Instead of Resisting Change, Pivot

COVID collapsed the global economy taking my income down the drain with it since my work was 100% travel based. I knew it was time to resist or pivot. I chose to pivot in 4 critical areas:

Thinking

While none of us are all-powerful, we are not powerless, either. I've never met a great leader who played the victim, embraced a fatalistic outcome, and expected doom at every turn.

So I refused to embrace those actions, either. Instead of focusing on the things I couldn’t control, I concentrated on what I owned outright: my time and my attitude. That liberated me to expend energies on assets instead of just the obvious liabilities in front of me.

How has your thinking changed (or how does your thinking need to pivot) to keep you moving forward in times of change?

Habits

Armed with this perspective, I took advantage of my lack of travel to adjust some of my habits. I started walking each morning, something I never had time to do when I traveled. Those walks turned into runs. Along the way, I noticed other benefits to my newly-embraced habit: my weight dropped, sleep improved, and head cleared. As a side benefit, walking and running kept me from habits with negative consequences like over-eating, drinking, or spending.

What habits have you changed (or do you need to change) to give you an edge in part of your life or career?

Goals

I set up personal goals and made adjustments to my business goals to reflect the new reality. On a personal level, instead of just running to run, I set a goal to run a half-marathon. I’m not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But I trained hard and completed one in September. Since May, even taking two months off to nurse an injury, I’ve run 204 miles and biked 614 miles.

At work, I shifted my goals to learn how to work virtually. As a speaker, my bread-and-butter had been live events. But I learned how to speak virtually. And that side of the business keeps growing.

Since I wasn’t traveling, I still had time. So I pivoted to another passion: writing. As a published author, the only reason I stopped writing was because of the time spent on the road, keeping me from deep thinking and putting things in writing. COVID changed that. I pivoted back to writing for hours each day. As a result, my colleague and I just completed a business book we co-authored called “Getting It Right When It Matters Most” due out in May, 2021 thanks to our incredible publisher, Business Expert Press. And I’ve started ghostwriting books for others.

How have you shifted your goals changed (or how do you still need to shift your goal) for you to succeed during a time of great unknowns?

Expectations

You likely entered 2020 full of hopes, dreams, and high expectations. People say “Happy New Year,” not “Wishing You the Same Old S*** for the Brand New Year.” Most of us have a certain expectation that things will either remain the same or improve over time. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to get ourselves out of bed.

When circumstances change, expectations must change with them. For example, I started the year expecting business growth. My new expectation and hope is that my loved ones remain healthy.

How have your re-calibrated your expectations (or how do you need to re-calibrate your expectations) so you end the year content and satisfied instead of frustrated?

Regardless if you've worked more or less, or if your business has grown or shrunk, I know you've made pivots this year. How many of you ever thought that you'd be working from home while also serving your children 3 meals each day at home as you learn "new math" so you don't look foolish in front of your kids? How many of expected that through Zoom and other virtual technologies that you'd be invited your boss, coworkers and employees into your home every day of the week?

Resistance, as they say, is futile. After all, if you try to push back against a tidal wave, you're going to lose. Success isn't always about "digging in" and "staying the course" in spite of rapidly changing events ; instead, success is about knowing when pivoting is your best response to change.

I would love to hear what ways you've pivoted this year and how those pivots have paid off for you?