How to Reinvent Yourself This Year

 

 

This year, my life is going to look wildly different than any other, and I’m so excited. 

September starts this week, and with it, a brand new season. Whether you are a musician, an actor, an artist, a student, or a parent, September is the beginning of a new year for us–almost more so than January 1st. 

I remember, as a young girl who didn’t always have the easiest time of things socially, I would dream of having a brand new fall wardrobe that would match that of my schoolmates. Cute jeans and cozy fall sweaters, and those clothes would guarantee that THAT year would be different. I would be a whole new person. 

 

 

It didn’t ever quite happen that way. There was no new fall wardrobe, and no new me. 

 

And yet, I continued to bring that sense of possibility and excitement with me into each new September––through high school, music school, and the early years of my career.  Would this be the season that my big break came? That I’d be asked to play with the group? The chamber ensemble? Invited to go on that tour? Etc. 

And each year I would wait by the proverbial (and often literal) phone waiting for those opportunities to arrive. 

 

Sometimes they did! Sometimes they didn’t. 

 

It wasn’t until the fall of 2015 that I figured out that if we want our lives to look any different than they do, it’s up to us to instigate those changes. Sure…life will throw the random unexpected opportunity our way now and again, but if we depend on those moments to shape our lives, we’re giving up any and all sense of autonomy in our lives. 

 

 

You’ll reach the end and realize you never did the things YOU wanted to do. 

 

Ever since that fateful autumn, I have taken a moment at the end of each summer to ask myself this one question: 

 

If I could completely reinvent myself, and show up this year as the person I truly want to be, what would that look like? 

 

This year, it looks like me as a writer, a coach, and a businesswoman. For the first time, I am not a cellist, nor am I a cello teacher. I don’t have to carve out time to practice, or cut my nails, nor do I have to watch the clock and wrap up my coaching and writing work in time to start teaching each afternoon. 

And as this new version of me is emerging, a week from tomorrow, my first book is being released! It’s not my BOOK, book, but it still feels like a big deal to me. It’s a book called Business on Purpose, and I was asked to contribute a chapter to it. My chapter is titled “Permission to Pivot“. 

How apropos. 

And whether you’re feeling the need to pivot ever-so-slightly in your career, or change course entirely, this is a great time to check in about that and make a plan. 

 

 

Here’s how: 

 

Step 1: Do a quick assessment of your current situation

Asses what you love about what you’re doing, and what you don’t love so much. What things would you like to change if you could? What would you add? subtract? etc. 

 

Step 2: Get in touch with how you want to feel as you move through this year.

Are you in a season of hibernating and feeling cozy as you figure out your next best steps? Do you want to feel powerful and visible as you rise higher in your field, gaining recognition for the brilliant work you’ve been doing? Who do you want to be, and how do you want to be seen?

 

Step 3: Get clear on your schedule and commitments over the next 3-6 months. 

This includes all work commitments, personal commitments, vacations, and family obligations.

 

Step 4: Make a plan for being as prepared as possible for those commitments. 

How much preparation time do you need to put in? do you need to order gifts for upcoming birthdays, weddings, or showers? do you need to book venues? Just because something is happening in October, doesn’t mean you don’t need to be working on it in September!

 

Step 5: Figure out what you need to have in place in order to get where you’d like to go this year.

A better instrument? A space of your own? Certain connections or collaborators? Skills that you don’t yet have? Knowledge that you don’t yet have? 

 

Step 6: Decide what new things you want to make room in your non-work life for this year.

Date nights with your partner? A daily yoga practice? A new wardrobe?

 

Step 7: Find ways to represent this new, reinvented version of yourself.

It could be an outward change like a new haircut, a new way of dressing, or like me, the manicured nails of a non-musician. Or they could be more subtle and only known to you. A meaningful piece of jewelry, a beautiful pen or a leather-bound journal. 

 

 

 

Your Best Next Step: 

Whether you are looking to do a big reinvention of yourself or your career, or you just want to prepare yourself to have the most incredible year ever, I’m hosting a free 4-day online event September 12th-15th Called Thrive Fest! Planning for Optimal Impact. 

If you register, (it’s free, as these Thrive Fests always are) you’ll get an email each morning with the day’s mini-lesson and 1-3 short exercises to complete that day. At 1:00 pm ET, I’ll be live in the Tales From The Lane FB group for a discussion, and my own take on the day’s prompts (Yep! I’ll be doing it right along with you, and you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at my own process!). And on the last day, Friday, we’ll come together for a live, interactive training with me to put it all together. 

It’s going to be a blast, it’s going to be transformative, and it’s going to set you up to have the best year you’ve ever had. On your terms, doing the things YOU want to do, and making room for the things that are important to you. 

You’ll come away with a crystal clear plan for moving through these next 12 months, and you’ll feel like you’ve gotten back in the driver’s seat of your career. 

You can register HERE for free! 

See you there. Cheers!

Kate

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