HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF IN FIVE STEPS

Even though this post is titled how to reinvent yourself in five steps, I am not going to talk about how to change who you are. Often, when we hear, the word reinvention, we automatically think it refers to changing who we are. The core of who we are doesn’t change no matter what happens. How many times have you had to reinvent who you were or change the way you looked at things. Reinvention is nothing new for many of us, but this time is different. Reinvention simply means changing your direction.

A lot of things have changed in 2020. Maybe you lost your job because it was deemed as obsolete or maybe your pay was drastically cut. Where ever you stand, you have had to look and wonder what steps you should take. Should you do something else? Even the prospect of picking up a second career doesn’t seem to be in the cards, well at least for a while. When you start to reinvent yourself, you realize that there are so many things you can do. You become more open to changing course and that is a good thing.

In 2017, I reinvented myself, two years prior I had a quarter-life crisis and it took me two years to pick up the pieces. To figure out what I wanted and reaccess where I wanted to go. I knew I needed to change course. The things I believed I needed no longer seemed valid. It was as if life slapped me in the face and I started to consider whether it was necessary to go through with the motions and not face the cold truth. It was here that I knew what I needed to do and what I had to work on. I published my first book after I went through that and my second book is on Amazon now. I would have never done any of that if I hadn’t gone through the reinvention process. 

Here’s how you can reinvent yourself. 

Discover your authentic self

Many of us don’t know who we are or what we want. You aren’t alone. I was the same way. If you had asked five years ago that I had a personal development blog, I would have laughed at you. There’s beauty in discovering your authentic self. When you do that, you figure out what you want to do and how you can do that. 

Discovering your authentic self requires writing in a journal. You need to write down all your dreams, every idea you had that you didn’t dare think about and you need to be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to feel things that you never felt before. You must go through this process because it is only here that you are honest with what you want. Maybe you had a dream that you wanted as a kid, but you forgot about it or gave up because you believed it was too stupid. 

When you reinvent yourself, one thing you need to do is to take a hard look at all the things you want. As a kid, I wanted to be an author, but I gave up on that dream because it seemed too far-fetched. Years later, I am going after it, but I wouldn’t have done so if I didn’t reinvent myself. 

Take risks

There’s a difference between calculated risk and risk that isn’t. Many of us take calculated risks. Do you fit in that category? Many of us would do that. Two years ago, when I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I took a risk. It wasn’t calculated. But I was reinventing myself and I knew this was something I had to do.

It was terrifying, to say the least, and often at times, it was as if I had no idea what I was doing. I am still figuring out the entrepreneurial journey. That was the scary part. I thought about what would happen if I failed and often I questioned my sanity. I had to be insane. Maybe, I lost my marbles. After all, I knew the statistics of people who started their own business and it wasn’t pretty. How many people even make money online? I asked myself this question often and my family questioned my decision. I had watched people close to me struggle with brick and mortar businesses and even online business. And yet here I was. But one of the steps in how you can reinvent yourself is taking risks. 

If you don’t take any risk, you never go far and if you only take calculated risks you never grow. There are risks where there’s a guarantee. A blueprint that if you follow it then there’s a chance you will make it. But you don’t grow as much from those risks. Learn to take risks that you are afraid of. Whatever it is, you will be better for it. What I have come to understand in life is that there are no such thing as a guarantee. Sometimes, you have to jump with both feet in and discover yourself in the process.

Also Related: Afraid of Risks? How to be Bolder?

Take action

The third step in how to reinvent yourself is you need to take action. What is your dream? Writing a book? Starting a business or maybe, moving to a new city or country. Whatever it is you need to take action because the more you do it the more confident you’ll become. When I first started my business, it was terrifying, but I knew this was what I had to.

That whole year had been one mess after the other. From being ill to not having enough money for food and the list goes on. I took the risks and started my business in November of 2018. I remember the day well. I took a risk. One that changed my life for the better. I became more confident, assure of myself and it was as if something in me awoke. The better version of myself I would say. And it was like all the things I believed I couldn’t do, I dared to try. 

I am not the only one who has experienced this, most people who start their own business or reinvent themselves say the same thing. They become better versions of themselves. If you want the next six months of the year to be better then here’s your chance to do exactly that. Here’s your opportunity to improve the areas you lack in and become a better version of yourself. You do have to take action though. This is an important step because without action you can’t change course and move forward with your life.

Become flexible

Another step in how you can reinvent yourself is to be flexible. Of course, you need to also be patient, but there’s a lot of power in flexibility. How would you rate yourself in flexibility? Can you adapt to difficult situations? This year has changed a lot of things and it has also shown you who you are. If you struggled with resilience and flexibility this year might have taken more out of you then you expected.

Certainty was thrown out of the window. But you are here right now and that is a blessing. One that we take for granted. Every year is a blessing, one that we have overlooked. But maybe you have learned to become flexible. After all, the situation called for it. You may have learned patience since many of us have had to stay at home and wait for the lockdown to be over. 

Even though, the world isn’t going to be the same ever again. So many things have changed. But for you to move forward with your life, you need to be flexible. You need to figure out what you want and go for it. And be patient enough to wait for it to come full circle. For example, the reason why most people fail online is that they give up too soon. They throw in the towel before their actions pay off. This shouldn’t be you. Another thing is sometimes the way we do things doesn’t work and you need to pivot.

You need to change direction and find something that does work. For instance, many people who start a business online fail because they didn’t do it the right way. It is understandable why they quit. But if you want next year to be better, you must be flexible and patient enough to see what comes next. This part reinventing yourself isn’t easy. But if you want to reinvent yourself you need to go through with it. 

Step out of your comfort zone

By now, you might already be stepping out of your comfort zone. The four I listed above might have already pushed you out of your safety zone. This step is important as well. If you want to step out of your comfort zone even further then you need to figure out where you want to go and do that. For example, you want to be successful, but your habits don’t align with what you want.

One step I took when I wanted to reinvent myself was waking up early. This was something I wasn’t comfortable with then I started doing Facebook Lives. I took one step that helped me take another step. Our comfort zones protect us from getting hurt, but if you want to reinvent yourself then you need to change some of the things you do. You need to start pushing yourself because the more you do that, you will be amazed at how much you can achieve.

We are creatures of habit. That is why it is so hard stepping out of our comfort zones. This step in reinventing yourself will help you become more confident and you start to discover who you are. You have so much potential, but the reason why you aren’t where you are because you haven’t stepped out of your comfort zone. You haven’t allowed yourself to be vulnerable or fail at something enough. You often have to fail at things numerous times for you to get better at it. 

This is how you can grow and become better. 

Also Related: Why You Should Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone?

                                                                                              KEEP  PUSHING

                                                                                                  VANESSA

What is your takeaway from this post and how are you going to reinvent yourself? Comment below