10 Principles of Career Reinventing

The Reinvention Institute, Career Reinvention
Pamela Mitchell, CLC, is the CEO and Chief Vision Officer for The Reinvention Institute™. I stumbled upon The Reinvention Institute website and found useful resources for those of you who are thinking about reinventing your career. Check out Mitchell’s free, downloadable paper (click here). She discusses the ten principles that you’ll need to know before you begin reinventing your career. Mitchell also provides knowledge, tools, support and inspiration you need to recreate your career, your business, or your life. Here are links to those tools: classes, seminars, individual coaching, products, newsletters, and website recommendations.

10 Principles of Career Reinvention
Below are the highlights of her paper with my commentary; however, I recommend downloading her paper for more information.

1. Understand that in order to be truly happy, your career must serve your life: Early in our career, we often don’t have many choices in our first jobs like taking a job with a huge banking institution, having to move across the country so you can participate in their leadership program. These are sacrifices we make to get our foot in the door. However, over time, we realize that our careers may not be serving our lives so a change is necessary. For example, some people work as many as 18-hour days and are a parent with one child and another on the way, leaving their spouse to take of the kids. Is this working? Is it sustainable? Is it serving their lives? Doubtful.

2. Release the myths and understand the signifiers you’ve attached to your new career: Status and money typically drives us. Yes, passion fits in there somewhere; however, sometimes we’re caught up in managing our way up the ladder with all the privileges that should accompany it. At some point, are these things really worth it? Some people would think I was crazy to leave a VP job do my own thing, but it serves my life.

3. Be willing to start before you have an end goal in mind: Sometimes, you know you need a career reinvention. You just have to jump right in rather than wait for the perfect career reinvention plan.

4. Get used to living outside your comfort zone: Meeting new people and creating a new network is hard, especially for those of us are naturally introverts, but selectively extroverts. Let’s face it, some of us aren’t energized by meeting new people or going out of comfort zone.

5. Let go of your old identity: I’m a VP of Marketing. I’m a Product Manager. I’m a…Titles and our jobs define us. Changing up our identity is scary and hard to do. One helpful tip is to come up with a new elevator speech about your new identity so you can quickly rattle it off when you’re asked what you do. See “4 Steps to a Great Elevator Speech by Dave Lorenzo at Career Intensity” for ideas.

6. Learn to tune in and listen to of yourself first before responding to the world: You will have so many options available to you so the trick is to listen to yourself if it’s good for you. Don’t do something just because it will be impressive to others. Remember, it has to serve you and your life goals.

7. Realize that your ideas will shift, and be open to experimentation: Some of you creative people and you’ll have hundreds of ideas that sound good for your career reinvention. The true test will be which one feels the easiest and “right” to take action on. If you can’t easily take action and you keep walking in circles on the idea, then chances are it’s not a right fit.

8. Be wiling to pursue new contacts: Like I said, meeting new people is hard for some us, but worthwhile, especially if you reinventing yourself. You need access the people that can help you with your new goals.

9. Accept that on some levels you will be starting over: Clean slates are fun, but daunting. However, it won’t be as scary like it was when you first started your previous career. This time, you’ll have your tools and templates. You’ll what your core competencies (what you’re really good at) are. You’ll have your interests. You’ll have your life goals. Add all these things together, chances are this is more information you had than when you first started your old career.

10. Celebrate your successes along the way instead of holding out for the end goal: Define some milestones that you’ll most likely hit along the journey such as “contacted X number of new contacts,” ”brainstormed likely industries or job titles,” or “created a board of friends and former coworkers”. Take the time to celebrate moments like these so you can motivated.

Needless to say that I found these 10 principles to be very helpful.
Some of you may be looking for a job in a particular sector while there are plenty of jobs in other sectors. The only thing stopping you from getting into another sector is your mental image of who you are. If you have your mind made up that you are an accountant, then an accountant you shall remain with a job or without; but if you use the knowledge and skills that you have acquired over the years, then you can become anything and get a job in any sector--and still be a proud non-practicing accountant.
So put down your guard and reinvent yourself

Need assistance?
Do not hesitate to ask for it.

Hoseah Njuguna
0734-609-741
empowerkenya@gmail.com