Reinventing You

2020 is a year of change and catalyst for me to move on from a place I thought I would stay until retirement. The last five years, especially the last three have been brutal for me career wise. I took on more responsibilities and turned around the profitability of a Product line. The targets for success increased as well as the size of the teams I managed. With more clients, products to support and team members, came increased escalations, expectations and ultimately, frustrations. I tried to get through each day, one day at a time. I counted down the days where I could have enough money so I could retire and rest. Mostly, I felt drained every day and I loathed what the job turned me into … a very hard and exacting woman. And we all know how people view women who are strict, demanding and no nonsense.

Did this bother me, this perception? Yes and no. Yes because that is not who I am. No, because it helped me complete the sometimes impossible feats the company's executives expected me to complete. The downside is, I felt as if I was being drained of life and that my soul was slowly being decimated with each confrontation. A little known fact, I am not a fan of confrontation. I am however very good at it and I excel at de-escalation. I needed to become an expert in both skills in order to handle the angry clients that would call every day. With a portfolio of over 300 projects at a time, every day was a several rounds in the boxing ring with no one to tag in for relief.

Summer of 2020 brought about a new opportunity in my job that significantly changed my life. I joined a new company who values people's personal life and wants to make work life better. Since I have been in the industry for decades, I remained a bit skeptical albeit hopeful. I wanted to love my job again instead of dreading to wake up and start the day. I wanted to be able to do what I love best, helping, mentoring and coaching people. Four months into this job and I can say, so far, it looks to be as wonderful as advertised.

Still, did I want to just replicate what I did in my last job for the past 16.5 years? Yes and no. Over the course of my career, I worked on my brand and changed it as I rose in the organizations. Most of the change occurred because I was instructed by a boss or mentor to make a change. Now, I know what I want to do and this is the perfect opportunity to reinvent myself, on my terms. Or as I like to think of it, refine myself, similar to how a steel sword is forged through fire and pressure.

So what do I always do when I want to do something different and not sure where to start? I read and learn about it. For those of you who are also experiencing a change and want to reinvent yourself, I am inviting you to join along with my journey. Let us work together in coming out of this 2020 better and stronger. The book I'm using to guide me in this journey is called Reinventing You by Dorie Clark. Whilst those who know me realize I can read this book in a day, I'm going to try something different. I am setting it up for us to read only 2 chapters a month and reflect upon these chapters for a couple of weeks. I will post my findings and we can discuss. If we find this pace too slow, we may move it up. 

 Let's get started! Who's with me? I will be posting every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month until we are done.

 Chapter 1 - The New Branding Landscape

 This is a short chapter which explains the why we need to reinvent our brand. Reading through her bullet points on page 4, I found myself nodding to several of these points as to when and why I should reinvent myself. Which ones apply to you?

 I found Ms. Clark's explanation of how it "used to be" and why it no longer is good enough to do a great job and expect management to recognize the hard work, to be spot on. I also appreciated her addressing head on, the fear of "over branding" and being that annoying person who always sells themselves. She lays out a practical plan chapter by chapter of how we can reinvent our brand. I'm looking forward to it. 

Stay tuned as we go over Chapter 2 - Recognizing Where You're Starting in two weeks. #SameBatTime #SameBatChannel #ReinventingYou