According to Dictionary.com, “pivot” used as a verb means “to modify (a policy, opinion, product, etc.) while retaining some continuity with its previous version.” But this definition hardly conveys the meaning this buzzword has taken on during the current Covid-19 Pandemic forcing businesses to abruptly shift and change focus in order to continue operating, usually through the Internet.
By now, you’re probably thinking that you’ve already been doing it. Covid-19 has brought big changes in how we work, communicate, and function whether or not it relates to our business. These changes represent a pivot—a shift or adjustment to accommodate life’s challenges. But the reason this word has taken on buzzword status is because it also implies being intentional or mindful about how and what to shift. Pivoting is proactive rather than reactive.
Let me give an example. I used to work as a university professor. I loved teaching and had truly found my calling. In my fifth year of teaching, my life suddenly changed. I went to visit my parents over spring break and discovered that my father had had a TIA or “mini” stroke and my mother’s progressing dementia was becoming too much for my father to handle.
I made the difficult decision to quit my career and move back to my hometown to care for my parents. This decision was a reaction to the needs of the moment. It was certainly big change, but this did not qualify as pivoting.
The pivot came later when I had thoughtfully considered my options and looked for opportunities to essentially reinvent myself. What, I wondered, could I do that would allow me to have a flexible schedule to care for my parents while still doing something I loved? What should I do about my student loans and other bills?
I didn’t just want to survive and constantly be reacting and responding to life’s curveballs. I wanted to set goals and make a plan. I wanted to be intentional about the incremental changes I would put into place.
Over the next few years, I went back to school to “retool” as it were in a new field. Going to school gave me a flexible schedule close to home. It put my student loans in automatic deferment in a way that did not negatively impact my credit. Going back to school was just one step in pivoting.
I had an agenda:
- buy time to figure out what it means to be a caregiver full-time
- keep an open and flexible schedule
- learn new skills that would aid me in either a new academic career, or help me improve as a writer
- ultimately, become a full-time author
All of this—the plan, the actions, the long-term goal—this was my pivot.
So what does this mean for you? We live in crazy and unpredictable times, my friends. One of the things we crave the most in uncertainty is the stop the world from spinning wildly. We want to take back our lives and feel like we have control over our own futures. Pivoting allows us to regain control and start moving forward again.
Pivoting allows us to break our larger goal down into bite-sized pieces and focus on smaller steps. It allows us to be in the right place at the right time when larger goals come into focus again. Pivoting allows us to design a life we want to live even as we adjust to new situations. Pivoting goes beyond responding and helps purposely plan the steps that will bring us, if not to our end goals, at least to opportunities that will make those end goals possible.
What’s more, pivoting is scalable. That is, you can pivot in your personal life with very small things or large things. You can also pivot in your business. This concept of becoming more thoughtful and deliberate about the changes you make in the short-term in order to keep moving toward a long-term—whether or not you can see what that long-term is at the moment—is key to regaining some control of our lives, and ultimately regaining our sanity and confidence in such uncertain times.
