How do you know when it’s time to move on or pivot?

We all face this question at one point or another on our entrepreneurial journey, most of us more than just once.

If we’re lucky, the answer is clear, black or white, yes or no. But more often than not, the answer isn’t that clear – unless we know how to figure it out.

A couple of months ago I took some time to really think about how my actions and expertise were impacting our business – what exactly was it I was doing day-to-day that was helping us move our business forward?

Side note: taking time out to think about these sorts of things can be very impactful. Give yourself space to stop, and ask yourself questions like this one – questions that challenge your routines and what you’re “used to doing”.

In order to help myself answer this question, I wrote out everything I did in a single day, and throughout an entire week.

After reviewing everything, I realized that my actions and expertise were making the biggest impact in our business when it was related to systems and processes.

After I had that realization, I looked at everything on my list – that I did in a single day or throughout an entire week – and I moved everything that was not related to creating or improving systems and processes for our business to a separate list.

These were things I had to seriously consider either moving on from, or at the very least finding a way to pivot in order to get better results for our business as a whole.

Is it time to move on or pivot?

Then came the tough part: it was time for me ask myself if it was time to move on or pivot with each thing that came up on my list that wasn’t related to creating or improving systems and processes for our business.

This involved me walking through 3 steps:

First step: Revisit my why for the project / task in question

Is this still important to me?

Second step: Revisit my S.M.A.R.T. goals for the project / task in question

Am I consistently reaching the goals I set for myself when I started this?

Third step: Answer the question

Given my answers to the first two questions, is it time to move on or pivot?

Let’s do a deep dive into each of these 3 steps so the next time you’re faced with the question: Is it time to move on or pivot? you’ll know how to answer it!

3 Steps: How you know it’s time…

Step 1: Your Why

When you first started the project / task in question, what were the specific reasons why you started?

• To help you breakthrough a fear you’ve been facing for too long?
• To help you move one step close towards your big goals?
• To help you grow your audience?
• To help you create freedom in your business and in your life?

Really dig deep, and once you’ve written out your why, ask yourself:

Is this still important to me?

Step 2: Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Why are S.M.A.R.T. Goals so integral to the success of your business?

Because when you set S.M.A.R.T. Goals you have something to measure – something specific that you can look back at and easily determine whether or not you’re consistently pushing yourself one step closer to those goals.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals are:

• Specific (no confusion around what it is you’re trying to accomplish);
• Measurable (there is a certain number or percentage you can use to gauge progress);
• Attainable (this is something within your reach);
• Relevant (this makes sense for you and your business);
• Time-bound (there is an actual ‘deadline’ you’ve given yourself to accomplish your goal).

By checking your progress for any given project or task against the S.M.A.R.T. Goal you set for it, it’s easy to see whether or not you’re hitting the mark.

If not, then are there certain things you could be testing to see if they’ll get you better results? If you have good reason to believe this is true, then you can pivot: you’ll be taking a slightly different approach towards accomplishing your goal with the hopes of getting better results.

Or, you might feel it’s time to put this project / task to rest completely given the progress you’ve made towards your S.M.A.R.T Goal (or lack thereof) and move on to something that will benefit your business on a larger scale.

Step 3: Answer the question

Is it time to move on or pivot?

Given your answers to the first two questions, it should be clear to you whether or not it’s time to move on or pivot.

Making this an emotional decision will only bring you back to square one, which is where most of us find ourselves when we try and answer a question like this. That’s why it’s so difficult to figure this out.

Whether it’s because this project or task is “our baby”, or because we’re having a serious case of “sunk cost bias” (feeling like because we’ve invested X amount of time and/or money into the project, we HAVE to continue it), thinking this way will lead us nowhere in terms of answering the question at hand.

Of course, we start projects and tasks because we feel they’ll make an impact on our business – or they’re something we’ve always wanted to try. With an emotional attachment, it’s tough to make this kind of decision.

But when you follow the 3 steps above, you will find greater clarity through using analytics and data from revisiting your S.M.A.R.T. Goal, making this decision more of a strategic one than an emotional one.

I hope the steps in this post will help you come to a clear decision next time you’re faced with the question: Is it time to move on or pivot?

When have you made a tough decision around moving on or pivoting with a project or task you’ve been working on for a long time? Post in the comments section below!