I’m a big fan of the song “Life’s a Dance” by John Michael Montgomery.  If you don’t know it, listen to it!  I’d like to share the pivots in my life especially in my career journey.  Passion, priorities and God are what have guided my pivots.

I’ve learned a lot but I know I still have a lot to learn.  I’m committed to being a lifelong learner!  

To understand my pivots, I want to share more about myself. I was born and raised in Walnut Grove.  I consider myself farm girl and an outdoor lover.  Family is very important to me.  I was truly blessed to know almost all my great-grandparents until loosing the first one at age nine.  I am very grateful to still have three of my four grandparents.  Along with my parents, they were all a big part of what has shaped me into who I am today.  And how I approach making pivots in my life both personally and professionally.

I’m also a Christian, wife and a mom.  These days you’ll find us running our two busy boys around to their multiple sports and school events.  We absolutely love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.   We are also on an adoption journey, hoping to adopt an infant up to age 2 somewhere in the United States. 

As a family, we started a small bakery business by obtaining our cottage food license to offset some of the costs that come with adoption.

It’s been a great experience for everyone including our boys learning entrepreneurial skills at young ages.  I am proud to work at December Day Creative (DDC) doing all the things marketing.  It fills my creative cup and I love working with our clients to help them achieve their goals.   

Now that you’ve learned a little bit more about me, I’m looking forward to sharing with you my take on making pivots in our lives. 

I’m not an expert on this topic, I’m not sure if one really exists. As I said earlier, I’ve learned a lot but still have a lot to learn!     

What do you think are the reasons we find ourselves having to pivot? 

• Something out of our control happens
• It doesn’t feel right
• Maybe you’re in danger
• Or you simply need to take the high road

Pivot usually means change…change can be scary.  The fear of the unknown. 

My most recent pivot story is the decision I made to step down as CEO of United Way of Southwest Minnesota and move into a role with DDC (+working from home).   I’m going to share my process.  Keep in mind, these things weren’t “packaged” like this while I was doing them.  I didn’t have it as a checklist, I came up with this as I reflected back on my decision making.

My pivot strategies:

• Passion
• What am I passionate about, what do I love doing?
• How do I know what my passions are?
• Feel happy while doing them
• Time flies, I’m not watching the clock
• I feel accomplished and a sense of pride when I complete something within that passion
• Am I doing what I am passion about-why not?
• Priorities
• What is most important
• What is the first thing I think about when I wake up
• Always choose first
• What makes everything I do worth it?
• Practice
• “Try on” your pivot –how does it feel?
• It’s like finding that perfect pair of jeans in the store and feeling good in the dressing room.  As painful as it is (can we talk about the lighting in there, yikes) it’s totally worth it! You can’t buy the jeans if they don’t feel good!
• Be willing to learn as you go (Life’s a dance, you learn as you go, great song). 
• Be content with not knowing it all-it shouldn’t be a reason not to pivot.
• Team work makes the dream work
• Pause
• This is an area that will always be a challenge, in our fast paced world, it’s really easy to get caught up in going 100 mph all the time.
• When does rushing ever pay off?
• In your vehicle-you get a ticket or could cause an accident
• On a test-you could fail
• Removing hot bread from the pan to soon (yep, it was me, recent experience)
• During the pause,
• As a Christian, I prayed a lot
• I talked to trusted people in my life
• Mentors
• Close friends
• My parents
• My brother

Pausing can also allow us to think about things from all angles.  Sometimes, that takes time to do.  Pausing can also prevent emotional responses.  We’ve all had those.  We look back and think, why did I do or say that? 

• Power through
• Sometimes it feels harder to pivot than to just stay where you’re at
• One thing some don’t know about my story is that I am divorced and now re-married
• I definitely did all of these things that I’m sharing today during that time in my life.  It wasn’t easy, the pivot was harder but it was the right decision.  We both are now happily re-married and successfully co-parent our two boys together. 
• The windshield is big, the rear view mirror is small. 
• Keep looking ahead-you got this!
• If you haven’t read PJ Fleck’s book “Row the Boat”-highly suggest it.  You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy this book.

To close, I want to share a few other books that I’d also recommend reading:

-The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman

–Win at Work and Succeed at Life-Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller

I hope that where ever your journey in life takes you, you pivot and you pivot well.

To close, I’d like to share this bible verse which has been my guiding light.  You’ll even find it as a tattoo on my upper arm ☺

In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:6