Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Winter 2019 | Page 23

Write about your career and life so far.
Write about what you loved to do when you were little.
Write about what you’re good at – you are good at many
different things!
Undoubtedly you’ve had the chance to use some of your gifts
in your work already. Maybe you have other talents that want to
come out and show themselves to the world!
Don’t rush your reinvention process. If you need to take a
survival job to pay the bills while your reinvention plays out, do it.
Don’t feel that you are diminished just because you have a job that
isn’t as lofty or impressive as jobs you’ve held before. So what?
Anyone who would judge you is not someone whose opinion
matters anyway.
You are stepping out into new territory. That can feel scary.
Keep breathing and remember that every living thing changes.
Change is part of life!
Spend time with friends who get your quirks and your sense
of humor. Limit the time you spend with people who criticize you
or bring you down. You don’t need that energy around you when
you’re shedding an old skin and stepping into your next adventure!
Take time for yourself. If working in your garden gets you out
of your busy mind, then work in your garden whenever you can.
Dance to songs on the radio or YouTube. Read your favorite
books. Organize your spice cabinet. Do what makes you feel good.
Reinvention is exhausting.
Don’t feel that you have to solve your reinvention in your head.
You couldn’t do that even if you tried. Reinvention is not a logical
problem. It is not a Sudoku puzzle. It’s you opening up to your own
possibilities – something that many or most of us have never done
before.
Apply for jobs if you want to, but don’t feel that you have to
choose a formal, final and concrete career direction that will carry
you through from here to retirement. Your goal in reinvention is
to experience new things, not to make arbitrary rules for yourself
and then feel bound to follow them!
You may settle on a career direction that you like at first but
learn over time that it isn’t your cup of tea. You may explore a
career path you never thought you’d like and find that it speaks
to you like no job you’ve ever had before. Don’t judge anything you
feel in reinvention – just be aware of your feelings.
You will have dreams in reinvention, even crazy dreams that
seem to make no sense. Pay attention to signals you get during
this time of confusion and openness to new ideas. You may hear
a song that reminds you of something you cared about when you
were a kid. Notice that! Write about it in your journal.
Get some business cards that include your name and the word
Consulting on them. You are a consultant now – not a needy job-
seeker! You can work here and there on a consulting basis. When
you meet with people for networking coffees or lunches, give out
your consulting business card. You are stepping into your power.
You are running your own career – not letting anyone else run it
for you.
Reinvention can feel like a hike through the desert. One day
you think, “I know exactly what I’ll do next!” and the next day, you
think, “No – I have no idea what to do.” Don’t stress about the fact
that you don’t have the answers. How boring would our lives be if
we always had the answers!
Little by little, streams will appear in the desert of reinvention
and the way will become much clearer. Trust yourself and the
universe, put one foot in front of the other and remember that
you are amazing and always have been and always will be. Your
reinvention will take you to the next place you’re meant to be!
ABOUT LIZ RYAN
LIZ RYAN is the CEO and Founder of Human
Workplace, a publishing and consulting firm
whose mission is to reinvent work for people. Liz
is a former Fortune 500 HR SVP and the world’s
most widely-read career adviser. Liz is a LinkedIn
Influencer with over three million followers and
a columnist for Forbes.com. Liz is the author of
Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the
Job You Want and Career You Deserve, published
by BenBella Books in December 2016. Liz is an
internationally-acclaimed
keynote
speaker
and the illustrator for her books, lessons, and
stories. Liz lives in Boulder, Colorado with her
husband and their five kids plus two dogs and two
cats. When she is not writing, speaking, drawing
or consulting Liz sings opera professionally.
Follow Liz and Human Workplace on Twitter: @
humanworkplace
humanworkplace.com
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