Is it time to reinvent yourself? 🧞♀️🧞♂️
Time for a Reinvention?
Last week I ran a number of workshops for a large group of new managers. For most of them this is their first foray into leadership of others.
One of the big conversations was using this as an opportunity to change - to use the promotion to manager as a great excuse to assess how you currently work and make any necessary changes.
I remember sitting on the plane in 2014, moving to Australia from the UK, and doing this exact activity - thinking about what I wanted to be known for in my new team, new role and new country.
The start of something new generally jolts us to reassess ourselves (new year / new job / new relationship) but what about those 'in between' times? Those times when everything is 'ok' but could be better; you're not enjoying your work as much as you used to or a relationship feels a little stale.
The three tips below will help you think about how to create mini-interventions you can make on a regular basis, without waiting for your invitation to do something different.
Three tips for reinvention
Reflect regularly - have a regular practice of reflection, through journalling or meditation or some method of daily analysis, to help you identify when it's time for a reinvention before a funk sets in too deeply (which often ends up in a knee-jerk big change).
Look inside - the change needed may be external (new job / city / environment) or internal (challenging a mindset / becoming more self-aware / changing the story you tell yourself about a situation). You'd be amazed at the positive impact a small internal re-invention can make on all areas of your life.
Don't go wild - reinvention doesn't need to be radical! Just make enough of a tweak to make a tangible shift.
To actually identify and stick to the changes, I like to think of this as 'old me' and 'new me'. What does old me do vs new me? (More importantly, what does new me NOT do?).
I even create a third-person persona of who I want to be / what I want to be known for and what actions, behaviours and mindsets will get me there. Then it's just a case of doing the things and adopting them as my own new identity.
So don't wait for a 'new' thing. Stage your own personal intervention and make the changes you want to see.
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing [themselves]."
Leo Tolstoy
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