#relevance — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Futurist Jim Carroll @[email protected] · 2026-05-05 · 10:24 UTC

“You should never wait for the world to catch up to your obsolescence." - Futurist Jim Carroll

Here's a truth to consider: your gut feels the pivot long before your head admits it.

Sometimes we are forced into a career change or pivot. Other times, we need to make the decision on our own.

Either way, it's a gut-wrenching moment.

I know that when I was thinking about leaving the corporate world behind back in 1990, I was pretty miserable. My career track had changed due to a merger; my opportunities vanished; my successful path forward was now in doubt. And yet, I struggled mightily with the idea of moving from career certainty to becoming a self-employed unknown chasing a future that didn't yet exist.

But I went through with it, and it turned out to be the right thing to do.

Here's what I've learned in the decades since: when a pivot is forced on you, you go through something a lot like the stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, and eventually acceptance. When the pivot is your own choice, the same thing happens, just in slow motion. You sit in denial that things have to change. You get angry that they have to. And eventually, hopefully, you accept it.

As I wrote in my book Now What? Reinvention and the Role of Optimism in Finding Your New Future, the faster you get to acceptance, the quicker you can reinvent.

So how do you get to acceptance? You learn to recognize the signals. Some triggers will tell you when it's time:

The expiry of your relevance

The "soul-crushing" signal

The need for reinvention velocity

The "Sunday night" signal

Read about them in the full post.

And one trigger that sits apart from the rest: if you are drowning your career misery in substance abuse, the pivot question has already answered itself. The first move isn't a career change. It's getting help, from yourself or from someone trained to give it. The pivot comes after.

Here's the filter, though: not every bad week is a signal. Burnout, a difficult client, a rough quarter — those are weather, not climate. The triggers above only matter when they become persistent, structural, and patterned. If a vacation fixes it, it wasn't a pivot signal.

You should never find yourself thinking "I should have jumped sooner."

Because when you wonder if it's time to pivot, it probably already is.

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Futurist Jim Carroll is writing this series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, because he thinks he has mastered the art of the pivot!

**#Obsolescence** **#Pivot** **#Gut** **#Signals** **#Acceptance** **#Change** **#Reinvention** **#Relevance** **#Triggers** **#Career** **#Freelance** **#Lessons** **#Denial** **#Grief** **#Movement** **#NowWhat** **#Optimism** **#Soul** **#AI** **#Recognition**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/05/decoding-tomorrow-the-infinite-pivot-series-28-you-should-never-wait-for-the-world-to-catch-up-to-your-obsolescence/

#obsolescence #pivot #gut #signals #acceptance #change

Futurist Jim Carroll @[email protected] · 2026-03-13 · 10:25 UTC

"Consistency is only a virtue if the path is still relevant." - Futurist Jim Carroll

Here's something you already know: doing the same old thing puts you on the road to the same old destination.

Keeping that in mind, here are some simple rules to avoid consistency:

Don’t wait for clarity because speed is the only certainty (we don't know where we're going, but we're making great time)

Don’t fear the pivot because the straight path is extinct (volatility is the new normal!)

Don’t ignore the rebels because they see what you’re missing (think about that one - you know it's true!)

Don’t rely on your history because it won’t write your future (legacy is a death sentence)

Don’t prioritize your process because the world prioritizes your progress (be creatively disorganized)

Don’t mistake activity for achievement because movement isn't always forward (invest in free time)

Don’t wait for clarity because speed is the only certainty (jump without knowing!)

Don’t fear the pivot because the straight path is extinct (change yourself already!)

Don’t seek the 'perfect' plan because agility beats perfection every time (you can't plan in a fast future)

Don’t build for today because tomorrow is already here (live forward...)

Don’t settle for the comfortable because growth only happens in discomfort (comfort zone stuff)

How do you do that?

Abandon the roadmap - it was made for a different time

Abandon your assumptions - because they are already anchors

Abandon the tried and true for new things

Abandon perfection because mistakes are your new knowledge opportunities

Abandon yesterday’s logic since it is now basically tomorrow's illogical foundation

Abandon the status quo because it's already obsolete

Abandon what you know to find what you don't know

Abandon the safe plan for the risky unknown

Abandon the analysis and go with your gut

Abandon what you've already done to find what you need to do next

What's the phrase we often hear? I heard it in a song yesterday while driving: "Today is only yesterday's tomorrow.' It's from Uriah Heep, a great 70s band.

Rethink it: "Tomorrow is yesterday's missed opportunity" if you don't change things up!

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Futurist Jim Carroll has seen many companies fail at innovation because consistency is central to their culture.

**#Consistency** **#Change** **#Pivot** **#Agility** **#Abandon** **#Rules** **#Future** **#Innovation** **#Rebels** **#Progress** **#Speed** **#Growth** **#Discomfort** **#Strategy** **#Movement** **#Tomorrow** **#Roadmap** **#Assumptions** **#Risk** **#Leadership** **#Transformation** **#Relevance** **#Logic** **#Action** **#Onwards**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/03/daily-inspiration-consistency-is-only-a-virtue-if-the-path-is-still-relevant/

#consistency #change #pivot #agility #abandon #rules