Try Something Different
PIVOT Point
When we need a pivot, it can be tempting to reach for the tried and true.
Work harder. Push through. Apply the approach that worked last time.
There is wisdom in experience. But experience can also make us loyal to a method long after the circumstances have changed.
Consider Odysseus.
His cunning helped the Greeks capture Troy through the famous wooden horse. On his journey home, that same resourcefulness helped him escape the Cyclops. But after escaping, he insisted on shouting his name back to the defeated giant, despite his crew’s warnings. The Cyclops then called on his father, Poseidon, to punish him. A victory became another obstacle to getting home. (gutenberg.org)
For me, the lesson is this: the ability to win an encounter does not always help us reach our destination.
Sometimes we keep approaching life as a battle to be won when what we really need is a way forward.
We may be trying to establish a different kind of career, rebuild a relationship, or find a more sustainable rhythm. Yet we keep using the habits that helped us succeed in an earlier season.
More effort. More control. More proof that we know what we’re doing.
A pivot invites us to ask whether those habits still serve the life we are trying to build.
We don’t necessarily need to change everything at once or abandon everything we have learned.
Perhaps we need a ten-degree shift.
In navigation, a small change in heading, maintained over distance, leads somewhere quite different. In life, that shift might look like:
* At work: Ask your team how they would approach a problem before offering your solution.
* In a career transition: Replace one hour of scrolling job postings with a conversation about a practical need you could help meet.
* In a relationship: When you feel the urge to defend yourself, ask, “What do you need me to understand?”
* In a busy season: Leave one evening uncommitted and notice what room to breathe makes possible.
* With an idea: Test a small version with a few people before building the whole thing.
These are manageable experiments. Each gives us something new to learn.
Grace gives us room to acknowledge that a familiar approach has reached its limits. We can appreciate how it served us and still choose differently.
One responsible question
Where am I repeating an approach because it once worked, rather than because it fits what I need now?
PIVOT Point
You can honour what brought you this far and adjust your heading. Choose one ten-degree shift this week—and pay attention to what becomes possible.
