Pivoting

Pivoting is the act of turning from one direction to shift to another. It suggests movement. Movement to create change. Change that allows growth. There’s a lot of this happening around actually. If we each look at our own life, we may recognize some pivotal moments when 1. We went off to a new direction; 2. Changed perspective on something, which previously may have been defined as “law” or a fixed mindset; and 3. In business, suddenly a new opportunity arose, started us on a totally different project or enterprise in another industry.

I have pivoted so many times in my own life that I actually recognize the signs before the pivot moment happens. I have pivoted in my career choices, on what I want to be “when I grow up,” on beliefs on spirituality that allowed me a more expansive perspective of life. The first signs are those of questioning the “fit” of myself in my career, in my belief systems. Then there would be a new opportunity that would hover in the career horizon, or a clarity, an idea that would make its presence constantly felt in my awareness. My inner compass would arise, pointing to the new direction.  I would naturally pivot. I have discovered that the fundamentals of our belief systems are the basis of our life directions. As we shift and change in the levels of our consciousness, there are pivot points. And always,  in my own pivoting, I learn something deeper and different about myself.

Sometimes it is the result of some difficulty, challenge or problem, which triggers the pivot, unconscious though it may be. Take this case from one of my sessions: A terrible heartbreak and rejection by her boyfriend made this woman so bitter she ended first pivoting from a “nice girl” image to suddenly sleeping around with many men and after some years, pivoted again, told me she hated men, and went off with a woman. Her lifestyle totally changed thereafter. In the movie Titanic, the life-changing event of the ship sinking, falling in love and watching her beloved drown in front of her eyes made the heroine of the movie pivot to define the kind of life she wanted to live, apart from the norms and traditions that her society dictated then. She adventurously went off to see the world and lived a life on her terms and no one else’s. A common example I meet up with is the pivot towards the inner work. This is often done by hard-core type-A achievers who have pushed profit-success-driven careers and having it all, suddenly pivot to question all that they were doing. And the pivot would lead them to inner searching, some form of balancing towards understanding the life of the spirit.

Sometimes in our businesses and careers, too, we need to learn how to pivot, especially if we are innovating new products and services within a fickle, multi-segmented market. In our fast-changing world of globalization and technology characterized by speed, it suggests the nimble, quick turn to another direction armed by confidence in taking calculated risks, with understanding of how our product or service can enter new markets. Or it may be a unique concept. Entrepreneurs are quick at this, and now, with the rising numbers of entrepreneurs around, pivoting is becoming quite mainstream! Let’s take health… when sickness such as cancer or diabetes makes itself known, many always pivot to quickly change their lifestyle for healing or balance.

I have studied and watched cycles. Pivots are experienced during the cycle of seven years. In any age divisible by seven (as in birthday) in life; in our body that creates new cells every seven years; in the life of a relationship/partnership/company or even brand, there is the pattern of the seven years, a pattern that demands that change happens by going off into a new direction. On the seventh year the business rocks, a relationship begins to break at the seams of one level, even the paint of a house begins to peel off.  In love relationships and marriage, it may mean to change patterns, to speak openly and lay cards on the table to assess where each one is in the marriage. In business, it might mean changing or innovating products and services, rebranding, shift directions or markets, restructuring, forcing growth, expanding, re-organizing. This is repeated in every seven-cycle (seven-14-21-28-35 etc.).

My question: at this point of your life, are you pivoting at any level? And what is it teaching you about yourself?

(Follow the writer on twitter @Jeanniejavelosa.)