If you’re not totally happy with the way your career is going, it may be time to harness the power of reinventing yourself. This may sound like a phrase of buzzwords, but it just means taking the initiative to steer your life in the direction you’d like it to go. It can also mean moving away from a crummy roommate or making new friends, but we’ll focus on the job aspects. The chances are good that you’re going to change your own situation many times over your lifetime, there’s no reason you can’t start early. If you feel like it’s time for a change, there a few things you can do to set yourself up for a smooth reinvention transition.

 

Factor in Your Skills

If you dread your workdays with your current position as a statistician but stay up all night weaving hair dolls that sell on Etsy like hotcakes, maybe you’re in the wrong profession. Give yourself permission to follow your aptitudes and dreams, you may be surprised at how lucrative they can be. The U.S. Department of Labor suggests using these tools to help you discover your interests and abilities.

 

Learn

When you want to reinvent yourself, continuing your education can be helpful. The classes you take on your time off will let you know if you even like the field you’re thinking of switching to. How quickly you’re picking up the information can give you some indication of your talent level for the career.

 

Resume

Once you’ve figured out how you want to reinvent yourself, go ahead and start applying to new jobs. Just make sure you give your resume an update. You’re a new person and you want to reflect that on paper. You may have skills, education, and experience relevant to your new prospects that you left off when applying to your old job. Your time volunteering at the chinchilla circus wasn’t important at your accounting job, but it may be when you’re vying for the VP position at the ferret farm.

 

Old Habits

If you’re going to reinvent yourself, now is the time to kill off any bad habits you may have that are leading to workplace stress. There’s nothing wrong with owning up to your part of the responsibility for any job ire. Tardiness, absences, poor communication skills, and the like can always lead to strife, and if you find these words on your evaluations, try not to let those behaviors follow you to your next career, even if you have really good excuses reasons for being late or using all your sick days.

 

People may be creatures of habit, but don’t let that stop you from changing yourself for the better. You may be happier for it.