Pivot? Here are the habits of successful change

Pivot? Change? Upheaval? Any of those words sound familiar? We have all been though about a dozen “pivots” in the last few years.

And, if you are like me, you had Plan A for your life when you were in your 20’s and by now, you are on about Plan Q!

Life changes, things change, and nothing is quite what we thought it would be.

Some people seem to thrive in that. Some people make change from one place to another to another and seem to have success in every area and through every pivot.

How?!

I asked my friend Branch Isole. Branch has been through it all. Military career, business career, and is now an author of over 20 books. He has moved and pivoted and changed.

Most importantly, at every turn he has been successful.

I asked him what habits he has used to stay successful through every pivot. Here is his answer:

Being an optimist or, at least, knowing that every opportunity, whether it’s a success or a failure offers some moment of clarity and an opportunity to grow, you know reflective growth.

What did I do wrong in this situation, how could I have done it differently that would have given me a different consequence?

You know, our lives are about relationships and in every relationship, whether it’s personal or at home or in business we all face decisions. Each decision opportunity has a consequence at the back end of it, and when we have failures, when we are disappointed, or when we’re not happy with what we’ve done or what we’ve said, there is a way to turn that around if we look for the positive root that’s in that negative space.

And by that, I mean, I make a mistake and I adjust, and I say, “Okay well I’m not going to face the similar or next situation with that same response.”

So that opportunity to grow gives us sort of that next door to open, and you know face the next situation and a little bit differently than we did before it was one that you know ended in failure for us.

My success is my success, but the failures also mine so whenever I go into a situation where I’ve got to make a major decision I always try and look at what the possibilities are.

I’m always looking forward to the positive outcome. But I also try to analyze what could possibly go wrong in this situation, and if it’s a situation that’s similar to something I’ve experienced in the past then I reflect on what that outcome was and if it was negative that’s a red flag, for me, because if I’ve already experienced the negative consequence of a decision Then I don’t want to go down that road again so it helps ground me in focusing on what’s positive.

The habit of focusing on what is positive while being aware of what might go wrong. That was the key for Branch, and the best part, it works for us, too!

Your Actions:

Take a recent success in your life. Write down 3 things that helped that success happen.

Take a recent failure. Write down 3 things you learned about what caused that failure or what lesson you learned that you want to make sure you don’t repeat next time!

Now, make it a habit to do that once a week. Set a calendar event on your phone to spend 15 minutes every Friday thinking about a success and a failure from the past week and writing down what you learn.

Your Results:

You will grow faster and grow no matter what you are facing!