Reinvent Yourself

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Over the last two weeks I have also learnt that crisis is the mother of reinvention!

Don’t be alarmed. It’s not as if I have been beset by any affliction or tragedy.

No, fortunately nothing like that. But I have spent the vast majority of the past ten days wrestling with the effects of a systems crash that left New Insights without access to desktop based email, calendars and a host of crucial information needed for operational purposes.

Of course we rigorously back up our data on a daily basis. However, this brought me little comfort when I realised that the backups had been corrupted by the very same virus or digital gremlin that eventually precipitated the crash!

I’m pleased to say that with the assistance of a wonderful lady guru from the West Coast of the US (her remote location requiring us to put in some early mornings and late nights) things are slowly returning to ‘business as usual’ status.

As the light slowly appeared at the end of a very scary tunnel, and my breathing began to return to normal, I indulged in some serious reflection about what positive messages could be taken out of this little ‘crisis’.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that was rammed home to me is the need to constantly reinvent what you do, how you do things – and, by implication – who you are as a person or a business or both.

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Reinvent yourself (continued)

Why fix what aint broke?

There is a saying that goes: “If it aint broke don’t fix it” but in the longer term, if you don’t continually look to ‘fix’ or, shall we rather say, ‘reinvent’ what you do, things will stop working, as I – and my company – have just been reminded.

With a brand new year under way, I suggest this is a great time for all of us to engage in a little reinvention.

Towards more enjoyment of life

How can we do things differently, yet better? How can we promote ourselves and our businesses differently, yet better? How can we adopt a different, yet better attitude to life and to those around us? How can we change things so each unit of effort expended produces more abundant returns allowing us to enjoy life more?

An amazing book

The year before last, my son bought me a Christmas present in the form of an amazing book called ‘The four hour work week’ by Timothy Ferris. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants further stimulation to start the reinvention process.

I read it during the holidays and found it thoroughly inspirational and thought provoking but I admit to falling into the old trap that I love to write about, namely getting caught up in the post holidays day-to-day routine of work and life without putting the valuable learning into practice.

Here we are twelve months later and The four hour work week is very much back in prime position on my desk having been dusted off ready for a serious re-read!

One of the fundamental truths that I remember Ferris banging on about is this:

Always someone out there

There is always someone out there in this big wide world that can do things that you need to do but either don’t like doing or are not best suited to – and who can do them more effectively, efficiently or economically than you can.

Take my friend on the US West Coast as an example. She knows things about IT, databases and data recovery techniques that would take me years to learn (if only I had the ability).

Reinvention requires you to think out of the box. It also requires you to have a specific attitude towards spending money.

Costs versus investments

You see, there are costs and then there are investments. To bring about a positive reinvention you need to understand the difference very clearly.

The time spent working with the US expert to recover data in order to get back to business as usual was a cost – a necessary cost of course. But the money spent picking her brains for strategies to reinvent the way we work and prevent the same problem recurring in future was very definitely an investment.

Never be scared to dole out your hard earned money if the end result is a welcome reinvention of who you are, what you do or how you do it.

And finally …

So, here’s my advice:

If you’re a life coach, don’t be afraid to invest in improving your skills, tapping into your networks for new ideas and thinking, and outsourcing the administrative side of your practice.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a life coach, invest in a high quality, comprehensive training programme that will return the cost many times over in the years to come. (I can recommend one 🙂 )

If neither of the above apply to you, why not invest in the services of a quality life coach who is professionally trained to help you reinvent yourself and your life.

Please don’t sit about waiting for the crash to come (it can be very painful).

Take steps now to reinvent yourself and embark on a new, more productive and more enjoyable life!
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