On Reinvention: Being In A Constant State of Becoming

reinvent yourselfWhen I set out to start writing my own blog I didn’t plan on writing 1,000 posts, nor did I imagine going at it for almost 8 years now.

Well, today is a milestone: this the 1,000th post on the Game-Changer blog. 

I’m blown away by all the people I’ve met and become friends with because they found their way to my blog and how my thinking has resonated with them and how they’ve influenced my own thinking.

I’ve never been shy about trying new things and, as with most things, in the beginning I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to achieve by writing a blog. I might have mentioned this before but there was a time when I had 14 different blogs up on Posterous that covered my interests, Game-Changer was born when I figured it wasn’t the best use of my time to maintain 14 blogs and just focus on my real passion.

At the beginning I was sure I wanted someplace to put my thoughts, and to better my communication skills. I never imagined it would bring me notoriety and influence, endless lessons and new ideas.

A lot has happened since then. Reinvention, like innovation, is a word thrown around by people who don’t stand for it. My blog is all about transformation, mine.

You don’t find yourself, you create yourself

I was recently interviewed by Hollis Thomases, founder of Reinvention Works where she help people figure out their reinvention journey, about reinvention. Basically, Hollis asked me about my story and how I’ve reinvented myself.

It’s not the first time I’ve been interviewed on the topic of reinvention, which I call being in constant state of becoming.

Below is my interview with Hollis:

Many people shy away from reinvention. I take a proactive approach to it, as I’m relentless in pursuing new interests and ideas. Everyone will be challenged to reinvent themselves, whether you set out to deliberately do it like me or you are thrust into it; a chance for reinvention will present itself to you.

As Hollis says, reinvention is a choice. And whatever you do is your decision, to move backward or forwards; to make yourself.

As I mentioned in the interview, people look for me to help them reinvent themselves. But I don’t have a recipe on how to do that, nor am I the type of person who shares how-to recipes with people.

Still, the most important things I can tell you about embracing reinvention is this:

Reinvention never stops

Every day you reinvent yourself. You’re always in motion. But you decide every day: forward or backward.

You get a blank slate

It’s like being born again. You don’t get to use the same labels, titles or whatever. You’re zero.

Never stop learning

When you stop learning, you stop growing. Period.


 

With that said, here’s to the next 1,0000 posts and more reinvention!

Bottom line: Be like water and achieve formlessness. Be fluid and adaptive. Do this and you will never be caught by surprise, you will be the surprise and the game-changer.