Pivot Point Tool

From Frank J. Gallo, PhD:

Life may sometimes feel like driving in circles for a person. When they try hard to feel better but find themselves feeling more stuck, the Pivot Point can offer a path forward. It’s a notice-and-choose tool designed to help people develop Mental Flexibility. Through this tool, a person can learn to notice when survival instincts have hijacked the steering wheel, allowing them to take back control and drive toward what actually matters.

The Pivot Point tool is a unique narrative adaptation of Kevin Polk’s ACT Matrix (2011), offering significant differences to meet the needs of people in coaching, training, self-help, and clinical contexts. The following sections review the components of the Pivot Point. For those interested in the full framework, a Pivot Point Worksheet Guide is available here for reference.

Part 1: The Situation

The worksheet begins with The Situation. It serves as the contextual anchor for mapping a person’s behaviors. It’s defined by factual observation instead of opinion. It’s comprised of three specific elements: area of life, time, and observable facts.

Area of Life. Which part of life is this moment happening in? In this framework, the person explores 10 areas of life to determine their values. The areas are family, intimate relationships, parenting, friends, education, work, recreation, spirituality, community, and health. Of course, someone can divide their life differently. Instead, the tool is used to explore what it means to live guided by values in specific contexts.

Time: When did the situation happen? The person pinpoints the time to identify patterns rather than vague generalizations. Pinpointing the time—whether the situation occurred in the past, is taking place now, or is anticipated in the future—helps to identify patterns. For example, a Monday morning meeting at 11 AM, right after checking social media.

Observable Facts: What does the person see, hear, feel, smell, and taste in that specific moment? They identify what’s happening outside of them. For example, the person sees an email notification pop up, hears their boss’s voice getting louder, and feels the chair pressing against their back. Focusing on observable facts grounds the situation in reality and the present moment, rather than in their memory or imagination.

Part 2: The Map

Once the person anchors the situation, the worksheet opens to a map where they navigate their reaction to it. The Map’s Axes function as a compass for the person’s behavior. They give the person two essential directions to navigate the map:

The Vertical Line: A vertical line runs down the center of the map. It maps the person’s Response, what they’re doing. The Body’s response involves visible, outward behavior: what the person does with their hands, feet, and mouth. It’s a publicly observable action. If a camera were recording the situation, these movements and physical activities would be captured. For example, the video shows the person walking their dog, eating dinner, or reading a book. The person’s response also involves what their Mind does, invisible or inner activity, thinking and feeling. These internal experiences happen under the skin. No one else can see them. Thinking means generating thoughts, images, or memories in the person’s head. Feeling means having feelings, emotions, or sensations in their body. The phrase “thoughts and feelings” serves as a shorthand for all these internal reactions: mental, emotional, and physical sensations.

The Horizontal Line: The horizontal line crossing the center maps the purpose of the person’s reaction, why they’re doing it: Away or Toward. An Away move is any behavior used to avoid or reduce discomfort. The desire for immediate relief or safety from unpleasant thoughts, feelings, or situations drives it. The motivation is to remove something aversive from the person’s experience. On the other side is a Toward move. It involves behavior that moves the person closer to what’s important to them. It’s driven by their values, intending to enrich life and align with their personal meaning. The motivation is to move in a valued life direction, even when it feels difficult or requires facing obstacles.

The vertical and horizontal lines cross to create four distinct zones of behavior. The zones are organized counter-clockwise, beginning with the foundation: values.

Zone 1. The Architect: The bottom-right corner contains The Architect. It’s where everything begins: Mind plus Toward. Before the person can build a life, they need a blueprint. The Architect represents the deepest, wisest part of the person, their innate capacity for intentional design and connection to what matters. In this zone, the person actively designs, connecting with their values internally and creating a blueprint for how they want to engage with life purposefully. The zone also involves being internally aware of thoughts and feelings related to their values. To design the life they want, the person can reflect by asking, “How do I want to be acting in this situation?” The answer here is a guiding direction, the mental blueprint, not the physical action. For example, at work, the person reflects and decides they want to be “leading courageously” rather than just managing tasks. In a relationship, the person pauses before a conflict and decides they want to be “listening patiently.”

Zone 2. The Sensor: In the bottom-left corner is Mind plus Away. As soon as the person cares about how they want to act—a value—the internal alarm system engages. The Sensor serves as a natural and essential part of the human experience—a quick and automatic radar that detects anything that feels unpleasant or unsafe. Here, The Sensor picks up on risks, fears, or doubts connected to the person’s values. Crucially, The Sensor also detects the instinctive urge for the person to protect themselves, the sudden physical pull to hide, argue, or shut down. It’s vital to recognize that this urge is just another signal from The Sensor, not a command the person must follow. They can feel the urge to run without actually running.

This zone isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that something matters. To identify what’s triggering The Sensor to go off, the person can ask themselves, “What unpleasant internal signals is The Sensor picking up right now?” For example, at work, the person may notice The Sensor picking up a tightening in the chest alongside the thought, “I’m not qualified for this presentation.” In a relationship, The Sensor detects a spike of anxiety and the fear, “They’re going to reject me if I say this.”

Zone 3. The Protector: The top-left corner contains Body plus Away. When The Sensor gets loud, the person naturally wants to turn the volume down. The Protector acts as a personal, instinctive security guard. The person moves here to protect their well-being by taking a visible action to keep themselves safe or comfortable. These moves are meant to work quickly to reduce discomfort, but they can take the person away from the life The Architect designed. Sometimes, they may even cause the person more discomfort. So, when those signals go off, the person can ask themselves: what move does The Protector make to keep me safe? For example, at work, to protect the person from the fear of failure, they may procrastinate by spending two hours organizing an email inbox: looking busy while avoiding the big task. In a relationship, to protect themselves from the fear of rejection, they may give their partner the “silent treatment” or shut down emotionally, sitting on the couch watching television alone.

Zone 4. The Builder: The top-right corner is Body plus Toward. It’s the zone of committed action. The Builder is an agent of action, responsible for moving the person’s life toward the purpose The Architect designed. Here, the person takes the blueprint from The Architect, acknowledges the alarm from The Sensor, and thanks The Protector for trying to help. In this zone, a person can consider, “What is one small move I can make right now to act on the value The Architect designed?” For example, at work, even when their hands are shaking, they step up to the podium and start the presentation, practicing “leading courageously.” In a relationship, even though they want to shut down, they look their partner in the eye and say, “I'm feeling scared, but I want to understand you.”

Throughout the person’s day, they may drift between different behavioral zones. These zones function as temporary spaces. Some zones help the person survive and stay safe, while others help them grow and build the life they want. The goal is not to stay in one place forever, but to notice where the person is and choose where to go next. They’re not permanently stuck in any box.

Finally, the circle in the very center of the map is labeled “Me”. This circle represents the Pause and Pivot, where the person centers themselves to take a breath, notice, and choose their next move. This is the place where they stop reacting, stop being swept away into a zone, and stop running on autopilot. This circle serves as a “Safe Zone.” It’s a place where the person stands, pauses, catches their breath, and notices before choosing to move to another zone.

Stepping back into The Me circle positions the person to create distance between themselves and their internal and external experiences. For example, the person is not their anxiety. They’re the one noticing The Sensor go off. The person is not their urge to hide. They’re the one observing The Protector being pushed to act.

Once the person’s paused to notice and choose, they can perform a quick reality check: “Am I facing a Tiger or a Thought?” If they’re facing immediate physical danger (a Tiger), The Protector’s reaction to run or fight is what they may need to survive. But if they’re physically safe and the danger is an internal feeling or memory (a Thought), the instinctive urge to run or fight can be recognized as a signal rather than a requirement for survival.

Part 3: Navigating the Map

The power of the Pivot Point map lies in helping a person catch themselves in motion.

A person may start their day as The Builder, working hard on a project. Suddenly, an email arrives, and The Sensor flares up, detecting fear or anger. They may instinctively jump to The Protector and type out a defensive reply.

But then, the pivot occurs. The person steps back into The Me circle, centering themselves to take a breath. They notice the alarm, observe the urge to fight, and shift their focus to The Architect to ask, 'How do I want to be acting?' By choosing a professional response, the person steps into The Builder to delete the draft and write a helpful reply.

Visiting the left side of the map is just part of the terrain. The goal is not to stay perfectly on the right side either, but for the person to notice when they’ve drifted left unnecessarily and steer the ship back toward their design.

With this framework established, Mental Flexibility can be understood as:

"Mental Flexibility is the skill of learning to take the steering wheel back from the brain's automatic pilot. It’s the ability to notice when The Sensor is sounding an alarm and when The Protector wants to run away or shut down. Rather than reacting on autopilot, a person can create a moment of space—a pause—to distinguish between a real emergency and internal discomfort. From there, the person is positioned to choose: does the situation require The Protector to ensure safety, or is it time to engage The Builder to take action toward what matters to the person? Ultimately, the approach is not about suppressing thoughts and feelings. It’s about ensuring that thoughts and feelings do not suppress the person’s life."

Finally, the Pivot Point map is designed to support the process of self-discovery, not to dictate it. Mental Flexibility is generally viewed not as a final destination, but as an ongoing navigation. Whenever a person feels off course, the Map serves as a tool to help them clarify their own way forward.

Want to Learn More?

Visit my website to learn more about the Pivot Point tool: https://frankjgallo.com.

References

Polk, K. (2011). Psychological flexibility training (PFT): Flexing your mind along with your muscles. Seattle, WA: Amazon Digital Services.

(This webpage was last updated by Frank J. Gallo on Feb 20, 2026)