If you’re reading this blogpost, chances are you’re looking for a way to reinvent yourself. Maybe you feel disappointed in the way life has turned out. Or maybe you’re not living up to the expectations you’d previously set for yourself. Most of us aren’t experiencing our lives to their full potential. We aren’t making the changes that would truly make us happy or we’re acting out of insecurity rather than love. The majority of people could stand to be more intentional with the way that they live their lives.
The good news is that you’ve already made the first step in becoming the brightest and best version of yourself. You’ve recognised that you’re unhappy with your life and you’re looking for ways to make a positive change. In this blogpost, I’m breaking down how you can reinvent yourself in 7 powerful but simple steps. Each step will help you to pinpoint exactly what changes need to be made and how you can implement them correctly.
1. Complete the Wheel of Life Worksheet
Ever since my Psychology teacher made us do this in high school, it’s been one of my favourite tools for self improvement. You can label each section of the wheel with a different area of your life. I tend to pick titles such as career, love life, money, health, friends and family, fun, spirituality, attitude or physical environment. You then rate each of these areas out of 10 by drawing a line across the section. Once you’ve completed this, you csolour in each section. This gives a great visual representation of what areas of your life are going well and what areas need improvement. If you want to reinvent yourself, these are things you should start with!
It’s important to remember that nobody’s life is perfect all the time, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t hit tens across the wheel! In fact, your results on the wheel could be completely different from one day to the next. Completing it just gives an idea as to what areas of your life are making you the most unhappy.
2. Identify Areas for Improvement
Once you’ve completed your wheel of life worksheet, it’s time to identify the areas of your life that need improvement. Take a notebook and write a heading for each section of your wheel. Under these headings, write: 1) what is working well for you in this area, and 2) how you could improve. By the end of this exercise you should have a list of actionable steps you can make to create a life that feels more authentic and fulfilling to you.
If you like this post, check out my weekly reset routine (includes a free printable to get the most our of your week!)
3. Reflect on Negative Beliefs and Behaviour
Now that you’ve reflected on your life, it’s time to reflect on you! In what ways could you improve either your beliefs or behaviour to be a kinder, happier person? Here are some questions to prompt reflection and help you to reinvent yourself.
1. What do you not like about other people?
Often our dislikes about others can tell us a lot about ourselves. For example, maybe we don’t like it when someone is very loud at social events. Is there something about us that makes us feel this way? Maybe we don’t like that they get all of the attention. Or maybe we feel insecure in social situations.
We can also ask ourselves how we might be more compassionate to people we don’t like. Can we see how their own insecurities might cause their negative behaviours? Can we be more compassionate towards them as a result?
2. What were you like as a child?
What did you enjoy doing just for the sake of it? Not because it would make you money or your parents would be proud – what did you do just because it was fun? Maybe you played sports or painted or wrote stories.
And what was your approach to life like? Did you feel stressed? Did you worry about what people thought? Did you speak negatively about your body? How has that changed in adulthood?
3. What regrets do you have?
Our regrets often show us instances that we acted against our values. We wish we hadn’t done something because it’s not a reflection of our true selves or the person we hoped to be.
4. Decide on Your Values
Your values are your guiding principles – the things that are most important to you. Often when we’re unhappy with our lives it’s because we’re not living according to our values. For example, maybe one of your values it to be true to yourself but you’ve chosen a career you dislike because your parents would be proud. Or maybe one of your values is kindness and compassion but you’ve failed to be there for others and lack strong friendships as a result.
Decide on the values that matter most to you in life and write them down. When you’re faced with a decision, these values should guide you in making the one that feels best for you.
If you like this post, check out my 30 before 30 bucket list!
5. Implement New Habits
By now you should have a good list of things that you want to change in your life. The best way to reinvent yourself is to create habits. Habits are things that we do every day – like brushing our teeth or eating breakfast. We don’t have to think about it, it’s just something we do! If we want to make big changes in our life, it’s important to change our habits. We are what we do every day!
Try to pick a handful of things from your ‘areas for improvement’ list and work out how you could translate them into small and manageable daily habits. For example, if you scored a 2 on health, you might have written ‘exercise regularly’ on your list. Translate this into a daily habit by creating a workout schedule. You could commit to going to the gym every morning at 7:00am. Try to make sure you do the habit at the same time each day, as this will help it to stick!
It’s best to only focus on 1 or 2 habits at a time. Once these become a regular part of your normal routine, you can start adding more in!
6. Declutter Your Home (& Life)
Now it’s time to let go of all the things that are no longer serving you. That could be relationships that are manipulative or friends that put you down. It might be clothes that you don’t feel good in or books that you have no intention of reading. Let go of the things that don’t either bring you joy or serve some kind of purpose. Give yourself the best chance at building a better life by creating an environment that empowers you.
7. Pick Your Affirmations
Affirmations have been shown to have a huge impact on both behaviour and self-worth. This is the perfect time to combat any negative beliefs you uncovered in step 3! Write down 2-4 ‘I am’ affirmations and make an effort to repeat them every day, either by writing them down or saying them out loud. Examples could be:
I am grateful for my body and love everything it does for me.
I am confident and proud of who I am.
I am growing as a person every day.
7. Journal
Journeys are never linear. There’s always plenty of ups and downs. I’ve found journaling to be the most useful tool in my own personal growth journey. Each day it gives me an opportunity for reflection. I can see what’s going well and what I need to work on. Making big changes in your life requires commitment. Journaling helps to keep us accountable!
A great way to start your journal entry for the day is by writing down your values and affirmations. This provides the perfect reminder of what you’re striving towards and how you plan to reinvent yourself.
If you’re new to journaling and feel daunted by free writing, check out these journal prompts!
31 Journal Prompts for Reflection and Reinvention
30 Journal Prompts for Self Discovery
