Mindset
“Pivot….pivot…..pivot……PIVOT!”
― Ross Geller
Anyone who lived through the golden age of Thursday night television, before PVRs and long before streaming, remembers the scene.
Ross and Chandler are trying to move a couch up a narrow staircase. The couch gets stuck. Ross, convinced there must be a solution, keeps yelling:
“Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!”
As if sheer optimism and a slight adjustment will somehow make the impossible possible.
Meanwhile, Chandler has reached his limit.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
He knows exactly what’s happening. The couch isn’t going any farther.
It’s one of the most memorable scenes in television history because it’s funny, but also because it’s relatable.
Most of us have been there.
Maybe not with a couch, although many of us have carried one up a staircase while praying our friend actually measured the doorway before buying it. But we’ve all experienced that moment when something we thought would work suddenly doesn’t. The plan falls apart. The path forward disappears. The solution we were counting on no longer exists.
And then we’re left with one option.
Pivot.
The ability to adapt may be one of the defining characteristics of being human.
Think about it.
We arrive in this world with no shelter, no clothing, no tools, and a remarkably long journey before we can survive independently. Yet somehow we have become the dominant species on the planet.
Not because we’re the strongest.
Not because we’re the fastest.
Because we adapt.
We create solutions to problems that didn’t exist yesterday. We invent new tools. We revise old ideas. We change course when conditions change. We learn. We evolve. We pivot.
For our family, the past several years have been an exercise in exactly that.
The pandemic changed nearly everything about our business and our daily lives. One day we were teaching courses and hosting events in person. The next day we were doing everything online.
The constraints changed, so the solution had to change.
One day I was struggling to find guests for my podcast. The next, because everyone was sitting at home and looking for connection, I was hosting conversations with some of the biggest names in performance, rehabilitation, and coaching. Opportunities that seemed impossible suddenly became possible.
Then, just as quickly, the world shifted again.
Pivot.
The pandemic eventually faded into the background, but the lessons remained. It was perhaps the only truly global event of our lifetime. Every person on the planet experienced it in some form. Nobody escaped untouched.
Yet humanity adapted.
As we always do.
More recently, our family has found ourselves navigating another season of change.
The community has changed.
Business has changed.
Marketing has changed.
Communication has changed.
First came the explosion of social media platforms, each creating its own audience, language, and culture. Then, came artificial intelligence, introducing possibilities and challenges we are only beginning to understand.
Like every technological shift before it, there are advantages and disadvantages.
The question isn’t whether change is coming.
The question is whether we are willing to adapt to it.
Whether we can embrace the opportunities while managing the risks.
Whether we can remain curious instead of resistant.
Whether we can pivot.
That idea has become increasingly important to me this year.
A new role.
A move back to Montreal.
New challenges.
New opportunities.
A new chapter.
Not because I was searching for change for the sake of change, but because life has a way of presenting us with moments where standing still is no longer an option.
Sometimes change is chosen.
Sometimes it is imposed.
Sometimes it arrives quietly, and sometimes it crashes through the front door without warning.
Either way, we eventually find ourselves standing on the staircase, holding the couch, realizing the original plan isn’t going to work.
And that’s okay.
Because adaptation is not failure.
Changing direction is not a weakness.
Revising the plan is not giving up.
It’s often the exact thing that allows us to keep moving forward.
The key is remembering that every change creates consequences. Every new solution introduces new challenges. Every opportunity carries some degree of risk.
Upstream change always creates downstream effects.
The goal isn’t to avoid that reality.
The goal is to navigate it thoughtfully.
To make the best decision you can with the information you have.
To stay flexible.
To stay curious.
To stay moving.
So if you’re going through a season of change right now, wondering whether the next step is the right one, take comfort in knowing that adaptation is part of the human story.
It’s how we survive.
It’s how we grow.
It’s how we create better futures for ourselves and for the people around us.
And sometimes, when the couch gets stuck and the original plan falls apart, the answer really is…
Pivot.
