When to Pivot.

The year 2020 has thrown some extreme curve balls at us. Every other day there seems to be a roadblock, a speed bump or a “Posted” sign in our way. From a global pandemic, to racial injustices and inequality to the ugliness of political campaigns to our own personal struggles, it has been a year.

I see two paths that we can take during these incredible challenging times: to stand still or to pivot. I choose to pivot.

As a college golf coach, I take a lot of pride in supporting student-athletes through and beyond their college careers. I love creating team unity, running practices, doing team building activities, getting on planes or in a van and travelling to events. I love being in my office and having an athlete drop in to check in, hang out or ask for advice. I love being in the gym for team work outs, walking the golf course during practices and walking to and from the office each day. I especially love coaching during competitive events. Currently, all of those activities are on hold. Our fall semester is remote, the athletes are at home and their is no fall college athletics for our conference. The gym is closed, I am not allowed in my office and there is no travel.

These challenges are tough AND as a team, we have pivoted to something different. We have pivoted to taking classes remotely from home, workouts in our backyards, playing golf on our own with a mask on and connecting through computer and phone screens. We have pivoted to once a week team meetings, community outreach virtually, new ways to connect and spending time in our own little corners of the world being our best selves to be ready for January of 2021. And let’s be honest, there is no guarantee that we will even compete in the spring of 2021. What we do know is that we are not competing this fall and our focus is to the spring with the hope that we will have the opportunity to move forward.

I personally have pivoted to working out in my kitchen, back porch or in Golden Gate Park. I have pivoted to meal prep and planning and cooking almost all meals at home. I have pivoted to wearing a mask on dog walks, grocery store runs and in any public setting. I have become great at washing my hands and not touching my face.

During these difficult times, I encourage you to find a way to do things differently, learn new skills, create a new outlook and do what you can to move through this. What have you been doing to pivot? What else can you do? How do you want to feel when we get to the other side of this? What do you need to do to get to that feeling? You have this time to make intentional decisions, choices and pivots. I encourage you to take advantage of it.

Only you can decide how you will pivot.