Risk & Business Magazine California Fall 2017 | Page 23

CAREER REINVENTION
I
f you stop and look back over your
career so far, you’ll see how much
you’ve changed, even if you’ve stayed in
the same career path for years.
Over time, our perspective changes.
We learn from positive and negative
experiences. Sometimes we have to stop
and reflect on our path to see how far we’ve
come!
Career reinvention can be something you
take on as a project, either because you’re
bored in your current career or because you
want to bring your work and your passions
closer together.
Sometimes career reinvention is forced on
us by circumstances – like your company
closing its doors or maybe the arrival of an
evil boss whose nasty attitude makes it clear
that it’s time for you to move on.
We don’t always know when Mother Nature
is going to give us a push – a nudge that says
“You could be doing more with your career –
why not investigate?”
Career reinvention is a much bigger prospect
than just a change of office location or a new
job title. It’s a physical change in you, no
different from a snake shedding its skin or a
hermit crab moving out of a cramped shell
to venture out and find a new home.
Reinvention is hard work. Reinvention can
cause us to feel strong emotions like anxiety,
fear, loneliness, and confusion. At the same
time, reinvention can feel exciting and
exhilarating. Your emotions may go up and
down like waves.
That’s normal! You are in reinvention. Get
ready to ride with Mother Nature for a
while!
How can you make the most of your
reinvention, whether it was your choice to
reinvent yourself or someone else’s decision?
The first step is to get a journal and write in
it every day, or as often as you can.
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?
You are stepping out into new territory. That
can fe