Successfully Navigate Career Transitions with Self-Reinvention
This year, millions of Baby Boomers across the country will reach retirement age. After all, 10,000 of them reach the age of 65 every single day. Despite those facts, millions more will remain in the workforce for another 10+ years. Luckily, Baby Boomers have a lot going for them – they are loyal, hardworking, and possess years of experience. Unfortunately for Baby Boomers, however, the job market continues to change and require new skills every day.
If you are a baby boomer that still has nearly a decade of employment remaining before you can welcome the retirement lifestyle, it’s likely you have a lot of questions. Some of those questions might include…
- How do I remain relevant in a world full of technological changes?
- How can I compete with my younger co-workers?
- What do I do if I still want to make a difference in my career?
The answer? Self-reinvention.
Self-reinvention, as defined by many career and personal success experts around the globe, is the process of changing yourself and your skills indefinitely for personal benefit. It combines a desire for new knowledge with the drive and the focus to obtain it.
For baby boomers looking to remain relevant in their careers, self-reinvention means finding the desire to learn new skills, obtain new responsibilities, and grow new relationships to maintain satisfaction and success.
If you find the concept of self-reinvention difficult, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many well-seasoned professionals find the idea of re-inventing themselves after 30+ years of work absurd and insulting. They likely feel that they have earned their place in the career space and that the skills and knowledge they possess should be enough to carry them happily into retirement.
Although feeling frustrated about self-reinvention is perfectly acceptable and understandable, you should know that those who adopt the practice ultimately feel more satisfied in all aspects of their life, not just their careers. They feel as though their life has new purpose and meaning through the work they do and the relationships they develop.
Some people fall into self-reinvention by mistake. They find themselves learning new skills and adopting a new mindset that transforms their career unintentionally. These people are natural learners – driven by new knowledge and self-improvement. Other people, however, have to be intentional to re-invent themselves. And, for those individuals, the most challenging part of self-reinvention is understanding how to make it happen.
If you are a Baby Boomer eager to journey down the road of self-reinvention, here are some tips on where to begin…
- FIND A NEW DEFINITION OF ‘SELF’
After 30+ years in a career, it’s easy to define yourself by your role within a company or by the company itself. But, if you really want to re-invent yourself, you have a to find a way to define yourself outside of the roles you hold at work because the position you have at work will likely continue to change. What are your passions and your talents? What drives you? What about the world do you want to change? Let these be the things that define who you are.
- FIND TIME FOR SELF-REFLECTION
Self-reinvention doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a decision you can make one moment and immediately experience results. Proper self-reinvention requires you to step back, look at your life, and process the changes as they come. Make time every day for self-reflection. Note the observations you make about yourself and your progress, then identify steps to take that progress even further.
- ENGAGE WITH OTHERS
It’s natural to want to resist change. Change is uncomfortable and takes work. But, without change, self-reinvention is impossible. So, when you are introduced to a new co-worker or asked to adopt a new responsibility – don’t resist it. Engage with the change and those around you. Through engagement, you will develop new relationships, acquire new knowledge, and adopt different attitudes that could help you advance in your career and self-definition.
- LEAD TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION
When you step into a role or leadership position with the goal of using your skills and talents to make a contribution instead of glorifying yourself, you are more likely to succeed. Therefore, if you want to be successful in self-reinvention, you need to do it with the goal of making a contribution to society and those around you.
- NEVER STOP LEARNING
Self-reinvention revolves around the idea that as a person, you are never done developing. It acknowledges the fact that there is always something to learn and room for improvement. If you continue to take advantage of learning opportunities and continue to find new ways to develop new knowledge/skills you will likely enjoy your journey of self-reinvention more and also be more likely to experience success.
- BE CONFIDENT
Confidence is critical when self-reinvention is the goal. Don’t doubt your skills or your ability to develop yourself anew. If you trust the process and invest in yourself, you will be able to successfully re-invent yourself as a person as well as in the career-space.
- BEGIN TODAY
The best time to begin a journey to self-reinvention is now. There’s no use putting off any longer what you could benefit from today. You owe it to yourself and those around you to be the best version of yourself at all times, and when you invest in self-reinvention, you become just that. And, along the way it is likely you will experience new success in your career – perhaps even success you could have never imagined before.
SPARX International provides professional and organizational solutions for growing, multi-industry companies. We specialize in business transition issues that impact employee engagement, culture integration and leadership development resulting from organic growth and recently merged cultures.
To explore needs specific to your organization contact us: dorothy@sparxinternational.com or (813) 787-1115
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