How to Reinvent Yourself in 30 Days

Have you ever had that moment where you just feel like you can't go on anymore? You're tired of feeling stuck and ready for a change, but you're not sure where to start or how to make it happen? I definitely know how that feels. In fact, I had one of those moments back in November. I had been struggling with anxiety and depression, trying to manage my mental health in a world that seemed to be constantly in chaos. It was a lot to handle and I was just doing what I needed to get by and make it through each day.

But then, something shifted. I realized that I was ready for more than just survival. I wanted to thrive and live a life that was fulfilling and meaningful. I knew that making a list of goals wasn't going to be enough though. I needed to completely reinvent myself and do it quickly so I didn't slip back into my old patterns and habits.

So, I created a process that I want to share with you today. This process is designed to help you reinvent yourself in just 30 days and start living your next era.

You're not who you think you are

According to neuroscience, anyways. Your brain is a blank slate when you're born, and it uses your experiences and the world around you to create mental models. These models help you make sense of the world, predict how different situations will play out, and they determine your self-concept, or how you see yourself in the world.

So, what does this have to do with reinvention? A lot, actually. These mental models inform your behavior and beliefs about yourself and the world. If you have a mental model that says you're not good at public speaking, for example, you're likely to avoid speaking opportunities or not prepare as much because you believe you'll do poorly. However, the great news is that these mental models are constantly updating. That means you can upgrade your model at any time. If want to be the corporate girlie who has her stuff together (mostly) and gets the pay, promotion, and praise she deserves, you can begin to reprogram your mental models to create the new self-concept…

Which brings me to the lag. Because you probably don’t see yourself as the current version of yourself. You might see yourself from a version or two ago. While your mental models do eventually self-update, you can proactively update your mental model of who you are and what your career and life are. Basically, instead of waiting for the updates to manually install, you can seek out the upgrade, install it, and the application updates that go with it.

Now, let's get to the process of reinvention.

The first step is to figure out what you want your next era to look like. I like to think about this in terms of four areas: career, life, health, and self. Career is your professional self and includes money because for most of us, our jobs are how we make a living. Life is everything outside of work, including relationships, hobbies, and personal growth. Health is physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Self is all about personal development and becoming the best version of yourself. For each of these area, take time and think about what you want them to look like, what you want to achieve, and how you want them to feel.

Get a piece of paper, and write down what you want each of these areas to look like in your next era. The most important point here; you must give yourself permission to want whatever you want. Even if it feels big and kinda impossible. Inversely, don’t judge yourself if you’re not writing down a ton of massive things. The point is you need to be clear on what you want to create next.

You might also find yourself writing down things that you stopped doing. Reinvention doesn’t mean everything is new, it involves bringing the best with you, and sometimes old habits making a comeback. Like I wrote down establish a new morning routine, because I used to have this journaling and meditating thing I did that I loved, but it fell away to laying in bed and scrolling my phone until I had enough energy to get up - so for like an hour.

What you end up with here is essentially a framework of who you want to be, how you want to live, and what you want to accomplish. Basically, you have a set of goals.

Next era goals

Goals are important in reinventing yourself, because they’re what you want to create in the next era. But setting a goal in itself is flimsy. Which is why for each goal, I want you to get clear AF on the vision is, the values, the obstacles, and how to make it happen. Lets get into what each of these are:

Vision

The vision is what you are trying to achieve and why are you trying to achieve it. It's the impact of what happens after you reach your goal. For example, if you want to get promoted at work, your vision could be something along the lines of "By creating unignorable impact, I will be promoted within the next 12 months. I will be able to take on bigger challenges and officially step into a leadership role to have a positive impact on the team's professional growth and revenue attainment."

Values

This is a goal setting criteria I picked up when I worked at Salesforce; it's so often overlooked, but incredibly transformational. You have core values that consciously and subconsciously guide your actions and decision making. Being aware of how your goals align with your values creates a deeper bond between who you are and your ambitions in a highly aligned way. For example, one of my goals this year is to make my Career Glow Up book a best seller. One of my core values is service, and I wrote this book in service to people who want and need a practical career success guide that removes the guesswork of how it applies to them - because you're applying every step to yourself the whole way (in a way that makes it easy AF). I feel great promoting this book and trying to get it into the hands of as many people as possible because I know how transformational it will be - and if I could tick Best Selling Author off my dream list, we have a solid win-win situation on our hands!

Obstacles

Depending on your ambitions, your brain might have already started listen all the ways and reasons you can't have what you want. That's kinda our brains' main job: to protect us. Instead of covering out internal years and yelling LA LA LA in our heads, we're going to take those obstacles head on. What can get in the way of you reaching that goal and making it your reality? Some of these things will not be in your control, like you don't decide if you get promoted your boss does, and I can't force you to buy my book (but I'd be delighted if you did!). But you can identify ways to manage and mitigate risk. This way, if things go sideways you already have a Plan B - and sometimes you can avoid need that Plan B if you incorporate possible obstacles into your plan.

Make It Happen

It's time to start making a plan. Break down your goals into smaller, achievable steps and create a timeline for when you want to accomplish them. This process will make even the toughest sounding goal easy and achievable when done right.

Think about what steps you need to take to make that goal happen. If you don't know, which is possible if you're doing something you haven't done before like changing careers, In that case, find the first step you need to take -which might be finding the right person to ask for guidance from!

Finally… take action

I suggest starting with easy wins - even if they feel superficial… because the world we observe impacts how we see ourselves. When I went through this process, I started with upgrading my wardrobe. I had an embarrassing amount of leggings, which really didn't help me exist in the vibe I want to. So I edited my closet, I bought items that functioned for the vision I had (going for effortless chic, and a lot of monochrome looks) I also spent some time getting living and working spaces aligned with what I wanted. Both needed some organization - especially my living space because I have two little kids so things get crazy. These two environmental changes made a huge impact on my reinvention.

I also created affirmations that help me remind myself that just because I haven’t yet doesn’t mean I can’t. I have five vibes I’m channeling daily to help me achieve everything I want and be who I want to be in this next era - I shared them on Instagram if you’re curious about what they are.

Then get into the tasks. What do you need to do to get promoted at work, how can you meet more people in your industry to find a mentor, or what tactics will you use to drink 8 glasses of water a day (anyone else struggle with this because water is gross? Personally, I'm a planner, so I suggest taking time every week to know exactly how to usher in your new era and make your reinvention your reality.

In this process and while you reinvent yourself, don’t be hard on yourself. The process of reinventing yourself isn’t going to be perfect - my process certainly has not been. But show up intentionally, visit your goals and your vision, and do the best you can every day - and don’t judge or shame yourself because your best is going to look different every day. But the most important thing is showing up and taking action every day. It’s the tiny tasks and tiny decisions that snowball into big transformations and achievements.

You got this, bestie. I believe in you 💜