Successful careers are defined in the few-but-crucial pivotal moments. This book will teach you how to take full advantage as you build the career you deserve.

1. DAN BEVERLY PAGE | 3
CONTENTS
WHAT’S STARTING YOU?....................................................................................4
DEFINING A PIVOTAL MOMENT ........................................................................5
What have been your Pivotal Moments? ..................................................................................5
Special stories.................................................................................................................................6
Designing the future......................................................................................................................7
The importance of deeper thinking............................................................................................7
IDENTIFYING THE PIVOTAL MOMENTS ............................................................9
Identifying your pivotal moments ..............................................................................................9
Knowing what you're looking for.............................................................................................. 10
Being in the right mindset........................................................................................................... 11
Managing your state.................................................................................................................... 12
Learning to listen to yourself ..................................................................................................... 13
Making a robust evaluation.........................................................................................................14
Practising your art........................................................................................................................ 15
Embedding the habits................................................................................................................. 16
EMBRACING THE PIVOTAL MOMENTS........................................................... 17
Developing a robust quality of thought ...................................................................................17
Cognitive distortions ................................................................................................................... 18
Self-limiting beliefs...................................................................................................................... 19
Feel the fear and do it anyway ................................................................................................. 20
Getting out of your own way.....................................................................................................22
CAPITALISING ON THE PIVOTAL MOMENTS .................................................23
Your pivotal moment end goal..................................................................................................23
The pivotal moment goal-setting process..............................................................................23
From goal setting to goal achieving.........................................................................................25
Setting your performance goal .................................................................................................25
Completing your "full goal complement"................................................................................26
The work goal ...............................................................................................................................26
The learning goal..........................................................................................................................27
The ecology of our actions.........................................................................................................27
Aligning with your goal and getting into action ....................................................................28
Performance in the moment .................................................................................................... 30
Who will you choose to be? ....................................................................................................... 31
THE MOST POWERFUL PIVOTAL MOMENT OF ALL ......................................33
A quick recap ................................................................................................................................33
Where you go from here.............................................................................................................34
The most Powerful Pivotal Moment of all...............................................................................34
This present moment, right now. .............................................................................................34
21 GREAT COACHING QUESTIONS FOR THE PIVOTAL MOMENTS..............35

2. THE POWER OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT
LEADERSHIP & PERFORMANCE COACHING C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 1 5 D BE V E R L Y C O A C H I N G
PREFACE
WHAT’S STARTING YOU?
Thank you for choosing The Power of a Pivotal Moment. I do hope you both enjoy it and find it of use.
Now, I'm going to say, right off the bat, that there's nothing in here you don't already know, deep down.
My hope and intention for this book is that it will bring more of what you do know into conscious
awareness and give you some practical action steps to get you charged-up about your opportunities.
But ultimately: I don't have the answers. You do.
I'm confident of that. And to make sure you are too, I'm going to ask you to make a decision, right now:
Do you want a career by choice or by chance?
Decide right now.
Whatever decision you come to, I respect that – just so long as you acknowledge that "by choice" or "by
chance" is a choice you are making. Just as it's your choice how much responsibility for your career you
are willing to give to others.
So: take ownership. Stay resourceful. Work hard. Get into action. And whilst we can spend a lot of time
asking: what's stopping you? I want to ask you a different question:
What's Starting You?
With that: enjoy the read. Do the thinking. Complete the exercises. Have fun. Let me know what you think.
And Embrace the Power of this Pivotal Moment, right now.
Dan.

3. THE POWER OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT
DAN BEVERLY PAGE | 5
CHAPTER ONE
DEFINING A
PIVOTAL MOMENT
“That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine
one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.
Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that
would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
What have been your Pivotal Moments?
Our path through life and career is riddled with twists, turns, backtracks and offshoots. And our journey
has been signposted by decisions avoided or taken; opportunities missed or seized; moments shrunk
from – or embraced.
Pivotal (ˈpivətᵊl) ADJECTIVE Of crucial importance.
Moment (ˈməʊmənt) NOUN A specific instant or point in time.
Let me ask you: what have been some of the pivotal moments in your life and career?
I'm guessing that when you really think about it, the dictionary definitions don’t go far enough; that we're
not just talking about the chronological landmarks of life: school exams, leaving for university, getting
married, having children.
We're talking about those fleeting yet deep moments when you realised something special was happening
or about to happen. Something that would determine a course for you.
So with those thoughts in mind: what would be your personal definition of a "Pivotal Moment"?
Self-Coaching Exercise 1.1: Create your personal and extended definition of the term "Pivotal Moment".
Keep the following questions in mind:
 What are the essential ingredients that make a moment "pivotal"?
 What stand-out characteristics distinguish a "pivotal moment"?
 What sensory evidence (feelings) need to be included in your definition?

4. THE POWER OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT
LEADERSHIP & PERFORMANCE COACHING C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 1 5 D BE V E R L Y C O A C H I N G
Our pivotal moments come in many guises; and they don't always present themselves as a positive event
– at first. Let me share with you one of the pivotal moments from my own career that seems particularly
relevant here.
Special stories
I was interviewing for a job at a top-notch technical consultancy with a notoriously rigorous intake
process. I had performed well in the early interviews, but was nevertheless rejected after interview #3.
"You're not quite what we're looking for" was the feedback.
At that moment, I had a choice: accept their decision (with any number of personal justifications) and
continue job-hunting. Or choose a different path.
At that particular moment, I had the strongest sense that an opportunity was about to be missed: by both
of us.
With it, I also had a moment of illumination. I was excellent at what I did previously; but I didn't then get
the next job. The message was pretty clear: what got me here wasn't going to get me there. And that
insight really challenged me to think about what I had to offer; and stretched me to find another level.
From there, I wrote an impassioned letter to the company suggesting why I was right for them – albeit
different from their "norm". And it was enough to win another interview.
With a renewed approach and after interview #6, I eventually got the role. I worked for that company for
years and it was the highlight of my consulting career. And I only left at the calling of another pivotal
moment: my children.
I don't mean to share this story to glorify me and my resolve in adversity. But rather to highlight that our
pivotal moments are so much more than the face-value of external events. They're about instinct and
intuition, challenge and stretch. They're not easy; they require work; and they come with risk.
My story is special to me. Which of your stories are most special to you?
Self-Coaching Exercise 1.2: Make a list of the pivotal moments in your career from the last 2 years. Ask
yourself some exploratory questions:
 What was the source of the pivotal moment?
 What feelings did you experience at the time?
 What did you have to overcome?
 How did you know your course was the right one?
 Who else was involved in "making it happen"?
What themes are you noticing, both internal and external, about your pivotal moments? Write down at
least 5 key characteristics that your pivotal moments have in common.

5. THE POWER OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT
DAN BEVERLY PAGE | 7
Designing the future
In my pivotal moment, one of the strongest feelings I had about the one course over the other was its
absolute harmony with the long-term vision I had for my future.
Often, we're not used to thinking so far ahead ("long-term" means at least 10 years), but it's essential if
we're to get a strong sense of direction.
Self-Coaching Exercise 1.3: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
 Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with?
 What do you see? Feel? Hear from others? Say to yourself?
 What have you achieved? What are you most pleased and proud to look back on?
 What is most important to you, here and now?
 How has your approach to the pivotal moments helped you get here?
Encapsulate your 10-yr vision in a few choice sentences. Then describe how the pivotal moments – and
your approach to them – have contributed to your success.
The importance of deeper thinking
So where are we? We've thought about our own definition of a "Pivotal Moment". We've looked at some of
the deeper sensory characteristics of our past pivotal moments. And we've considered how future pivotal
moments might contribute to our longer-term vision.
For some, it might feel like we've gotten a little off-track, here. That we've gone a little too deep when
what we're really interested in are practical steps to seize opportunities to build a successful career.
But there are 3 very good reasons for going deep with our thinking.
1. Our Intuition. We've underscored the importance of our intuitions when faced with a
pivotal moment. Our intuition is a powerful ally to our more "rational" decision-making
tactics. And ask any successful professional (including yourself): which of your best career
decisions were not guided by an impassioned inner voice?
2. Our Responses. We've brought into awareness our responses to the pivotal moments. What
we've had to do. What we've had to overcome. What we've been capable of in the past. This
thinking will be useful in developing our sense of possibility for future moments, as well as
helping maintain our motivation and resilience.
3. Our Themes. We're noticing common themes and characteristics of pivotal moments: some
internal; some external; some common to all of us; some just for us. A sensitivity to these
themes will help us spot the pivotal moments in our futures – some we would perhaps have
otherwise missed.

6. THE POWER OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT
LEADERSHIP & PERFORMANCE COACHING C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 1 5 D BE V E R L Y C O A C H I N G
I'm also guessing that we're all now definitely on the same page: that recognising and embracing these
few but crucial pivotal moments can be the difference between a mediocre career and a great career. And
that, with our brain-chemistry ensuring autopilot (and so, complacency?) is never far away, capitalising
on these moments is going to take a different approach.
So this is all good, meaningful thinking: around your unique definition of a "Pivotal Moment"; around the
tangible characteristics of the pivotal moments that have shaped your career to date; of the inherent
importance of these moments.
Let's now carry-forward that thinking as we start to consider how to identify future pivotal moments.