Do You Have the Courage to Re-invent Yourself?

Once again that uncomfortable feeling pays a visit, but this time you cannot close the door and just ignore it. The discomfort that you are feeling is with yourself. Your life does not fit you, and it has not for a long time. You know that you cannot alter your life the way you would a garment, because the life you are living simply was not made with you in mind. You have been fooling yourself, and have been living a lie for so long, that you no longer know the real you. You cannot continue like this and you know it, something has to give.

Does this sound anything like you?

As professionals, it is very important for us to shake things up once in a while to keep fresh, even if we perform only a partial makeover on ourselves. In an age of rapid change, where thousands of people are being laid off around the world, it is a constant struggle for professionals to figure out the next chapter of theirs lives. Standing still is not an option because if we are not growing, then that means we are dying.

It is time for us to step out of our comfort zone. We have to peel off the artificial layers. It is a very painful process, but we have to do it if we want to lead an authentic life.

But do you dare reinvent yourself? Do you have the courage to take the necessary steps to let go of the person you are today, and used to be, so that you can blossom into the person you have always wanted to become? This is radical because you have to let go of attachments to the past, and what was. Are you happy with the way you are, or were?

If you are up to the Reinventing Yourself Challenge, and ready to travel along a new path to where you have never been, now is the perfect time to get started. It is time to re-evaluate your life and your situation, looking at yourself like an objective bystander. Since you are starting over, dream big. Think of yourself as an author who is a master crafter, so craft a life story worthy of a Booker Prize Award. You are limited only by your imagination. Assess everything: your work, relationships and life.

1. Get back to the fundamentals, which things are really important to you? Why?
2. What is your mission in life?
3. What is your philosophy in life?
4. To find your passion, think back to a time when you were operating in the zone, in a state of flow, what activities were you performing?
5. Look at the people in your circle of influence, are they help or hindrance to you?
6. In the next three years, where would you like to be in your personal and professional life? What would your ideal life look like? Frame your responses in the form of personal and professional goals
7. If we were sitting here three years from today, what would have had to happen for you to feel contented and fulfilled?
8. Look at the masters who have accomplished what you are trying to achieve, what strategies did they use? Might those strategies work for you?

If you honestly answered the eight questions above, you have an idea of what your new life should look like. Develop steps that will take you where you have to go. If the task appears daunting, how about you begin with the end in mind? Visualize the end point, what step did you take immediately before you achieved your end results? Which was the second to last step you took before you reached your goal? And which was the preceding step and so on until you arrive at where you are right now. Reverse your backwards steps, and move forward taking it one step at a time. In a short time you will have become the new you, and living the life you once dreamed of.

Reinventing yourself is hard work. If you knew that it was impossible for you to fail, would you muster up the courage and reinvent yourself? Remember, always keep your eye on the prize. Focus, Focus, Focus.