Be Who You Are
Work with yourself? Sounds simple, goes without saying, right? Not necessarily! Working with yourself requires shifting your perspective, learning who you TRULY are, seeing your patterns, and using that knowledge to work for you instead of against you.
Reinvention brings you face to face with yourself. When you hit potholes and roadblocks, it can cause you to think “I need to be different.” You then spend precious time trying to turn yourself into someone you’re not, which makes it more difficult to accomplish your goals.
Fighting your natural tendencies drains energy that could be invested in strategies with a real payoff.
Recognizing who you are and the way you work allows you to tailor your goals to how you learn, how you like to interact with others, and how you’re motivated. To discover who you are, ask yourself the following five questions:
1: What’s my learning style?
Every reinvention involves some learning, so figure out the best way for you. Do you learn visually, by talking things through, by writing things down or a combination of several? Whichever your pattern may be, once you understand it you can customize your goals to play up to your learning strengths. Decide “Here’s how I learn best,” and then shape what you’re doing to accommodate that.
2: What’s my interaction style?
You need to interact with people to reach your goal. Are you a solitary person who prefers one-on-one conversations, or do you do best in groups? Tailoring your action steps to play to your nature will bear more fruit and release a lot of stress.
3. How open am I to change and risk?
The ability to take risks is also a core reinvention skill, for it is in stepping outside your comfort zone that additional possibilities for your career and life open up. Knowing where you fall on the scale from risk-averse to daredevil helps you manage your mindset and emotions and titrate your intake of change, so it doesn’t overwhelm your system.
4: What do I find motivating?
There are two primary kinds of motivation: Accountability and reward. In this case, you don’t choose just one; they both have to be a part of your goal plan. You wouldn’t say, “I’m going to hold myself accountable and not reward myself.” Conversely, you wouldn’t say, “I’m just going to reward myself and not hold myself accountable.” You need both types of motivation to fuel your life change, but add more of the kind you naturally respond to, to keep you on track with your goals.
5: How well can I focus?
To reinvent yourself you must be willing to persevere, even when it seems like you are not making progress. You must also keep your eye on your vision and align your time and commitments, so they support it. Focus is what helps you take consistent action in alignment with your goals, so you need to assess the strength of that muscle so that you’re strong enough to stay the course.
Customizing your goals and how you work with them is not a one-and-done process. As you go along your reinvention journey, you’ll need to think about your characteristics and ask, “How do I craft things to play to my strengths and the way that I am? How do I tap into my natural energy so that I’m not fighting myself?” As you gain information and face new situations, don’t be afraid to make tweaks along the way.
Your final step is to weave your goals into everyday life.
