One summer as a kid, I worked on a poultry farm, tasked with moving eggs from the henhouses to the storage sheds. Soon, my youthful impatience kicked in, and we experimented with every shortcut we could think of to finish early and cool off in the tubewell. No matter what we tried, the outcome was the same. That’s when it hit me: some tasks can’t be improved by merely working harder or differently; sometimes, the real answer is to change what you’re doing entirely.
This lesson echoed years later during the personal computer boom. PCs had become clones, and I felt my role in sales was redundant. I asked myself, “What if the real breakthrough comes from stepping away?” That question led me to pivot to the internet sector in 1992, focusing on where I could truly add value.
Sometimes, the most transformative step you can take is not to push harder, but to step back and pivot. Have you ever wondered if stepping back might actually be your way forward?