Don't Pivot. Zig Zag.

Pivoting.

It's a word that comes up in entrepreneurial circles. Pivoting is what companies do when when the idealized dream of a new product or service meets the harsh reality of a market that wants something else.

But it usually sounds too extreme to me. If someone asked me to pivot from where I was standing, I'd probably do a complete 180 just to make sure I got it right.

We once rented a houseboat on the Mississippi River. Houseboats aren't known for being aerodynamic. It was impossible to go straight. Instead, I zig-zagged back and forth across the shipping channel, constantly course-correcting against winds and currents. 

It wasn't a straight path, but we eventually got where we wanted to go.

Looking back at my various jobs, creative works, and businesses it looks less like a sequence of hard pivots and more like the zig-zag path of that houseboat.

The important thing is to set aside the expectation of a direct path to success. Just let it go. Because all those other boats you see in the river with you?

They're all zig-zagging too. 

Thanks to the Tulsa Creative Engine for putting on the Spark Summit and inviting me to speak on a panel where this issue came up. I enjoyed it!