Reinvention is the new black.

You know what’s really scary? When you realize your life is on a conveyor belt, taking you someplace you never really wanted to go.?

I’ve stood in class (and in my Becoming You Intensives) watching people have this exact realization, usually right after I suggest that they may have narrowed their career aperture to the obvious options, when the world is, in fact, teeming with industries and jobs they’ve never thought of, because they’ve never let themselves.

With these words, a shock of recognition seems to register, then a kind of confusion, like, “Wait, what?” And then, too often, I see that panic shift to an expression of resignation.

“It’s too late to change,” might as well be the thought-bubble over their heads.?

It’s not. It’s so not. In fact, allow me to suggest that reinvention is the new black. Perhaps it’s always been. But now it really is.

Why? Well, there’s the small fact that the world of work is on fire with change, and every job is transforming along with it. You have to be reinventing yourself these days, or the world will do it for you soon enough.

But that’s not the only reason. There’s also the fact that reinvention, while terrifying, treacherous, and often longer than we’d like, is a freaking blast.?

It’s life-giving. Ask anyone who’s done it. No one is ever sorry, ever.

And yet, the curse of the conveyor belt is hard to break.

I was reminded of that fact once again today in class when I was extolling the virtues of taking a bet on a nascent industry.

I mentioned, as an example, space mining, the megatrend of extracting minerals from asteroids. I don’t know about you, but space mining, with its possible quintillion-dollar market cap, kind of piques my interest.?

“Fun fact: a quintillion has 18 zeroes,” I told my class. I looked out and saw a sea of “Who, me?” faces.?

I get it. I get it. Taking a leap from the familiar hum of your conveyor belt to the vast unknown can feel impossible, even foolish. That’s why I often leave my students with the story of six of my classmates at HBS, who graduated in 1988 and lit out for an obscure place called Silicon Valley. We all thought they were nuts.?

Yep, well.?

You may love your job right now, and if you do, warm congratulations!? But if you're seeking and searching in your soul for something else, something different, something bigger and more promising, reinvention awaits.?

I think it might look good on you.

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