Are you on a mission to reinvent yourself? Then you will know just how challenging it can be to tackle a complete overhaul of yourself.
The first thing you need to understand is that reinventing yourself is for you. You cannot continue to allow the people around you to label and define you. It’s up to you to set your boundaries, define your values, and reinvent yourself as your authentic self.
When you are faced with obstacles, challenges, and problems you have a choice to make. You can allow it to destroy you or define you OR allow it to strengthen you.
2 Types Of Reinvention
We face periods in our lives when a reinvention is a necessity, and we often reinvent ourselves after we go through major changes, like new jobs, moves, and relationship issues. After major shifts, it’s necessary to find new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking. Otherwise, you risk losing out on your potential.
Proactive reinvention entails a deliberate effort at forging a new you. In proactive reinvention, we’re at a place that’s safe and comfortable at that moment. Major life changes aren’t immediately required. We might even be able to keep on coasting just as we are, but that’s not a satisfying place for us anymore.
Dare to be different, dare to reinvent yourself.
30 Day Challenge: Reinvent Yourself
Day One – Plan
You can think of the first day as a housekeeping exercise. Before you can launch your reinvention, you need to make sure your resilience is high and that you have a strong support system. Perhaps more importantly, you need a clear view of your self-image.
Resilience is what will help you overcome every obstacle you come up against. Though, there are times that your resilience will be in short supply and, in those moments, you will need to heavily rely on your support system. We are social creatures and sometimes we just need a boost.
You need to develop a clear picture of what you see yourself becoming. What is your ultimate goal? Forget your bad habits, push out of your comfort zone and beyond your self-perceptions. Now, be clear because it’s this image that will serve as your reminder of why you are doing this.
The planning stage will require you to dig deep into your financial situation, as well as your emotional and psychological well-being. This is crucial to your success because, without this, it will be difficult to create a plan that is practical and realistic.
Ambition is great, but you have to have a plan that will truly work. Don’t be afraid to tweak your plan as you get started – being flexible is important.
Day Two – Set Realistic Goals
You can’t just wake up in the morning and decide you’re going to be someone completely different. It’s okay to realize that the process will take some time and as such, you should take the time you need to set realistic goals.
You have probably heard this a million times, prepare to hear it repeatedly. It’s the truth. You have to prepare to succeed and with that preparation will come a need for patience. It’s impossible to solve a problem immediately, it’s important that you recognize that as you set your goals. You can dream big, and still make your goal achievable.
Day Three – Strengths
Day three is all about searching yourself to discover your strengths. This might sound like a step you can skip but don’t. Even if you have some idea of what your strengths are, there are probably more hiding that you didn’t realize you possessed.
When you know your strengths, you can manage obstacles and stress efficiently. So, you can search yourself for strengths, ask your colleagues, speak to friends, and even take free online quizzes that will help you out.
Make a list of all your strengths.
Day Four – An Early Rise
Even if you aren’t a morning person, it’s time to become one. You don’t have to set your alarm for 4 in the morning, but you would do well to rise no later than 6 each morning. That goes for your days off as well.
You want to get into a healthy sleep routine. It will be much easier to manage it if you remain consistent. When you start getting up earlier, you will quickly see that you have more time to enjoy life.
Not only will your performance increase, but you will also have time for family, friends, hobbies and community commitments.
Day Five – Prioritize
It’s clear that your reinvention can’t happen overnight, that’s why this is a 30-day challenge. With patience and a bit of dedication, you can do this.
Day four is all about prioritizing your tasks. This is a transformation process that you want to run as smoothly as possible. Dedicate at least an hour of your day to pushing to achieve your goals.
To do this, you will need to prioritize and create to-do lists to manage your time efficiently. This is a habit that you should practice daily – and it might be the night before or the morning of with all that extra time you have from rising early.
Either way, be clear in the goals you find most important and how you plan to chase them.
Day Six – Habits
It’s easy to get caught up in what you want to change before you actually take a look at the habits that led you to this place. For example, perhaps your reinvention is to do with your weight. So, you decide that exercise is going to help you shift your gut. While that is true, you also need to consider the habits that led you to this point. Which means adjusting your diet as well as exercising.
If you want to reinvent yourself as a more relaxed person, then you have to consider what created the stressful environment in the first place. That means looking at your work habits, as well as your sleeping habits, diet, smoking, and alcohol intake.
A lot of habits go into building one major thing you want to change about yourself.
Day Seven – Your Support Team
What type of people do you surround yourself with? It’s time to take a closer look.
You want people that are encouraging, but also strong enough to challenge you. It isn’t just about building a network of people who can open doors for you in your career. It’s about finding people who will encourage you to be better, to do better.
You don’t want people in your life if they simply drain you mentally, physically, and emotionally. Positivity counts.
Day Eight – Find a Mentor
There is more than one type of mentor. So, don’t feel as though you need a physical person that you know to fill the role. While it’s nice to be able to turn to a direct mentor who can offer targeted guidance, you can also gain inspiration from authors or other public people.
For example, you may be in the tech world and want to rise through the ranks and obtain wealth in order to help others. A great indirect mentor for you would be Bill Gates. He doesn’t just sit on his money, instead he goes out into the world and tries to use it to enrich others and make a lasting difference.
Day Nine – Learn
It doesn’t matter whether it’s reading books, watching a webinar or attending a workshop. There are plenty of ways available for you to learn each day. Better yet, the majority of them are completely free. So, there really is no excuse.
Now that you are getting up earlier each morning, there will be plenty of time for you to enjoy a bit of learning. You might have to add it to your schedule, but if that’s what it takes!
Day Ten – Radical Honesty
Don’t just be honest with others, prepare to be honest with yourself. As you reinvent yourself you will experience failure – and you have to get over it. It’s difficult to talk about failures, especially with other people. We see it as a point of weakness. Yet, the more honest you are with others, the more help you can gain from them.
The same can be said of yourself, being honest internally can make a major difference to your success rate and how you bounce back from failures. Day ten might seem early for a lesson in failure, but… it isn’t. It’s the perfect point for you to look back on what you have accomplished so far.
Day Eleven – Step Into the Danger Zone
Okay, maybe not quite… but definitely step outside of your comfort zone. We are creatures of habit and even when you sat down and set your plan and decided to break old habits, it’s easy to slip back into them.
This is your opportunity to push outside the box. So, while you have spent the last ten days trying to break your nasty habits, it’s time to break the mold.
Now is the time to try something new. Perhaps an art class, a hike, a video game. Look for something that will offer you a new way of doing something – something that will aid your ultimate goal for reinvention.
Day Twelve – Build a Group
It’s kind of like a support group… but it’s different. This group should be people who are also focused on your area of reinvention. It could be people who are pushing to reinvent themselves the same as you, mingled with people who are currently doing what you want to be doing.
This group can provide you with support, advice, guidance, and essentially, an excellent place for you to spitball ideas. No one gets to where they are on their own, everyone has a bit of help sometimes.
When people talk about self-made millionaires, do you really think they got to that point without any assistance? It’s literally impossible, no matter what you plan to reinvent yourself as.
Day Thirteen – Consider Yourself
It’s time to take a good long look at yourself but from the outside. Think about how an artist paints a picture and then takes a step back to look at it.
This is something that you should be doing regularly. It isn’t about criticizing yourself, rather it’s a critique.
So, what would you change? You’re a work in progress, but that’s okay because so is art, right? It isn’t about judging yourself harshly, it’s about self-awareness.
Day Fourteen – Practice
By this point, you are two weeks into your 30-day challenge. This is a good point to remind you that you should be practicing most of these steps on a daily basis.
You can’t reinvent yourself if you aren’t willing to put the work in every day. This isn’t a case of doing it sometimes and then taking a break on other days.
This is going to need your total dedication. That’s the only way you will reach a point where your new habits become an unconscious action.
Day Fifteen – Experiment
Don’t be afraid to try new things. If you have set a plan to reinvent yourself as a blogger, you can still try different things like writing novels, poetry or short stories. If you want to reinvent yourself as an entrepreneur, then you can try your hand at different companies.
You don’t need to feel constrained by just one thing. Yes, you made a plan that you should be focused on, but you shouldn’t be afraid to try other things while you’re at it. This is how you will find the right thing for you. This is especially important if even with your plan, you still aren’t quite sure what to reinvent yourself as.
Day Sixteen – Start a Project
Is there something that you have been putting off? A project that you talk about, but never actually do? Today is the day to start that project. It’s time to stop talking about and start doing it. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been talking about it for a few weeks, a couple of months or for years. Now is the time.
Day Seventeen – Go Exploring
Sometimes you need a reminder and sometimes you need an inspiration. Luckily, you can get both of those things through a bit of exploration. You probably think we mean self-exploration, which is fine, but in this case, we mean the world around you. Is there somewhere in your city or county that you have never been?
Why not go check it out – whether it’s the library, a church or a public figure. Go out and seek.
Day Eighteen – The Right Track
Think back to a time when you felt as though you were on the right track. What was it that distracted you or caused you to veer off the road into a new direction? What were you working on at that point? It’s time to return to that – whether it’s a project you didn’t finish or a feeling you had. It might just be the spark you have been looking for.
Day Nineteen – The Hardest Part
What is the most difficult part of your day? That’s what you should tackle first – the reinvention process requires resilience. You’re going to need to persist and it will take grit to get to where you want to go.
A bit like that part of your day you hate the most. The most hated task is usually dubbed as such because it’s time-consuming, difficult, and/or boring.
Once it’s out of the way, you’ll have a clear path to run the rest of your day like a machine. It will also give you a boost in motivation.
Day Twenty – The Best Part
What do you most enjoy doing of a day? You should be making time for that, too. In fact, part of the reinvention process is allowing thoughts to come to the fore and really considering who you are and what you want to be. That means spending time doing the things that you love.
Don’t ever be ashamed of that, and don’t feel guilty about making time to do those things. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s hiking, painting, playing a video game or reading. If it inspires you, if it makes you feel more creative or connected, then do it.
Day Twenty-One – A Gratitude Jar
You are now three weeks into the reinvention process. This is a good time to create a gratitude jar. You should make a note of at least one thing that you’re grateful for each day. Pop it in your jar (or shoebox) and dig into your jar when motivation has left you.
The great thing about this is that you are taking the time to show gratitude every day and you can look back on some of those things when you are going through a difficult time.
You might have a day so bad you sit down and read every single piece of paper in your jar. That’s okay, too. Alternatively, you can keep a gratitude journal that you can read back on when you feel the need.
Day Twenty-Two – Self-Care Routine
One would hope you are already practicing self-care at this point in your life. However, the truth of the matter is that it’s something that escapes a lot of people. Just think about all of the things that you do for other people and compare that with what you do for yourself.
How can you pour yourself into everyone and everything if you aren’t refilling your own cup? It might be that you need a walk after work and before you walk into your chaotic home. Perhaps you need a moment to yourself after dinner, whether it’s in the bath or just some quiet time. Make it happen, it’s important.
Day Twenty-Three – Squash Jealousy
No matter how hard you work on yourself, it is all for nothing if you can’t get a grip on jealousy. You might compare your life to a friend’s life and feel jealous at what they have accomplished.
It’s important that you pay attention to what it is that you’re actually jealous of, though. What is it? It may be something that you are overlooking in your own life.
Day Twenty-Four – Dislike
When you dislike someone, how do you react? Do you avoid hanging out with them or do you try to figure out why you dislike them? Sometimes what bothers you about others is what they are showing you about yourself.
For example, you hate a co-worker because he’s selfish. He is always taking care of himself before he bothers with anyone else. That’s annoying, right? Maybe it makes you so mad because you never look after yourself?
Day Twenty-Five – Let Go
It’s important that you truly let go of what was never meant for you, whether it’s a relationship, an opportunity or something else. If you don’t get it, then simply say goodbye.
Day Twenty-Six – Have Done List
You have done the to-do list, now it’s time to reflect with a different kind of list. Take a look back on the last few weeks and make a list of everything that you’ve done.
You don’t have to restrict your list to this challenge period. You can go back further if it helps. This is an exercise that you can do at any time, whenever you start to feel stressed or anxious about your situation.
Day Twenty-Seven – Be Mindful of How You Treat Others
Instead of telling you to live like it’s your last day on earth, we’re going to flip it and reverse it. Think instead about how you treat others. Are you kind and compassionate? Start treating everyone around you as though it’s their last day on earth. How different would your treatment of others look?
Day Twenty-Eight – Visualize
Go back to the start – and remember to keep hold of your vision for your future. Reinvention is not a smooth journey, the path will be long, the road will be winding. You will run into obstacles, you will encounter resistance. You must stay the course.
One of the ways you can do that is by constantly visualizing your reinvented self to remind you of what’s at stake. If you find yourself slipping, visualize it. If you are procrastinating, visualize it.
Whenever you feel a lack of motivation, frustration or overwhelmed, visualize it.
Day Twenty-Nine – Stay the Course
When you find yourself on the right path, stay the course. How will you know? It will feel right. If you reach a point where it doesn’t feel right any more… that’s okay, too. That just means that it’s time for you to change directions.
We spend a lot of time ignoring our instinct. Trust yourself and that inner voice that’s guiding you. You know when something feels wrong, listen to that voice.
On the same note, you know when it’s right and if it’s right, it’s right – keep on it.
Day Thirty – Look in the Mirror
Self-reflection is important and this as this is day 30, now would be a good time to look back on all of the things you have accomplished so far. Your journey doesn’t end here. This is merely the beginning.
More importantly, you don’t need to wait until the end to reflect on your journey. In fact, it’s something that you can pause to do each day.
At the end of every day, before you head off to bed, why not take a moment to consider (or journal) about what your experience has been.
Did you do everything that you could do?
Do you still have room to grow? Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions of yourself. It’s the best way to keep yourself on track.
Ways To Reinvent Yourself – Cheat Sheet
1| Wait until you are really ready for change
- Sometimes, we are forced into making changes due to life’s circumstances. But, until you are really ready and want to change, you won’t be able to enact the lasting change necessary for reinvention.
2| Network with others
- If you are interested in developing and reinventing yourself, it’s important to stay connected to other people.
- Get to know new people to expose you to new habits and perspectives. This about how you can connect with your friends, family, online communities, colleagues, experts in your chosen field, and thought or spiritual leaders.
- All of these people have something to offer your transformation.
3| Having trouble coming up with your ideas for reinvention? Practice just generating ideas
- Creative and introspection muscles atrophy when they are not used, so practice using them before making big decisions.
- Spend a week just creating as many new and exciting options and ideas as possible, without judging any design for any reasons.
- Focus on quantity, and practice every day to build up those habits of mind.
4| Get up earlier
- If you are continually searching for time to engage in the work required to reinvent yourself, start setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier, and use the quiet morning alone time to focus on yourself.
- When no one else is awake, you’ll find you get more done in a short amount of time at this hour, too.
5| Remember to take it one step at a time
- Reinventing yourself is a lengthy process. It can take years to reach your ultimate goals.
- Instead of just focusing on the result, remember to concentrate on what you can do today. Put one foot in front of the other, and focus on today.
6| Get enough rest
- Sleeping at least seven hours each night is vital for maintaining your health and having the energy you need to reach your goals.
- No one can survive and thrive while being sleep deprived, so be sure you are getting enough sleep.
7| Learn from a mentor
- There are many different types of mentors, and they are everywhere.
- You can learn directly from people in your life, from authors, from online communities, through new experiences, by traveling, and be watching videos online.
- Soak it all up, and learn from everything you can.
8| Set your priorities
- You won’t be able to accomplish everything you need to all at once when reinventing yourself.
- Decide what is most important, and work on that goal first.
- Prioritize your most-needed or important goals and new habits first so you can make the most from your change process.
9| Learn from failure
- You can’t learn to be a professional musician without making a lot of mistakes, so why would you expect to transform yourself without failing now and then?
- Failure is just an opportunity to get feedback.
- It’s what you do with that knowledge that defines you. Learn from your failures and try again.
10| Be silent
- When the challenges of reinvention start to feel overwhelming, sit in silence. Don’t do anything, don’t talk to anyone. Just be in the moment.
- Meditate or focus on the quiet, focus on your breathing, and remember that tomorrow is another chance to try again.
11| If you are struggling to identify your passion in life, try this exercise
- Go to a bookstore and walk through the shelves.
- Browse all the topics. Which of these would you be willing to read 500 books about? In what area are you intrigued and curious?
- If you pick a focus and find a few weeks later that perhaps that wasn’t really your passion, try again. There’s no deadline. You have as much time as you want to pick your passion.
12| Make interesting choices
- What do you want your biography to say at the end of your life?
- Make adventurous choices, and your story will be adventurous. Make predictable choices, and your story will be predictable. It’s up to you.
13| Practice honesty
- Being honest with yourself and others is important for acknowledging your successes as well as your failures.
- When you struggle, share this with others, as they may be able to help you succeed in your next attempt.
- When you are proud of your accomplishments, celebrate with others, too.
14| Practice daily gratitude
- Becoming grateful for what you have and what you have already accomplished can help you through your reinvention process.
- Spend ten minutes each day acknowledging your gits and accomplishments.
15| Keep learning
- Read books, take classes, go to conferences, but always keep learning, no matter what. Reinvention means you need to become a new person, and that means learning new things.
- Continuous learning allows you to develop new mental habits, consider new ideas and perspectives, and learn what you need to help you accomplish your dreams.
16| Experiment
- Trying new things, like continuous learning, exposes you to a whole new world. Experimentation also helps you take risks, which is important for stretching you beyond your current capabilities.
17| Reinventing yourself is good for your health
- Change is useful for your body, as it releases happy hormones like dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin.
- If you don’t feel well, that’ all the more reason to work hard at changing your life, as the process can help you feel better.
18| Make a list every day
- Before you start your day, make a list of your areas of focus. You’ll soon notice patterns, which tells you where your passions lie or where your priorities lie.
- Set daily goals, and make these your priority before doing other, more routine tasks.
19| Be bold
- Reinventing yourself takes courage It’s not always easy, but be bold.
- No one else has to agree with or even understand what you are trying to accomplish.
- Boldness shows your confidence in your abilities to achieve your dreams.
20| Don’t explain yourself
- When others question your choices or ask you questions about your decision to reinvent yourself, be honest but don’t feel you have to justify yourself.
- You make your reinvention decisions because of your needs and desires, and no one else should have a say in that choice.
- You have to live with your decisions, so it doesn’t matter what others want or think.
21| Get out of your comfort zone
- If you really want to reinvent yourself, break out of all those habits and comforts of your former life.
- Break the mold to explore all the possibilities that life has to offer. Trying new things is the only way to explore new options.
22| Be realistic
- While it may not be possible to become an astronaut after middle age, it’s never too late to explore a career in engineering, space exploration, aeronautics, or other fields that are connected to outer space.
- Think outside the box to find a realistic outlet for your passions.
23| While money isn’t everything, it is necessary
- Yes, following your passion is a wonderful endeavor, it’s also important that you can support yourself.
- Explore ways to turn your passion into a career that can support your financial goals, and you’ll have the best of both worlds.
24| Stay on top of your finances
- Reinvention may cost you money. If you need to learn new skills or acquire a new degree to accomplish your new goals, that will take money.
- If you change careers, your salary will likely change, as well.
- Manage your money well, create a budget that includes all the costs of your reinvention, and learn to manage a variable income carefully.
25| Today’s a new day
- No matter what, every day is a chance to reinvent yourself. Change never stops. Welcome and embrace this opportunity each and every day.
- If you have a passion for something but no skill yet, start today by practicing your new habit
- If you want to paint, get your supplies and paint. If you want to be a writer, sit down today and write something.
- The minute you decide you are something or that you do something, you are on the path to reinvention.
26| Don’t worry about what others want you to do
- Who cares if your parents always dreamed that you would become a lawyer. So, what if your friends don’t understand that you long to be a chef.
- Choose yourself and your freedom over the desires of others. It’s your life. Lead it how you want.
27| Turn a weakness into a strength
- If you are introverted, become the best listener.
- If you struggle to write clearly, become the world’s best proofreader.
28| Teach
- When you have passion about a topic, consider sharing it with others.
- Make a YouTube video and start by putting your knowledge out there for the world.
