make more room for silence.
Not in a dramatic way.
Just small moments.
A walk without headphones.
A morning without rushing.
Time where nothing is being consumed or produced.
And almost every time, something surfaces.
A thought I’d been circling.
A decision that suddenly feels obvious.
A sense of peace where there was tension before.
It’s rarely new information.
It’s usually a reminder.
So if you’re feeling stuck right now.. in work, in direction, in life – maybe the question isn’t what else should I do?
Maybe it’s what silence am I avoiding?
The answer might already be there.
Waiting patiently.
