Thread by @jaltucher

Cheat Sheet to Reinventing Yourself: 1) Reinvention Next Stops - every day YOU DECIDE forward to backward

Reinvention starts from scratch. no labels. Ivy league? You lost millions? You were a champ? Nobody cares. You're a zero.

You need a mentor: But in the next few comments I will tell you how to find one.

3 types of mentors: Direct: someone you work with who helps you correct mistakes. indirect: someone you admire and want to emulate. virtual: someone you read about. many you read about.

don't worry if you don't have a passion for anything - you have a passion for health. a passion for transformation. start with that. more passions will come.

Time it takes to reinvent yourself: five years.

Here’s a description of the five years:

Year One: you’re flailing and reading everything and just starting to DO.
Year Two: you know who you need to talk to and network with. You’re Doing every day.

Year Three: you’re good enough to start making money. It might not be a living yet.
Year Four: you’re making a good living
Year Five: you’re making wealth

Year Five: you’re making wealth
Sometimes I get frustrated in years 1-4. I say, “why isn’t it happening yet?” That’s okay. Just keep going. Or stop and pick a new field. It doesn’t matter. Eventually you’re dead and then it’s hard to reinvent yourself.

If you do this faster or slower than five years then you are doing something wrong.

It’s not about the money. But money is a decent measuring stick.

“What about just doing what you love?” There will be many days when you don’t love what you are doing. The entire idea of improvement is there will be many unpleasant days you will fail and be miserable

Happiness is just a positive perception from our brain. Some days you will be unhappy. Our brain is a tool we use. It’s not who we are. Reinvention is not about happiness. It's about always knowing "who am i", "why am I", "why now"

When can you say, “I do X!” where X is your new career?

Today.

When can I start doing X?

Today. If you want to paint, then buy a canvas and paints today, start buying 500 books one at a time, and start painting. If you want to write do these three things:
Read
Write
Repeat,

How do I make money?

By year three you’ve put in 5,000-7,000 hours. That’s good enough to be in the top 200-300 in the world in anything. The top 200 in almost any field makes a living. By year 5 you will make wealth if u r truly improving 1% a day

What is “it”? How do I know what I should do?

Whatever area you feel like reading 500 books about. Go to the bookstore and find it. If you get bored three months later go back to the bookstore. Or study your instagram and see what you love taking pictures of? Or...

List what you loved at age 13 and figure out how it has aged.

It’s okay to get disillusioned. That’s what failure is about. Success is better than failure but the biggest lessons are found in failure.

Very important: There’s no rush. You will reinvent yourself many times in an interesting life.

Many reinventions make your life a book of stories instead of a textbook.
Some people want the story of their life to be a textbook. For better or worse, mine is a book of stories.

The choices you make today will be in your biography tomorrow.

Make interesting choices and you will have an interesting biography.

What if I like something obscure? Like biblical archaeology or 11th-century warfare?

Repeat all of the steps above, and then in year five you will make wealth. We have no idea how. Don’t stress to find the end of the road when you are still at the very first step.

What if my family wants me to be an accountant?

How many years of your life did you promise your family? Ten years? Your whole life? Then wait until the next life. Choose freedom over family. Freedom over preconceptions. . Freedom over people-pleasing. Then you will be pleased.

My mentor wants me to do it HIS way.

That’s fine. Learn HIS way. Then do it YOUR way. With respect

My spouse is worried about who will support/take care of kids?

Then after you work 16 hours a day, seven days a week being a janitor, use your spare time to reinvent.

Someone who is reinventing ALWAYS has spare time. Reinvention is collecting little bits and pieces of time

What if my friends think I’m crazy?

What friends?

What if I want to be an astronaut?

That’s not a reinvention. That’s a specific job. If you like “outer space” there are many careers. Richard Branson wanted to be an astronaut and started Virgin Galactic.

What if I like to go out drinking and partying?

Read this post again in a year.

What if I’m busy cheating on my husband or wife or betraying a partner?

Read this post again in two or three years when you are broke and jobless and nobody likes you.

What if I have no skills at all?

Start from the top.

What if I have to focus on paying down my debt and mortgage?

See above about "spouse"

How come I always feel like I’m on the outside looking in?

Albert Einstein was on the outside looking in. Nobody in the establishment would even hire him.

Everyone feels like a fraud at some point. The highest form of creativity is born out of skepticism.

I can’t read 500 books. What one book should I read for inspiration?

Give up.

What if I’m too sick to reinvent?

Reinvention will boost every healthy chemical in your body: serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin. Don’t use health as an excuse.

Eat better. Exercise. These are key steps to reinvention and are natural antidepressants.

What if my last partner screwed me and I’m still suing him?

Stop litigating and never think about him again. Half the problem was you, not him

What if I’m going to jail?

Perfect. Read a lot of books in jail.

What if I’m shy?

Make your weaknesses your strengths. Introverts listen better, focus better, and have ways of being more endearing.

What if I can’t wait five years?

If you plan on being alive in five years then you might as well start today.

How should I network?

Make concentric circles. You’re at the middle.

The next circle is friends and family.

The next circle is online communities.

The circle after that is meetups and coffees, conferences and thought leaders, mentors, customers,

What if I’m passionate about two things? What if I can’t decide?

Combine them and you’ll be the best in the world at the combination.

What if I’m so excited I want to teach what I’m learning?

Start teaching on YouTube. Start with an audience of one and see if it builds up.

How do I meet mentors and thought leaders?

Once you have enough knowledge (after 100-200 books), write down 10 ideas for 20 different potential mentors.

None of them will respond. Write down 10 more ideas for 20 new mentors. Repeat every week.

Put together a newsletter for everyone who doesn’t respond. Keep repeating until someone responds. Blog about your learning efforts. Build community around you being an expert.

What if I can’t come up with ideas?

Then keep practicing coming up with ideas. The idea muscle atrophies. You have to build it up.

It’s hard for me to touch my toes if I haven’t been doing it every day. Don't expect to come up with good ideas on day one.

What if I do everything you say but it still doesn’t seem like it’s working?

It will work. Just wait. Keep reinventing every day.

Don’t try and find the end of the road. You can’t see it in the fog.

What if I get scared?

Sleep 8-9 hours a day and never gossip.

What if I keep feeling like nothing ever works out for me?

Spend 10 minutes a day practicing gratitude. Don’t suppress the fear. Notice the anger.
Gratitude is the bridge between your world and the parallel universe where all creative ideas live.

What if I have to deal with personal bullshit all the time?

Find new people to be around.

Someone who is reinventing herself will constantly find people to try and bring her down.

The brain is scared of reinvention because it might not be safe.

Biologically, the brain wants you to be safe and reinvention is a risk. So it will throw people in your path who will try to stop you.

Learn how to say “no.”

What if I’m happy at my cubicle job?

Good luck.

Why should I trust you – you’ve failed so many times?

Don’t trust me.

I was forced to reinvent my whole life at ages 21, 24, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 49, and now. today.