Why You Should Consider A Career Reinvention

The art of reinvention is one to be admired. It means committing to yourself by making a lifelong promise to try the things that excite or interest you as well as flat out refusing to hold yourself back by limiting your potential. For some, reinvention is less of a thought out action but a reflection of their nature. Whether you’re one of those people or not, reinvention is a choice everyone should and has to repeatedly make.

Reinvention is one of the greatest tools we have. As humans we have the freedom to choose to be different. As obvious as it might sound, this is something that we have to constantly remind ourselves of, myself included. That we are free to be whoever we want, change our minds and that choosing to be new versions of yourself is not a betrayal to whatever vision you or others may have of you.

This is of course applicable to all aspects of life; but is particularly tricky to navigate career wise. A career shift is not as easy and not as instant as simply wanting to do it, but being open to pursuing a different path is the first step in actually getting there.

‘What do you want to do?’ is a question that’s repeatedly asked at every stage of life. First, about your wild and exciting childhood dreams, but as you grow up the questions become more specific. As children, you’re told to reach for the stars but at some point the messaging swiftly changes, and instead you’re told to anchor your dreams to tangible reality. As someone who is at the start of her career and in her first ‘big girl’ job, it’s still a concept I think about often. I went from feeling like I could do anything and everything to slowly but surely hyper fixating on how every decision I made would impact my career and stability long term.

Below, we take a look at some incredibly inspiring women who have all taken the plunge and reinvented their careers…

Reshma Saujani

The founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani first started her career at a law firm before a pivot into finance. Her huge shift came when she decided to quit and run for congress in 2010. She then went on to create Girls Who Code, a nonprofit tackling the gender disparity in computing.

Ava DuVernay

Despite directing the critically acclaimed Selma, Ava DuVernay hadn’t picked up a camera before the age of 32 when she made her first short film. She was instead a working film publicist, after learning from the filmmakers she represented she recognised that the only difference between her and them was that they had given it a go.

Ruby Wax

A trained a​ctress and adored comedian, you may know Ruby Wax from the sitcom Girls On Top or her late-night talk show Ruby. What you may not know is that she went on to study psychology at the University of California and gained a master’s degree from Oxford in mindfulness based cognitive therapy and has had several Sunday Times bestsellers.

These are only some of the women who are proof that you can reinvent yourself and career as many times as you want. But there is no shortage of bold and successful women, they’re all around us, speak to friends, colleagues, family members and you’ll hear more tales of this. The most important thing to remember is that we all change and so do our wants, rather than shunning them, this is something to embrace. Wanting a career change is proof that you’re ready for a much needed elevation.