Perseverance and Pivoting
When it comes to effectiveness, there are two important strategies that sometimes seem at odds: perseverance, and pivoting.
First, perseverance.
Good things take time to build—and important progress takes a long time to create.
Beyond Meat was founded in 2009, but didn't release any products until 2012. The Beyond Burger wasn't even released until 2015, six years after the company's founding. All those years were spent in research, marketing, fundraising, and everything else that goes into building a successful food business.
The Humane League—an international animal advocacy organization—was founded in 2005, and they were a small organization for many years. Today, they operate in countries all around the world and influence policies at some of the biggest companies that exploit animals.
These two organizations wouldn't be having the impact they're having today if not for a lot of perseverance.
Second, pivoting.
Sometimes, what you're doing isn't working—or there's a much better option you could pursue. This is where it's important to stop, reassess, and switch to something that is higher impact.
Beyond Meat started with chicken strips before completely ending that product line and pivoting to burgers (and other products). The Humane League started with leafleting, online advertising, and other programs that they no longer emphasize.
Perseverance and pivoting are compatible; in fact, both are necessary for successful work.
But beware the pitfalls of using the wrong strategy at the wrong time. To persevere at something subpar is folly: "it's no good to do something well, if that thing is not worth doing." But to pivot too much is to never build something great: just because something is new or interesting doesn't mean its worth your time and energy to switch.
Learning helps you know when to use each strategy: learning about the effectiveness of your current work, and learning about the other potential options out there.
Which pitfall do you tend towards? Do you tend to persevere after you should have switched, or switch too soon when you should stick it out? Knowing which way you're biased might help you know how to tweak your behavior going forward.
