Reinvent Yourself by Kevin Ciccotti

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In Women
Mar 27th, 2014
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It’s become an all-too-common occurrence that people are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory. All around us, people are still being downsized, furloughed, laid off, and their jobs eliminated.  What are they (or we) to do?  Or maybe you’re in a different place – tired of the status quo, and ready to find your true calling.  Either way, this Top Ten list will give some strategies you can use to reinvent yourself in turbulent times.

  1. Find Your Strengths. What do you love to do? What are those things that you are really good at, and when you do them you feel like you just are “in the flow?” When you can identify and connect with your strengths, you can use them as a guide for finding your way. There is great truth to the notion that you will never become a peak performer by working to improve your weaknesses. You become a peak performer by improving upon your strengths. There are many tools to help you assess your strengths, and my favorite is the “Strengths Finder” profile from the Gallup Organization.
  2. Look to Your Values. Values are intrinsic. They are those things that you can’t live without. They can also give you great insight into your direction for your life. People who live in alignment with their values tend to be the most balanced, fulfilled, and happy. Pick out a path that you love, because in it you will find the energy to sustain you as you move forward, even when you encounter challenges. When you pursue something you love, it becomes easier to take the inevitable bumps and bruises. Use your values to give you guidance in finding what you really want for your life.
  3. Don’t Let Circumstances Control Your Thoughts and Feelings. We tend to see our thoughts and feelings as being caused by the events that occur in our life. What really happens is there is an event, we interpret what it means to us, and then we form our thoughts, which create our feelings. You need to anticipate that there will be challenges and struggles. When you recognize them as part of the process, they lose their ability to rob you of your momentum. Did you know that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” contains the dual symbols representing both danger and opportunity? Where do you choose to focus your attention? Don’t let circumstances control your feelings.
  4. What Do You Need? If you find a new path that you want to take, do your research before you leap. What skills, knowledge, or education do you need to take on this new career path? When you learn what is needed to pursue this new direction, you can plan your next moves and provide yourself a greater opportunity for success.
  5. Be Persistent. Nothing great was ever achieved without effort. If you continue to focus on the end goal, it will give you the motivation to keep going even when you meet challenges. Being persistent means not giving in when you hit an obstacle. Find a way to get over it, under it, through it, or around it. In the groundbreaking book, “Think and Grow Rich,” author Napoleon Hill emphasizes persistence so much that he devoted an entire chapter to it.
  6. Reach for Support. Who are the people in your life who can give you the support you need to take on the new challenges you face? What others do you need to bring into your life to help? Who can give you insights, knowledge, or contacts to assist? Look for support, because the world is truly filled with people who want to help you. It’s up to you to reach out to them and ask. Don’t let ego get in the way. Ego stops you from looking outside yourself for answers. The same thinking that got you here, won’t get you to where you want to go.
  7. Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs. I remember seeing an old Clint Eastwood movie, I think it was one of the Dirty Harry movies – and in it he says, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” (and this is true for women, as well, of course!)  Well, you also have to know that whatever limits you perceive in your life are a creation of your own self-limiting beliefs. Most of us formed the majority of our beliefs at a very early age as a result of our experiences with parents, siblings, friends, peers, teachers, etc. However, most of us carry those with us throughout our lives and never stop to ask if those beliefs still serve us. What is the evidence that supports those beliefs? If there is no longer any evidence to support them, then the beliefs MUST change!
  8. Play All Out. When you discover something that is important to you, don’t be afraid to play all out! Sometimes you have to let go of that notion of embarrassment or humiliation in order to push yourself beyond your perceived limits. Remember that embarrassment is an inside job. It’s a function of ego, and it has no place in the journey you’re going to take.
  9. What Would You do if You Knew You Couldn’t Fail? There are clues in the answer to this question, too. This isn’t about fantasizing or thinking unrealistically. If you’re 55 and think you always wanted to be an astronaut, well, that door may be closed. But if you always wanted to open a flower shop or start a childcare facility or become a dog groomer – the possibilities are there for you. Take the previous steps we talked about, and put your plan together.
  10. Remember to Laugh! Why do we take ourselves so seriously? There needs to be some room in your life for laughter and joy, regardless of what’s going on around you. If you can find the courage to laugh at yourself and remember that there is joy in the world, it will make a difference in how you go about the process of reinventing yourself. Again, ego takes center stage when we can’t find the ability to laugh at ourselves. If you’re not having any fun, then you are trying way too hard and taking it all far too seriously.

© Kevin Ciccotti, CPCC, ACC | Executive & Life Coach
Cutting Edge Coaching & Consulting | www.HumanFactorFormula.com
775.750.4008 | My Blog: http://thecuttingedgecoach.blogspot.com/
Connect on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kevin.ciccotti
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinciccotti

So What Do You Do? - eBook CoverAnd to help you get clear about communicating who you are, what you do, and why it matters, access the well-received teleseminar So, What Do You Do? Available for immediate download!

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