3.5 Ways to Pivot After Failing

Everyone Fails, Not Everyone Pivots

4 min readJan 21, 2020

I’m relatively new to setting goals that span longer than a 2–3 month timeframe.

2018 was the first time I set a goal that covered an entire year. I wanted to read 3-books a month for a total of 36. At the end of 2018, I had racked up 37.

Okay, I know, it’s not that big of a goal. Nonetheless, I was ready for another 365-day goal. This time I wanted to focus on writing.

Thinking back on my previous experiences of trying to write consistently, copying my reading goal seemed a bit ambitious (3x/month). I tapered it back to just 2-Published Pieces per month.

By March, I was behind.

By September, I would need to write 1x a week (at that time of the year, it was a long-shot). Deep down, I knew it was over.

Back to the drawing board.

I have a new goal now, one of which is going incredibly well so far (I’ve accomplished 25% of what I did last year in 4% of the time).

But before I began, I needed to reflect and figure out why I had failed so miserably at my writing goal (besides the obvious of, you know, just not writing).

3.5 Ways to Pivot:

I. Admit the failure.

You tried something and it didn’t work out. That’s okay, embrace reality. Who cares (turns out no one, so dwell on this step the least amount).

John Wooden, legendary coach of UCLA Men’s Basketball, had a vision for every team that relied solely on each player doing his best. If the team won, but the player knew he hadn’t really tried, from a personal standpoint it was a failure, no matter what the scoreboard said.

If you did your best, you still showed up and tried.

That’s what counts.

II. Lead or Lag Measure?

My reading goal was a lag measure; I had a monthly quota to fulfill and I only knew the results after they had happened.

Alternatively, a lead measure is where the focus is on the action that influences the end results.

Example: You check at the end of every month to see if you gained weight (Lag measure). Next time, you simply track what you eat and when you exercise. By managing the first step, you positively influence the number on the scale at the end of the month.

Ask yourself, should this be a lag-measure goal (units due by end of date) or a lead-measure goal (habit, showing up at xyz time and doing ABC).

Most of the time, using a lead measure yields much better results (this is what I switched to for my 2020 goal).

III. Keep experimenting.

Action speeds up learning. Failure makes things go even faster (if of course you read this article and choose to pivot!)

There is no shortcut. No matter who says there is, or which Facebook Ad “Business Guru” declares that they have figured it out,

There is no. shortcut.

You have to show up, every day, and push the needle 1% forward. That’s the formula.

All you need is 1% a day. Opportunities will come.

Start.

III.5 Write the goal down and make it trackable.

This really does make a difference. The more detailed and step-by-step you can make your goal, the easier it is to accomplish.

When you plan in advance, you have already done the heavy thinking. Now all you have to do is follow the map that you have laid out.

Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing and now owner of Michael Hyatt & Co., says that these are the 5 reasons that you should write down your goals:

It will force you to clarify what you want.
It will motivate you to take action. “Seeing is believing.” — Tom Hanks, Polar Express.
It will provide a filter for other opportunities (I’m just now starting to experience this. Success requires the use of “No” a lot more than I thought!)
It will help you overcome The Resistance (Steven Pressfield, The War of Art)
It will enable you to see and celebrate your progress.