Life is always changing and not everything works out. This is why I always tell myself this little saying, “If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But then you need to pivot.” There are plenty of other sayings that put it more eloquently, but for me, this is everything I need. For me, I try to approach life or anything new with my all. If the new thing I am trying to do is not working, then I think about how I can either change my method to make it work or I move on to something else. I ensure that I do not keep trying the same thing over and over and over again, because that is literal insanity. When you are going down a certain career path or you are trying something new, there will be a point when something is not working and you need to change.
Being stuck is so easy and so hard to leave
Everyone knows it. We love what we are comfortable with, even if it is absolutely horrendous for us. We especially do not like to be forced to try something new and uncertain, because we rather not even do it at all. This is a problem, because it can be really difficult to grow when we have bad habits. We need to change this mindset, because how do you expect to grow if you are not willing to make a change? Also, if you keep doing something that is not working, you can keep following a horrible path for you and make things worse. For example, you could be in a horrible relationship with someone (platonic or romantic) and you stay in that terrible relationship, because you do not want to lose what you are comfortable with even though that relationship is eating you up on the inside. All the while, you are constantly hurting while increase the damage within you. It is so difficult to leave behind certain people and habits, but that means we need to shake things up. This is why you need a change instead of choosing to remain stuck.
Create yourself paths for you to change
When things are hard and life doesn’t feel like it is working, then you need to develop ideas for yourself. These ideas should give you an idea what you can change into and how to do it. You need a course of action to right your ship and get you back on a track to success. For me, I have numerous contingency plans (partially because I love to plan). Currently, I am planning on becoming an insurance broker; but I understand that if it is not what is best for me, then I can change. Some of the paths I am considering are private wealth management (financial advisor), management consulting, sales, and marketing. I believe I can go into any field, but I want to find what is best for me.
Right now, I want you to start thinking about what you can do. You should already have ideas thought up if you followed my power of boredom article. If you have not yet read it, I highly suggest you check it out here. In that article, you will find how you can turn your boredom into development for your life. You will ponder on what you are passionate about and what you can possibly do with your life.
Understand how to adapt from a situation
Also, when I talk about how you should have multiple plans and you need to learn how to pivot/adapt, this does not mean that you should not give your all into a specific thing. As in, you should not stay reserved and are already ready to jump ship from a new idea. On the contrary, you need to put everything you have into a new idea. You have to have the mindset that new thing will succeed. However, you need to realize when you have to pull out.
There are two methods for me on how you can adapt from a situation. The first is to surround yourself with mentors and you need to listen to the genuine, good advice/criticism. A mentor is supposed to help you along and point you in the right direction. They are the outside view peering into your life. A strong mentor can help you grow and learn from a situation. If you do not have a mentor, then get one. There are plenty of successful individuals who want to mentor someone. If you are resistant towards getting a mentor, then how do you expect to grow if you do not listen to worthy advice? How do you expect to be successful?
The second method is sometimes difficult to do on your own. When you see things going sour, I want you to start putting forth some scenarios and being completely real with yourself. For example, let us say you start a new job and you are not having a good time. You love the work, but the people have preexisting cliques and their negativity is bogging you down. How can you change the situation? Well, you have a lot of options. You can leave, ask for a transfer, not worry about them, try to get yourself in one of the cliques, etc. There are plenty of ways to handle the situation, but what will come about if you choose a certain path. Be completely real with yourself and think about what the scenarios will look like. If it looks like it will be worse for you, then come up with a plan to adapt. You need to change from an awful situation.
Learning to adapt will change your life
When you reach the point on how you can adapt to a problem with ease, your life will change for the better. You will see how much easier it is to not be constantly stuck in a bad situation. If you arm yourself with the right tools, then you will be able to pivot and set yourself up for success. Just remember, “If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But then you need to pivot.”
