Stopping

I was listening to a skilled speaker who, toward the end of his remarks, thanked the audience for their patience: “You’re going, ‘Is he stopping?’ Yes. I’m done. I was done about five minutes ago … but now I’m stopping.”

A clever apology. It was cute.

For the most part, though — unless the speaker is particularly engaging or entertaining — we don’t appreciate the extra five minutes.

It takes a bit of courage to stop when we’re done. To stop when we’ve said enough. To not fear a tidy end to our remarks.