NickVenturella.com 8-7-16

Iterate vs. Pivot

August 07, 2016

Pivot.Have you ever had to pivot in your life, or your work?I actually like the word, iterate, better because usually when you iterate you are actually revising your previous work/knowledge to move it towards a new version of whatever you're working on. Iterating implies continuous forward progress. Even if the new version looks/feels vastly different, or is unrecognizable from the previous version, it took going through the previous version to get to the current one - still an iteration.Pivot, on the other hand, makes me think of a pivot in basketball where one stops motion, keeps one foot planted and moves around - likely in a bit of a circle - looking for a new direction, someone to pass the ball to or taking a shot at the hoop. Unfortunately, at least to me, pivoting doesn't imply forward motion. It actually requires you to stop.Slow down, sure.Understand what options make sense and where to go next, absolutely.But stop forward motion, I don't think so.Okay, enough with semantics, what's the point here?Even when you think your focus is waning, and you're not motivated by what you're currently doing, slow down figure it out, but don't stop forward motion.The reason I say this is because, like riding a bike, once you come to a complete stop it's hard to get your momentum up to speed again. When you first start pedaling again is when it's hardest as you're just trying to get the bike moving. Once the bike is rolling along reasonably well it's easy to shift into high gear and go faster with less pedaling effort than when you started.I'm suggesting that if you do need to shift direction in your endeavors perhaps you can coast a bit while you make changes - iterate - start pedaling again and shift easily into high gear vs. coming to a complete stop to pivot and start again in a new direction.How will you keep yourself moving forward this week, especially if you need to iterate? Hit reply and let me know.Thank you for your time and attention.Have a great week!