How to reinvent yourself
And the only essential skill you need to pursue a new career
For some people, changing your career path may seem like too daunting of an endeavor.
Especially if you’re past a certain age, or you’ve already reached a certain position in your current career track.
Yes, you put in a lot of time, effort, and hard work. Going elsewhere would mean starting over.
But if there’s anything worse than staying in a career you’re no longer passionate about, it’s feeling regret later in life for not taking a risk.
Wouldn’t it be better to get out of the way and let someone else take your spot?
Why continue to hog a job or role that no longer gets your blood flowing?
Why not give it to someone else who genuinely cares and wants to do a good job, and is inspired by what used to get you excited?
But here’s where the rubber meets the road.
Most people will choose comfort instead of challenge.
They will be okay staying with what they know instead of resetting the clock and starting anew.
For those who do choose curiosity, newness, and uncertainty at the fork in the road, then here’s the essential character trait you need for a successful career change.
It’s not overcoming fear—although it does take immense courage.
It’s not even patience—although it will require that.
Content entrepreneur | Agency Founder & CEO | Author | Featured in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Cheddar TV, HuffPost | Join more than 2,500 people who follow Shindy for unconventional lifestyle and career advice:
The essential skill: Humility
You’re going to need humility in everything you do—from your desire to learn to your rapport with people.
Such was the case when I left financial services to go to business school and forge a new career path.
I knew this was my opportunity to pause and get into journalism, which is what I went to college for.
Back then, I’d minored in college and also wrote an entertainment column for the college paper, where I reviewed films and music, mostly in rap and hip hop genres.
But now that I’d worked in finance, I could apply my knowledge toward financial journalism.
So, I took an opportunity to work as a graduate intern at Mad Money on CNBC. When I arrived at 30-years-old, I was learning a new trade from scratch.
I was older than most of my peers in their early to mid-20s, and dressed how I used to work when I was in the corporate world.
But I was excited for the experience of working on a national primetime show at a global news network.
So I shut up and absorbed everything I could while being taught the basics and doing entry- and junior-level production work and duties.
I assisted on set designs and vetted all the live callers for the show. I was grateful to join and listen in during production meetings.
The experience prepped me for when I would take on my next broadcast journalism role, at Bloomberg TV in London.
Fast forward a few years, and I found myself back in New York City, as a content manager at a fintech startup called Betterment.
My role was to be in charge of managing writers and publishing the educational resources on the site.
Again, I felt older than a lot of the younger engineers for whom it was clearly their first “big boy” and “big girl” jobs.
Again, I felt a humbling sense of “starting over.”
In turn, I was able to learn collaborative, productivity, and operational softwares like Slack and Trello, meet incredibly talented, super-smart humans (some of which remain in my circle of trust today), more cool tools and software, and be part of a tech startup at a very exciting moment for NYC fintech.
The connections I made and invaluable things I learned were what enabled me later on to start my own financial content agency, Scribe.
Are you on the fence about going for something new or different? What’s holding you back?
What crucial trait or skill do you think allows you to switch, change, and pivot more easily in life? I’d love to know!
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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