How to Know When to Pivot and When to Persist?
A guide to better habits and routines
This question arises when we find ourselves not making progress. You may have a set of habits and routines that don’t seem to be working. We know that consistency is important to success, but what do you do when those practices aren’t effective?
Should you stick with it and grind or should you make a shift onto something new? When should one pivot and find something better? Isn’t that the same as shiny object syndrome?
It is helpful to be thoughtful about our routines. We should be analytical with what we do. There is always room for improvement. With the knowledge that discipline pays off, let’s walk through how you should decide when to make a change and when to ‘stick with it’.
Are your habits & routines working?
Let’s pretend that you’ve been sold on the idea that a good morning routine leads to better days. You’ve read the books and heard the podcasts. From Tony Robbin's “fire breath” thing to Oprah Winfrey’s morning nature walks and mediation, it’s clear the ultra-successful are known for their routines.
The whole idea of a morning routine is so that the practitioner can exhibit some control over his/her day. A set of habits performed with consistency takes discipline. Ideally, that discipline transfers to other habits, like getting your to-do list done. Additionally, a morning routine allows you to be a bit selfish. It’s your chance to get that one thing done for you before life’s curveballs demand your attention.
Even if you’re not sold on a ‘morning routine’, I think most can agree that good consistent habits are essential to success. Good routines paired with consistency and discipline give us a chance to win the day.
Dreams Don’t Work Unless You Do — John C. Maxwell.
As previously cited, many successful celebrities have admirable habits and routines. That doesn’t mean you have to do what they do. Although it’s not a terrible idea to reference the rich and famous for inspiration. The key to making our habits stick is to make them work for us. The authentic individual.
A solid routine should help you to:
- Feel good while exerting some control in your life
- Build discipline and habits
- Progress toward meaningful goals
What I’ve noticed many times in my life is that I lose the excitement of a routine. Instead of feeling like I’m building energy, I start to feel like a ROBot. And that’s not good. Part of the problem is this truism that we must persist in the face of adversity. The question is when does it make more sense to pivot?
When to persist when to pivot?
It is super important to be consistent with routines and habits, but to a point. If the goal of our habits is to progress, we should constantly assess if what we are doing is working.
Here are some good questions to ask yourself if you are feeling stuck… Am I being efficient with my time? Are my routines helping me progress toward my goals? Am I enjoying the process?
These are the hard questions we have to ask ourselves when we aren’t progressing. (I could use the cliché about insanity here, but I’ll just allude to it instead).
When a routine becomes robotic it’s time to take a step back. Despite our willingness to ‘persist’ one must re-evaluate and ask if these are the right tactics?
Having some time of calendar to track what you did throughout is so valuable. It allows you to look back and see where time was spent. I find value in any type of day planner that provides hourly planning blocks.
What is the point of setting an hour aside to work on a project if you aren’t going to make any progress? This is why I am constantly asking and questioning what I am doing and if it’s working.
I think we should all empower ourselves to say “there has to be a better way”. When we get to this point after a fair assessment, its reasonable to pivot. This is the fun part of many because we get to introduce something new and we all know that… Novelty is exciting.
Novelty is exciting…
Let’s be honest. Novelty is exciting in any capacity, but in personal development, it can be especially potent. Whenever we come across some new life hack, we find instant excitement. If you’ve ever read a powerful self-help book, you know the feeling of learning something new.
The idea that this little thing can change your life creates an eagerness to implement. You start to imagine all the possibilities if you could just commit to adding this one habit to your life.
Things could be so much better!
This was how I felt after first reading about the morning routine SAVERs from Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning. In his wildly successful book, he describes how his morning routine has changed his life. It’s exploded his income, helped him find happiness, etc…
I believed it all. Not only because of Hal’s accounts but also because of the thousands of testimonials and Amazon reviews. After reading his book I was more than excited to start implementing my morning routine.
When I first implemented a morning routine, I found more vibrancy in my life. For months and months, I woke up excited at the sound of the alarm bell. This was one of the best and most transformative self-help tools I’ve ever received.
After a couple of months went by, the designed wake up plan started to lose its luster. I no longer would pop out of bed with enthusiasm to meditate. The novelty wore off and we were in the dreaded execution stage.
This was years ago, but I started to find more success when I introduced this stupidly simple idea of ‘changing it up’. When I started to get bored with my routine, I’d reflect on it and ask why it wasn’t working. Maybe, it was because I was too rushed? Or maybe, the habits didn’t align with what I needed to do.
My only rule was that if I took the time to create a new set of habits, I needed to at least stick with those new habits for a month. I had to give the tactics time to play out and adjust. What I would often find is that I could go for several months with the same routine before having to make adjustments to suit my progression plans.
The consistent analysis and self-belief to do things better gave me an important lesson. That is — it’s important to stay excited.
The importance of staying excited.
When something is no longer working for us, we should be confident enough to make the changes. I know it can be hard to shift gears because of all of the conflicting advice out there.
We have to realize that persistence is important in certain capacities. In our day to day lives, we should know when to cut ties with inefficient habits, routines, and schedules.
My approach is to evaluate what you are doing every single month. You may find a better cadence for yourself. Either way, it is vital to measure progress. See where you are at. If the tactics you are implementing aren’t working shift and embrace the excitement of change.
The power of novelty is that it makes things exciting. Some so many truly successful people preach persistence. I do not disagree, but we should ask ourselves when it makes more sense to break up the monotony of consistency.
Don’t be afraid to switch up your habits. This creates a dynamic effect on our enthusiasm levels. It’s the same type of excitement one feels after they plan a new goal. Aren’t you full of motivation right after setting a new year’s goal?
We are not robots. Some people might be better at it. More successful people might tell you this is the only way. But realize this - there are many different paths. There are even paths that haven’t been discovered yet. There are ways of doing things that no one has even tried. Will you be the first?
The only thing that matters in goal achievement is not giving up. That’s what is meant by persistence. It is the belief that you will get there is someday. All while measuring and adjusting course along the way.
As always, thank you for reading 😊. I would love to hear some additional perspectives on this topic.