It’s supposed to be a “Happy New Year” for you, but you can’t feel it because you are unemployed or underemployed at the moment. You need a break, but all you feel is broken. Something has to give, but you don’t see anything or anyone giving. We want to offer you some career advice that can help you see that you have reached a pivotal moment in your life, and you have chances to change your direction.
A pivotal moment in life can be simply identified as that “Ah-Ha” mindset when you recognize that you should adjust your direction in order to attain the thing you want.
Basketball players do it all the time – they pivot (swivel) their position on the floor to avoid losing the ball to a player on the opposing team. Each sneaker-squeak that you hear on the basketball court signifies that someone pivoted their footing to instantly stop themselves so they could adjust their direction on the court. But in this article, we want to talk about the pivotal moments in life when you know something isn’t going quite right in your career path, and something causes you to suddenly stop and evaluate what your next move should be. Fortunately, we don’t have countless pivotal moments in our life like a basketball game (it can feel that way, though), but we do know that they happen several times during a lifetime. They are the important life-changing moves you make in life, such as graduating from school, entering special personal relationships, and choosing a career path.
Sometimes, pivotal moments cause us great turmoil. They present themselves as a crisis, such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, managing a chronic illness, a natural disaster, and sudden job loss. These types of life-changing occurrences force us to take a closer look at what might be next for us unless we do a different action – like a swift pivot on the basketball court — to emerge from the rut that gets us stuck. Anyone at any age can experience a pivotal moment, as well as multiple pivotal moments during a lifetime. The trick is to know when you are facing one, and then know what to do about it. The good news is pivotal moments can help us rather than hurt us if we see our barriers as a positive chance to change.
We wanted to share one example of a person who had many pivotal moments; but the one that mattered most to his career happened rather late in his life.
Consider the life of one particular writer who didn’t write his first real successful book until he was 46 years old. His pathway to his success did not come easy. Rewind his life, and you’ll see a college graduate who was only able to get one odd job after another. He was aware of the gulf between the haves and the have-nots; he was among the have-nots, and he knew it to his core. He became a half-orphan at the age of four years old. His widowed mother struggled to make ends meet for a fatherless family. Those who knew this writer as an adult recognized that his economic challenges were the main culprit behind his outward disenchantment with life’s opportunities. He finally secured a great job at the age of 40, but then was fired after a three-year stent. He was terribly distraught about how he would tell his wife about yet another job failure. He felt hopeless and believed it was never going to get better for him.
But something very good happened when he told his wife about that sudden job loss — she surprised him with a stash of cash she had squirrelled away for this very opportunity to provide him with funds to actually do his dream job of writing! She explained that he was finally free to do it, and that the barriers had been removed for him to devote his time to write! This was his biggest pivotal moment, and he never looked back!
He wrote for the remaining 14 years of his life. Seems like a short number of years in a lifetime, but they were his best years for him and his family! After a series of misfortunes, the gloomy clouds had parted to show the bright sunshine! As a side-note, that’s the thing about the sun – it’s always there; but the darkness of night and the occasional storm clouds hide it from our view!
Who was this writer? It’s easy to relate to his story, isn’t it? Will it surprise you that these familiar modern-day experiences were lived between the years of 1804 and 1864? His name was Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was the author of The Scarlet Letter, which was the first of five great novels he would write! We can suspect that when he wrote the words, “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom,” that he was probably referencing himself, as he was given the gift of free time to devote to his passion — writing!
Like Nathaniel Hawthorne, we need someone to help us through our pivotal moments. His wife was there for him, and she helped him pivot. AGI Hospitality Recruiting is your source for career help!
Are you in a jobless situation or feel underemployed right now? Have you arrived at a pivotal moment in your life and know you have to take some kind of action? While we don’t have a stash of cash to offer you like Sophia Hawthorne gave her husband, we can point you in the direction of great job opportunities where reputable quality employers partner with us to help them find great employees like you! We can be that extra boost you have been missing. We are in this business to help people who need a better quality of life for themselves and their families. With us, you are not alone! Set-backs and barriers can be signposts that alert us to see our chances to go in the direction where our hearts lead us. Remember; you don’t have to do this by yourself. We want to help you find your dream job!
Please see all of the current job openings we have! Pivot in our direction, and we’ll point you in the right direction! Don’t allow more years of your life to tick by – apply today for a great new job!
