I believe that my Dad believed:

Get a good education, get a good job with a good company and work there for the next 40 years and then retire.

After all, that was a common thought process about work in the previous century.

My Dad was born in 1930, married in the 50’s and despite his supposed beliefs, he lived a different life.

He did what his brothers did after high school and joined the military.  He was the one of the 3 Howard kids who never served during war time even though he was in the Navy.

He did attend college a couple of times but never long enough to get a degree.  He worked for 4 major companies, plus there was a stint of self-employment/business owner but none lasted ten years. 9 years and 10 months was the longest.

I’m not sure why he gave me that advice as a teenager,because neither of my parents followed that in their lives.  Neither did my grandparents.

Instead all of them did what has become commonplace with so many these days.

They ReInvented Themselves.  And I continue to follow that example myself.

My work world seems to be centered on radio and sales, but if you dig deeper you’ll see how I’ve ReInvented Myself since the age of 16 when I started my first radio job.

The first 10 years were spent on the air as a radio personality and in management before I evolved into the radio advertising side.

That expanded beyond radio advertising and included a keen curiosity and learning curve of marketing, sales, media and human behavior.

The biggest leap of ReInvention came in my 30’s when I walked away from it all and took an entry level position in a printing company.  There I learned how to drive a fork lift and lots of other cool stuff.

I also have learned how to operate a thermoformer, skyjack, work in quality control, and work in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees for 12 hours straight.

I’ve learned the basics of web design, including the science behind the design along with email, social media and eCommerce marketing, not just the theory, but from doing it.

One day several years ago, I looked back on this to connect the dots and discover why I was successful in some areas and not so much in others and found core beliefs that I strived to live out.

Those beliefs were not the words from my father that advised me as a career path.  Instead they were more closely aligned with how he lived.

ReInventing Yourself doesn’t mean toss out the old and start fresh with new parts.

It often means taking apart the pieces of who you are and reassembling them to create the next chapter.

Maybe you need to ReInvent You too?