Pivoting

To me, pivoting is the ability to distinguish between tasks that must be attended to immediately, postponed, or abandoned completely. It’s a skill set worth developing, and it’s useful in all areas of life. 
At the core of this attribute is knowing who you are and distinguishing which activities affirm that identity and which diminish or are tangential to your sense of self.

For an extreme example of this skill, one day I was scrubbed in with my attending in the middle of a craniotomy for the removal of a benign brain tumor. As we were preparing to remove it, we began seeing some bleeding coming from a far corner of the brain that was not in direct relation to the tumor.  And the source of bleeding was not readily accessible from the area we were currently in.

In an instant, much more profuse bleeding came from the distant area.  The attending immediately zoomed out the microscope and began dealing with the problem, trying to determine what was bleeding and what we could do about it. He immediately raised the head of the bed, which decreased the venous blood pressure and almost stopped the bleeding, then he carefully sneaked under the corner where the bleeding was coming from and packed it with some clotting agents. Once the bleeding stopped, he paused for a moment, looked at me, and said, “OK, let’s get out of life-saving mode and get back to tumor resection mode.”

As a young resident, I knew I had just been given a life lesson. He had more than one operating mode and I needed to learn that skill.

What this means is a person that can distinguish what needs to be done now and what needs to be done later, and perhaps what never needs to happen, already has a good footing in becoming extremely effective.

Matthew Kutz, PhD, has even developed an acronym for pivot that’s really handy. 

Persevere. An embedded dedication to keep going and focused no matter the challenge. 

Improvise. The ability to change course quickly when facing changing and unknown situations with strategies created – often on the spot – to deal with life’s challenges.

Visualize. Being able to formulate and eloquently share a convincing vision of a future event or thing.

Overcome. Using resilience as the secret ingredient in dealing with major problems, mental exhaustion and unexpected crises in ways that showcase a talent for successful problem solving, which overcomes seemingly insurmountable challenges.  

Transform. A person’s ability to constantly improve that enables forward motion despite setbacks.

A final pivot litmus test: If I do this, am I helping myself get closer to who I am? Should it be immediate action, or can it wait?