I was recently part of a rather large move-in day with 2,000 of my closest friends! Just kidding...it was College Freshmen Move-In Day for my son. It is impossible to watch people hoisting sofas over the heads and carrying couches up four flights of stairs without thinking of a very popular and funny episode of the sitcom “Friends”. Some people purposely volunteer to help their friends move just so they can repeatedly (and loudly) shout out the word “PIVOT!” For those of you who remember the episode, I know you are already chuckling to yourself. If the “Friends” phenomenon passed you over, then allow me to offer a brief synopsis of this fan-favorite scene:
Ross enlists the help of two of the ‘friends’ - Chandler and Rachel - to help him move a couch into his apartment. He even provides them with a sketch/drawing in which he has mapped out his moving strategy. What he apparently forget to calculate was exactly how the couch would be able to wrap around each flight of stairs. With Chandler handling the middle of the couch and Ross and Rachel lifting either end, the trio of best friends attempts to make the impossible happen. When they are unable to navigate the turns given the girth of the couch, Ross resorts to shouting out his solution to them and his only bit of advice is: “PIVOT! PIVOT!...”which he repeats very loudly six times. Chandler responds with an equal number of: “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” When they are forced to give up their plan, Ross says “I cannot believe that didn’t work” to which Rachel says “Yeah, and you had that sketch too.” This leaves Chandler saying “What did you mean when you said PIVOT?”
The word PIVOT has several meanings, one of which is “the person or thing on which something depends; the central or crucial factor”, also “a shaft or pin on which something turns”. We are approaching the changing of the seasons which prompted me to blog last week about making a fresh start during this most wonderful time of the year. I suggested that you take this time to evaluate where you are and come up with a plan for where you would like to be. This may require you to PIVOT in order to accomplish this.
Have you ever heard the expression “the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior”? I really, really, really dislike this phrase. I am uncertain of its origin but I would like to help put an end to its use. I often hear people saying things like:
“I probably won’t spend much time at the gym this winter because I didn’t get there at all last winter”,
“I am not going to buy any fruits because I never end up eating them”,
“My Mom used to force me to eat that vegetable, I am sure I still dislike it.”
Each and every time we make a decision about the present and the future based upon something negative from the past, we are allowing the past behavior to dictate and control our lives. We need to look forward, press on, and move past the limitations that precede us. As far as I am concerned, the only people who should be looking backwards are the cowboys in old western movies shooting behind them!
Just because we don’t have Ross shouting from the top of the couch that it is time to PIVOT, doesn’t mean we can’t make that move on our own. What is it in your life that could benefit from a PIVOT? Is it your diet? Your exercise routine? The amount of water you drink each day? The clutter in your home? The junk food in your pantry? YOU are the central and crucial factor that can make positive changes happen. If you have two good friends to support you, then you are as lucky as Ross Geller in Friends. If not, just shout out PIVOT to yourself every once in awhile as a reminder and motivation.
In the end, Ross had no choice but to saw his couch in half in order to get it up the stairs. I think that your PIVOT will be a lot easier than that!