My 2020 Resolution Is To Reinvent Myself In 5 Years

The end of a decade arrives at 11:59:59pm tonight and a new one starts the second immediately after.

The end of a decade and the start of a new one.

A lot of things have changed since 2010 but a lot have also stayed the same.

First, the things that have changed and turned my life around and upside down for the better:

1. I met my husband in 2010 so, officially, as of this year, we will be heading towards spending a decade of our lives together.
2. I got married and became a wife and a sister and daughter-in-law. My family also gained a new son.
3. I became a mom this year which isn’t a bad way to end the decade.
4. I quit my soul sucking job as an auditor and decided to work for an organization that actually believes in work life balance.
5. I started a blog (which I haven’t really maintained unfortunately) and I finally started to write. Finally.

Now for the things that haven’t changed and the driving force behind this post:

1. I still have the same career as when I was fresh out of university. Switching companies is not the same as changing careers.
2. I doubt myself in almost everything I do.
3. My life has been pretty much a linear and traditional path to “success”.

Every year, I make the same new year’s resolutions. They’re the same because I’ve failed to successfully follow up on them and only attempted to achieve them half-assed.

I advocate courage and bravery for others but, honestly, I’m not always so brave and courageous with myself. The truth is, I haven’t built up the courage to reinvent myself.

So with the start of the decade, I’m going to create a new me. To reinvent myself over the next 10 years…in 5 year increments.

This spark of inspiration came from James Altucher’s The Ultimate Guide to Reinventing Yourself.

He says it takes 5 years to reinvent ourselves.

FIVE years. Not one.

And for the first 4 years, you’re pretty much floundering and thinking that every step was a mistake.

The thing I love about James’ article is that it sets up some realistic expectations about when you can see your life turn around if you put in the work. Yes, there are some anomalies who can turn their life around in a year or less, those who stick to their resolutions and achieve their goals without fail but in my experience, those people are the exception not the rule.

Five years seem like a long time to reinvent myself but five years will also come sooner than I would like.

If we look carefully, we’re creating our life and our next year and the year after that everyday.

We make choices to either do the same thing or to do something different.

We make resolutions and we decide to keep them or not.

The problem with my past decade is that I’ve been letting my mood and emotions dictate what I should be doing rather than moving them like I should have done.

I didn’t have the patience or belief in myself. I wasn’t consistent and I went with the flow instead of pushing against it.

Ten years is a long time to just go with the flow but it’s much easier to let the current take you where it pleases rather than swim to shore.

You also end up drowning that way.

You end up drowning in the complacency and comfort of the life you’ve created.

That’s not how I want to die.

“Eventually you’re dead and then it’s hard to reinvent yourself” — James Altucher

I have a vision for what I want my life to look like in 5 years.

Every year, I would start at the beginning and never imagined how I wanted my life to end. This year, I’m taking a different approach and imagining my end so that I can begin.