Preparing For Pivotal Moments

Scott Miller

I’m privileged to host a weekly radio program on iHeart radio called Great Life, Great Career with Scott Miller.

With each program, I feature a new guest on a topic related to creating greatness in our lives and careers.

This past week’s guest was Daniel McGinn, an editor at the Harvard Business Review and author of the book Psyched Up. We discussed the value of pre-performance rituals and whether they apply to those of us not trying to become high-performance athletes, opera singers, or Broadway actors.

In our interview, he said something immensely practical that I think we can all apply. Each of us has pivotal moments in our lives, regardless of our stages and roles. He suggested perhaps 6-10 each year: a new job interview, a conversation with your leader about a promotion, submitting the manuscript to a publisher you’ve been writing for years. Maybe it’s a marathon you intend to run, a work presentation, a speech, or simply an important conversation you need to have with your mother about her health.

I’ve taken this task seriously and have looked ahead at my 2019. I’ve currently identified five pivotal moments, all professional, that I intend to accomplish. Each will require significant focus and hard work. I’m rather transparent (sometimes to my own detriment), but because I try to be fearless, I’ll share them with you:

Grow FranklinCovey’s On Leadership weekly, a digital newsletter to become the most valued and largest in the world.
Move FranklinCovey’s Great Life, Great Career iHeart radio program into national syndication and begin to broadcast daily, from client locations outside the radio studio.
Launch two influential books that I am authoring or co-authoring (The 30-Day Leadership Challenge and The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team).
Launch a weekly article in Inc. magazine.
Grow my LinkedIn followers to 100,000+ by providing unique, daily value.

That’s half the task.

Dan proceeded to talk about the value of understanding your own launch sequence, specifically planning out the actions to make these pivotal moments successful. Might be refining your own plan to ensure you have time set aside to develop and advance your skills. Might be increased mindfulness or quiet time dedicated to envisioning what success looks like and how you’ll achieve it. Might be a calming or focusing ritual you perform just before your moment comes about.

What about you—do you have any upcoming pivotal moments? What are you doing to prepare for them?

I think my launch sequence is more about thoughtfulness and preparation, less about good-luck charms or rituals.

But if you want to lend me your lucky rabbit’s foot, I’m delighted to give you my address.

Don’t leave the success of your first-level leaders, and your organization, to chance—download our complimentary guide today and help them make the mental leap to leader.

About the Author

Scott Miller is a 25-year associate of FranklinCovey and serves as Senior Advisor, Thought Leadership. Scott hosts the world’s largest and fastest-growing podcast/newsletter devoted to leadership development, On Leadership. Additionally, Scott is the author of the multi-week Amazon #1 New Releases, Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights From Our Greatest Minds, Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow, and the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Everyone Deserves a Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife and three sons.
More Content by Scott Miller

What I Learned From Stephen R. Covey

Scott Miller shares a valuable lesson he learned from Stephen R. Covey that has helped him to be a more eff...

The 'How' is More Important Than the 'What'

Leaders must deliberately choose to exercise the maturity and wisdom to deliver results while also leaving ...

6 Ways to Help Your Team Handle Stress During Times of Change

Download Guide

Return to Home

We enable greatness in people and organizations everywhere.

Preparing For Pivotal Moments

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Preparing For Pivotal Moments

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Most Recent Articles

FranklinCovey’s mission of enabling greatness in people and organizations everywhere is essentially a mission about change.

We have identified the four most common pitfalls impacting leaders in transition and provide strategies for leaders to successfully navigate these potential pitfalls.

There is a lot of research about leaders failing to transition into an organization and/or up into a new role. It is important to understand you are on a journey through transition.

Based on our data, we have created a formula for helping new leaders work through the top four reasons for failure.

There are several things you can do to keep remote workers engaged. Look over this list and see if there are some you can implement.

Skilled leaders understand that change is a disruptive force and an opportunity. By understanding the predictable pattern of change, leaders can reframe hybrid work as a catalyst for growth.

Most of us fear failure and try to avoid it at all costs, becoming stressed out and risk-averse. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s how to change your mind about failure.

So you’ve got extremely talented people on your team and you have them aligned with appropriate tasks where they should really excel. But your results aren’t matching your expectations. What now?

What do you do when your team starts to falter or produce less than stellar results—how do you turn things around and recover?

Project management is now the work and competitive edge of the twenty-first century, even for workers without that phrase in their title or job description. Master these 4 skills to excel.

Creating behavior change requires three learning and development components that drive lasting impact. Read this article to learn more.

Leaders have an opportunity to facilitate smooth sailing on projects. Learn how keeping open lines of communication, inspiring enthusiasm, and cultivating an agile approach contribute to success.

Want to be smart about your L&D program budget? Align your learning outcomes with broader business goals for ultimate success. Learn more in this article.

When HR leaders invest in application-driven learning and development solutions, they provide ongoing learning opportunities that lead to lasting impact for their organization.

You’re in a unique position to solve problems your people can’t solve on their own and to obtain resources they don’t have access to.

Leaders can support their project teams by taking time to build frameworks for collaboration and cultivating a healthy team culture built on trust and clear communication.

How can you determine if you should change how you work, or if you should look for something different? Ask yourself these questions:

When projects are tied to business value, grounded in effective collaboration, and driven by healthy processes, leaders can help their teams achieve their goals.

Change is an ever-present part of running an organization. Today, rapid changes in technology, market dynamics, staffing, and consumer preferences have accelerated the need for upskilling.