Mastering the Art of the Pivot: From Adversity to Awesomeness

On Thursday April 9, I had the honour of delivering a session for the WE-CAN Project at Queen’s University, through a webinar in Zoom. For this week’s blog I decided to share some of the “Mastering the Art of the Pivot: From Adversity to Awesomeness” session content.
 
We all face adversity in life and in business. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new level of unexpected adversity for all of us. Work life has become challenging. Many entrepreneurs are wondering what to do and who they can turn to in these troubling times.
 
The webinar and accompanying handout cover proven strategies and techniques that help you to reframe obstacles into opportunities, and help you pivot when you encounter roadblocks on your business or career path. Helping you go from adversity to awesomeness!
 
Awesomeness follows Adversity
Most of us face some adversity, as life often takes unexpected turns. That’s OK.
 
Some things are beyond our control, a year ago, most of us could not have imagined something like COVID-19 and the impact it has had on our daily lives. Our New Normal is significantly different for most of us, and incredibly challenging for entrepreneurs no matter what size your business is.
 
Our schedules have changed, many have lost income, some fear they may have to close their business. This blog isn’t going to dwell on COVID-19. Instead it’s going to cover some of the things you can do to find your path from Adversity to Awesomeness.
 
Choices & Consequences
When adversity comes your way, you have choices, even if some of the choices are unpalatable.
 
We all need to recognize and admit that some things are out of our control. You can’t change the past. Some things in the present are out of our control. We still have choices.  If it rains, you can choose to go outside with an umbrella, to wear rain gear, or to go outside anyway without doing anything to protect yourself from the weather. You may choose to complain about the weather and stay inside. These are all valid choices. Once you make a choice, accept the consequences of your choice. For example, if you choose to stay inside, you’re warm and dry, but you might miss the exercise you hoped to get.
 
Accept the consequences of your choices, and figure out how to move forward, to create the awesome future you want.
 
The Art of the Pivot
I love reading. I read for pleasure and to learn. One book I really enjoyed reading is Randi Zuckerberg’s “Pick Three: You can have it all (just not every day).” Randi shared great insights about the art of the pivot. The following tips related to pivoting your business:

• Get advice from others. But your thoughts matter most.
• Take stock of your skill set and what you love doing.
• Update your profiles.
• Timing is Key.
• Just do it.

Every week brings opportunities to pivot. Last Monday at midnight, my internet failed, I didn’t notice until I woke up Tuesday morning. After trying to reset our modem from home, I called our service provider. They told me they would do an outside of the house service call Wednesday sometime between 8 am and 5 pm.

My spouse’s advice was to forget about Thursday, to reschedule for the following week.
I took stock of my options, including that my neighbour has shared their WIFI with me in the past, and that I can access it from our dining room. I also scoped out the free WIFI in our library parking lot, sitting in the back seat of my van. Using Skype, I ran a test on video connectivity with my parents. They gave me feedback on the glare from the side and rear windows, and told me they could see the library building behind me. We brainstormed options to reduce the glare.

I told the Project lead about our Internet issues, and kept her updated. Then decided to just do it!
At noon Wednesday the service provider technicians showed up and gave us advice from outside. By 1 pm, my spouse and the techs had worked out a solution and we had internet! Just in time for the 2 pm test run Wednesday afternoon. The Internet connection worked perfectly Thursday morning.
 
One of the side effects of increasing security to avoid Zoom bombing, was that the webinar room was locked 5 minutes in. As a result, a few people who were running late missed the beginning. 
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This blog serves more than one purpose. It helps share more information with those who missed all or part of last week’s webinar, it helps me keep my promise to myself to publish a blog each Monday, and it gives people an idea of what I cover during the Mastering the Art of the Pivot: From Adversity to Awesomeness session.
 
I hope that you found this information useful.  Have a safe and healthy week.