Hacker News Reader

There’s a difference between hesitating and pausing to think. Perhaps not internally, but in body language. In some ways they’re even polar opposites: hesitations are involuntary and make you look weak, while pausing to think can help you control the pace of the conversation, and (if not overdone) can grant you some authority.

The timing is very important: if you pause in the middle of a sentence that generally feels like a hesitation. If you pause before you start answering, then it’s all fluid, that’s pausing to think.

I actually remember hearing something here about people who stop and pause to think for a few seconds being rated higher.

You can think while saying something, making a little intro.