I will admit to being a ‘magazine junkie,’ a ‘periodicals princess,’ a… you get the idea. From the time I consumed my parents’ Time, Saturday Evening Post, Yankee, Reader’s Digest, and Better Homes & Gardens magazines — starting when I was just a kid — I have always loved magazines (and the daily newspaper, in *print* format). My reading taste in periodicals has evolved (somewhat) and while Better Homes & Gardens, Time, and Yankee still come to my mailbox some 40 or more years later, along with half a dozen leisure-reading magazines (More, Real Simple, etc.), I add to the collection my current preferred business selections:
* Fast Company
* Inc.
* Money
* Success
For the most part, I try to allocate my business reading of magazines to one a week and it usually works out just about right. Unless, of course, one slips behind the recliner in my office, as was the case with the November 2013 issue of Darren Hardy’s Success magazine. Discovered just last week, I read anew the publisher’s letter (one of my favorite parts of any magazine — that, along with letters to the editor and the endnote/article). Hardy described five keys to reinventing yourself that I thought had merit — and would for most of my clients. With credits to Success magazine’s publisher/editor, here they are (edited) for your inspiration:
1. Leverage your strengths. We are all born with unique gifts, talents, and advantages. You do things that most people can’t do or can’t do as well as you. Identify these strengths, it’s the first, most important key to reinvention.
2. Identify what exhilarates you. What is your passion? It need not be grandiose, Earth-saving, life-changing, or even revolutionary. What are the subjects, products, markets, people, activities you really enjoy? What do you find interesting and stimulating? What fills you with energy just thinking about it? The answers - surprise! - will usually lead toward a rewarding profession/career.
3. Be willing to step back. To leap into a new field, you may need to take a step back to learn and study. Be willing to be an apprentice for a while. Find someone who has the success you aspire to and seek his or her mentorship and counsel. Be flexible, patient, and teachable. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort and paying the price of tuition.
4. Be wary of the naysayers. Family, friends, and peers have known you as you *have* been. Change frightens most people. To many, it is especially frightening to watch someone else have the courage to radically reinvent themselves and chase their dreams. Why? Because it eliminates their excuse for not doing so. It is much easier to try to talk you out of your reinvention rather than act on theirs.
5. Build your support team. Find models, mentors, and a peer group who share your ambition and will be allies in your new adventure. Indoctrinate yourself with supportive books, magazines (I shared my list here), audio programs, seminars, and conferences as you develop skills, attitudes, and knowledge in your new adventure.
Wait no longer: Reinvent yourself into the person you were always meant to be. Live the life of your grandest vision! It might just align perfectly (hmmm, it *should*) with your job-search plan :) Sounds to me like a solid strategy ;)
– Jan Melnik, M.A., MRW, CCM, CPRW - President, Absolute Advantage
Be inspired. It’s your career. It’s your life.