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Has the thought of reinventing yourself crossed your mind?

Based on my own experience and that of others, one thing is clear.

The wakeup calls to create change is normally triggered by the feeling of being stuck in a rut.

Sometimes, it’s simply a sign to shake things up as I point out in my post How to shake yourself out of your rut for genuine Success.

It can also be a sign that you need and want more from your life and career.

Have you been dreaming of doing something completely new with your life?

Are you no longer satisfied with your life?

Do you often feel like you’re stuck in a maze and can’t find your way out?

Are you thinking about learning a new language or finding a new talent?

Or you could be thinking of pursuing a new career.

Remember the rise of the Gig Economy in the post-pandemic period?

Forging a new path definitely sounds exciting, but just the idea of starting a new chapter can seem daunting.

What you’re about to do is reinvent yourself.

You’ll have to change certain aspects about yourself or bring forth those aspects that have been hidden from others. You don’t know how people will react and that creates a bit of discomfort.

One example close to home is that of my corporate professional sister who also used to write poetry in her teenage years.

People identify her with her professional career but there is a side to her that needed expressing. We first started with a poetry website for her and then moved into publishing her Kindle ebooks in a series.

They were well received and after a while she started sharing her poetry on LinkedIn too. The next step is printing her poetry books.

That was a major step. In a way, she has reinvented herself, allowing others to discover a previously hidden facet of her personality. It is the poet in her.

Was it daunting? Of course, it was but the rewards were well worth the discomfort.

Modifying our outlook on life can be truly liberating and worth the journey to self-actualization. It requires the willingness to adapt to change.

There are steps to be followed and that’s what we’re exploring in this post.

Identify Your Whys and Change Your Life

Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” has become part of our normal lives. It’s inspiring.

No more excuses, no more talk, no more planning, no more second guessing… “Just Do It.”

Maybe that’s just what you needed to hear. Maybe it can give you that push or that nudge you needed to accomplish your goals.

But there is something that this slogan does not fully capture: What about the why?

Why should I “Just Do It”? What’s the reason for doing it? Do I even want to do it?

In life, you can “Just Do It” day-in-and-day-out and not enjoy a single moment of your life. Quite possibly, you’ll miss the opportunity of engaging in a single moment of passionate, fulfilling work.

So, before you go and “Just Do It,” identify your why. This will help you enact real change in your life.

What Do You Love?

The whys in your life are directly tied to what it is you love. What you love incorporates other things like what you are passionate about, what you think is important, what you ultimately care about, and what you enjoy doing.

Your whys, or what you love, point to your motivators. Your whys take routine or mundane actions and infuse them with passion and desire. They take the things you do and put life into them.

To identify your whys, ask yourself: What is it that I love?

What Energizes You?

The whys in your life are directly related to the things that give you energy. Passion is fuel for action. Without it, you will quickly burn out.

So, what gives you energy? What are the ways you recharge your batteries after they have been fully drained? Knowing this can help you see what your energy gainers are.

Another method is to identify what areas of life seem to be effortless for you. What can you engage in for seemingly endless periods of time without much output of energy? Both of these strategies can help you identify your whys.

To identify your why, ask yourself: What gives me energy?

What’s in the Highlight Reel of your life?

The whys in your life are also directly correlated with your various accomplishments. To make a project successful, it can help to start at the end and work your way back. This approach can help when trying to identify your life’s whys.

Imagine you are near the end of your days, sitting on a porch, staring out onto the beautiful countryside. As you observe the landscape, your mind drifts back over the highlight reel of your life. What are the major scenes you want to see played back to you?

Do you imagine a few career highlights, family memories, personal relationships, charity involvement, or other activities?

What do you want to be able to reflect on when your life is near its end? Your answer to these questions will reveal what you think is important.

Create your Personal Mission Statement

Now that you have determined your why by establishing what it is you love, what gives you energy, and what you want to accomplish, put these thoughts into a personal mission statement. This is a way to take these ideas and write them down in a functional, usable format.

Your Personal Mission Statement will help guide you during times of decision making. It will remind you of the reason behind your actions. It not only captures your why, but also your what and even your when.

The next time you are in a situation where are you are going to “Just Do It,” you will be able to support that action with the full understanding of your why.

Having true passion behind your actions is a formula for pure, lasting, and impactful changes in life.

Want a Success Secret? Let Go of Bad Habits

You won’t get very far if you continue to practice old habits that keep you back instead of helping you move forward.

Reinvention can take many forms. It can be the refinement of habits or characteristics that should remain in your life but need fine-tuning.

Reinvention can also take the form of letting go. Specifically, let go of bad habits that hinder your success.

John Maxwell, an American writer in the field of Leadership, says, “I can predict the long-term outcomes of your success if you show me your daily habits.”

Habits really matter, and bad habits can cause lack of success and even failure.

Letting go of bad habits must be a top priority if you want to reinvent yourself.

But it’s not as easy as it sounds.  It isn’t as simple as “just letting go of a bad habit.”

When you let go of a bad habit, you need to replace it with a good habit. So today is the day.  No more excuses and no putting off till tomorrow.

For example, there’s one bad habit many of us have that not only affects our health but also our Executive Presence and Gravitas. Can you guess what it is?

It’s called slouching.

You have probably heard this admonition countless times throughout your life: Sit up straight and stop slouching!

Well, as unpleasant at this feedback usually is, it’s right.  Poor posture is nothing but a bad habit that has developed over time.

Slouching (which is typically defined as a forward head posture and rounded shoulders) causes poor joint alignment, especially in the neck and back.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, poor posture of the spine can contribute to muscle tightness, loss of range of motion, and even pain.

When it comes to presence, you look frightened with your energy pulled in. Can you imagine having a team willing to follow you if you’re stooping? Leaders stand tall and so should you.

I admit it’s very difficult to just “stop slouching.” You can reinvent yourself, however, by replacing the bad habit of slouching with the good habit of setting postural reminders for yourself.

For example, if you are a desk worker, you can place a small mirror at the top of your computer screen.  When you are in the correct posture, you should see the top of your head in the mirror. Seeing this continuous visual cue as you work will remind you to correct your posture.

You can also start the habit of checking your posture each time you send an email or start up your car.

These habits ensure that you continually assess and correct your posture, thus breaking you of bad postural habits.

Next, let’s look at another obstacle on your path to reinventing yourself. It’s your fears.

Identifying and Eliminating Your Fears

You don’t need to participate in Fear Factor to be a winner.

Fear is something we all need to deal with if we want a better future for ourselves.

Ever wished you could leave your humdrum job and sit on a beach to paint instead? A junior school friend of mine recently climbed the Everest.

During my corporate world days that dream was a beach in Goa with lots of prawns and rum punch.

I’ve got other dreams now.

The thing is, every one of us has a dream and they’re all different. But one thing many of us share in common is that we bury those dreams.

At some point, we decide to take the well-travelled road and put aside our ‘childish dreams.’ We give up a bit of ourselves when we do that.

Isn’t it time to reinvent ourselves?

Think of reinvention as a re-brand. It’s something that major companies do. Coca-Cola has changed up their branding, a couple of times in recent years. Just as Richard Branson has reinvented himself over the years to become the businessman he is today.

Before Jim Carrey made his acting dreams come true, he wrote himself a massive check. He decided that if he could dream it, then he could also do it.

One of the biggest things that hold us back from truly pursuing our dreams and reinventing ourselves is fear.

That doesn’t mean that it’s too late to reinvent yourself. The first step in doing that, though, is identifying the fears that have been holding you back and eliminating them.

There are three massive fears that often hold us back.

The Fear of Failure

Nobody enjoys failure. Who on earth sets out to do less than their best and lose? The problem though, with this mindset, is that we are too scared to take risks.

There are adrenaline junkies out there who pay people to throw them out of a plane but the very idea of failure is paralyzing. Unfortunately, a lot of us really care about what others think about us. Failure is only temporary, though. You should think of it as a stepping stone towards your reinvention.

So, how do you eliminate your fear of failure?

Look to the lesson in every failure and learn how to use it to your advantage. You can better yourself through failure.

Instead of seeing it as the end of the world – start seeing it as a learning experience.

Maybe you’ll fail more than you succeed, but the more you put yourself out there the greater your chance of success.

And if you need more inspiration, then check out my post on the limiting belief called Fear of Failure.

Take a page out of inventor Willis Carrier’s story.

You’ll be glad you did.

The Wrong Mindset

I’ve had to work hard to master this one and yes, it takes time. It is easy to slip off the wagon with small triggers but one must plod on!

What is your inner voice telling you? Is it a positive force in your life? Or, is it whispering negativity in your ear and hating on your every action?

That negative voice is fuelling the wrong mindset and it’s that mindset that is keeping you tucked safely in your comfort zone.

One of the best ways to eliminate this fear is to practice overriding those negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

It’s all about drowning out that negativity and replacing it with the right mindset.

Make it a Growth Mindset.

Lack of Knowledge

Sometimes the biggest fear that holds us back is a lack of knowledge. We don’t know what to do or where to go to make our visions a reality.

The best way to deal with this fear is to find a mentor. Look for someone who works in the field that you want to be in or does the thing you want to do.

You can learn from them. If it’s a specific thing you want to reinvent about yourself, then find someone who is good at it. You can use social media to find people that are outside of your circle and build your network. Or, find a coaching program.

Better still, book a no obligation 30-minute call with me and let’s talk about how we can make your reinvention a success. The only thing I request is to be serious about our call. This is not a time pass activity. It has to be a meaningful dialogue.

Remove All That Is in Your Way

“The fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line,” the saying goes. If you want to get from where you are to where you want to be, then go directly. Sometimes this advice is easier said than done.

Oftentimes there seems to be a lot of barriers between point A and B without detours that have to be crossed before reaching your destination.

While there may be some unavoidable barriers on your path, most of the time the clutter in your way just needs to be removed.

Sweep it away, shove it to the side, and clear your path. You do not need to take the long way around. Initiate the process of reinventing yourself by removing all that things in your life that are in your way.

Don’t be afraid to let go of the ‘What ifs’

Fear can have a positive or a negative influence on you. At times, fear can motivate you positively by helping you achieve your goals. Fear can also motivate you negatively by hindering you from letting go of things that are holding you back.

If you dwell on the ‘What if’, it will put your focus on the obstacle in your way and not the goal you are moving towards. The fear associated with what if only entrenches the thing that is in your way.

Don’t be afraid to let go of the ‘what ifs’. Focus instead on what you want.

For example, rather than thinking “what if I start my own business and then get into financial trouble,” you should think, “what I want to achieve is independence in time, finances, and passion, therefore I will open my open business.”

Ask for support from others

When we are too close to a situation, we might not be able to see things clearly and need help.

This is particularly true when it comes to seeing what is truly in your way. Being able to see this may require the help of a friend, mentor, or advisor. They can often identify the things we are not able to see.

The help of a guide is particularly helpful when moving the smaller things that are in your way. Your own eyes can typically identify the larger items in your path. The smaller things can be more difficult to spot.

But lots of little items cluttering your way can slow you down just as much as one large boulder.

Be willing to do the heavy lifting

At the end of the day, moving the things that are in your way requires that you do some heavy lifting. There is going to be sweat, effort, and maybe even a little pain. But what positive or advantageous thing doesn’t require these things? There is just no way around the hard work. So, roll up your sleeves and get to it.

The fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line. To travel in a straight line, you need to remove the things that are in your way. To achieve your goals, you don’t need to take the long way around.

Reinvent yourself and take the fast route to success.