“You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve.”
-Marc Benioff
Have you ever come up with a really great plan? It seems flawless. You get your whole team onboard and excited about it. You make a big deal about launching a new initiative. But then things go off the rails and it begins to feel like one giant failure.
These situations are frustrating.
You and your team have invested so much into this idea coming to fruition that, when it doesn’t pan out, it feels like a giant waste of time and resources. You lose confidence, and you’re hesitant to try new things.
But there’s gold in these setbacks. A better path appears if you’re flexible enough to embrace it.
There’s a fine line between knowing when to pivot to a better path and fear of missing out (FOMO.)
FOMO happens when you see another person succeed and you want to copy their success. You chase their path until you come across the next successful person and then you shift to their path.
FOMO keeps you chasing short-term definitions of success – other people’s success.
FOMO is a distraction convincing you that if you just had what someone else had you’d be happy.
Pivoting to a better path may sound similar but its roots are completely different. Finding a better path is rooted in knowing Your Purpose. This is what you and your organization stand for no matter what.
It’s that anchor point on the distant horizon that describes the impact you want to have in the world.
True happiness and satisfaction come from knowing you’ve made an impact. That you’ve made the world a better place. Maybe that impact reaches far and wide or perhaps it only reaches those closest to you.
Either way, you have to go inward.
You have to determine what matters most to you. It’s letting go of all the societal definitions of what you could or should become and connecting to who you truly want to become in the world. Discovering this takes time, but it also brings certainty.
Not a certainty that a specific plan is going to give you the results you envision, but something that gives you an anchor point as you make decisions.
Life is a series of twists and turns. Purpose brings you back into alignment.
When you launch a new initiative and it doesn’t work out the way you hoped, take a step back.
Even in failure, you learn something about what it takes to align with your purpose. You know more than you did before and that will make your next move even better.
Don’t let FOMO hold you back. Reach out today if you’re looking to transform your leadership skills and achieve your goals!