When it comes to change… personal, business, culture… one of the buzz words you hear a lot is “breakthrough”. I’ve decided to reject this word and use an alternative. I like “turning point”.
For me a breakthrough is something that happens to us, around us or in spite of us at a point in time. It may provide us with great insight, but does it stick?
I borrow the phrase “turning point” from history studies. I’m a geek – for fun I’ve listened to two of the Great Courses on Audible – Turning Points in Medieval History and Turning Points in Modern History. In history studies a turning point is a specific and significant moment where event(s), decision(s), and/or people, alter the direction/course of what comes afterward.
One medieval turning point was the invention of the printing press. One modern turning point was (is) the rise of social media.
A turning point, to me, is a point in time (or period), where things change and yet we still see it in context to a trajectory we are moving along. To me it’s much more powerful and more permanent.
I believe we can create our own turning points through our actions and responses to what goes on around us.
