To reinvent yourself, you decide to change, turn that decision into a 6 month plan, build the skills and connections of the new life, then keep improving it until you reach a version of success that fits who you have become. The case made here is that the present you are living will not lead to the future you want unless you change it on purpose. Reinvention works for a move to a new country, a new career or any other big shift, and the steps stay the same.
Below are the 15 steps in order. The first half is about moving away from what hurts, and the second half is about stepping into a new role and growing into it.
Watch the full video here, or skip to the breakdown below.
The 15 steps at a glance
- Decide you want to change (0:35)
- Make a 6 month plan (2:09)
- Start building your new skill set (4:53)
- Make 1 connection from the new world you will live in (6:12)
- Understand that the door is open and it will remain that way (7:19)
- Move and survive (9:48)
- Push through the feeling of loneliness and chaos (11:26)
- Start building new life routines (12:52)
- Find your first anchor of happiness, then build around it (14:11)
- Set big goals for your new life (15:12)
- Build your social circle (17:22)
- Pay attention to not repeat the patterns of the previous life (18:18)
- Prove to yourself that you can live off this new lifestyle long term (19:06)
- Incrementally improve elements around you (20:39)
- Achieve the new version of success (21:50)
- Bonus: You can reinvent yourself more than once
1. Decide you want to change
Picture your life 10 to 15 years from now if you keep going on the same path. If that picture is not a pleasant one, wake up. Your life will not change unless you change.
The word decision shares a root with incision, which means to cut. Making a decision is literally cutting your options down. Regret builds in people who postponed the change for a tomorrow that never came.
Knowing the outcome of what you are doing and still expecting a different result is fooling yourself. Give it your all, because building who you will become takes everything you are now.
2. Make a 6 month plan
This is where a desire becomes a plan. A goal without a plan is a wish, and six months is enough to get started. Six months from this moment, you could be a new person.
The plan has three parts. First, define it: who is this person, what do they do, eat, and where do they live, who do they spend time with? Write the answers down as specifically as you can. Some people print photos and make a vision board.
Second, break it down into actionable steps: what you take with you, what you leave behind, the minimum skill that gets a foot in the door, the cost of moving, the tools, the number of interviews, the savings you need. Third, commit money and effort: pay the tutor, the immigration lawyer, the first months of rent.
Then plant a flag on a date. A goal without a deadline is a wish too, and a date turns it into a race against the clock.
3. Start building your new skill set
Building a new you takes effort, and effort means doing things that feel hard or confusing at first. Practise every single day, like an athlete getting in shape to compete.
Do not be afraid to start slow or to feel foolish learning the fundamentals. Embarrassment is the cost of entry, and the basics are the foundation for everything after them.
Make a schedule. With a strong enough goal, sticking to it is easier than you expect, because the outcome keeps you going when you would otherwise quit.
Keep asking what happens if this actually works out. Most people underestimate what six months of focus and discipline can do.
4. Make 1 connection from the new world you will live in
Find someone willing to teach you the ropes, or find someone already doing it and study them closely. This takes humility and some detective work. Put the energy you once spent stalking an ex into it and results come fast.
Ask that person to fill in the blanks about what the change really takes. They often share valuable ground-level insight and sometimes guidance once you arrive. Just do not be a pest about it, since people gladly give advice and tell their story.
Also get a second opinion. People differ, so what is hard for one person may be easy for you.
5. Understand that the door is open and it will remain that way
Here is one of the biggest secrets in the script: the life you want to escape is your default life. If things do not work out in 12 to 18 months, you can go back to it. You have nothing to lose except a few months and a little money.
That current life is your bottom floor. Put in the effort and things can only improve. It might not be the same job or apartment, but at a large enough scale it will not matter.
Time will pass whether or not you choose. Most people overestimate what they can do in a month and underestimate what they can do in a year, so decide where you want to be twelve months from now.
You can walk out anytime, and you can always walk back in.
6. Move and survive
This moment is compared to skydiving or cliff jumping. No matter how much you prepare, there is a moment when you look past the edge and your body goes numb. This is where you recognize resistance, which Steven Pressfield describes as standing between the life we live and the unlived life within us.
When your head says the move is right, force your body to follow and jump. Once you land, your only job is survival. For the first few weeks, figure out where to live, how to cover the basics and how to get by.
Do not look for comfort and do not compare your new standard of living with the old one. It usually feels rough at first, but look at what you are doing: the thing you said you would do for years.
7. Push through the feeling of loneliness and chaos
Growth feels bad, the same way a gym session does. Your mind panics, doubts itself and reconsiders every choice because everything is uncertain. Your instincts favor survival through staying put, so your gut says to go back to the unpleasant but familiar.
The new place feels lonely because it is new. It feels chaotic and you feel small against the unknown. You probably do not know anyone yet, and that is normal.
Familiarity arrives with time, and as you embrace the environment it embraces you. You already took the leap, so you cannot quit this early.
8. Start building new life routines
When you are starting over, routines make sense of the chaos. Find the coffee shop near you and go consistently. Tell the barista you are new in town, because people like welcoming others into their circle.
After a job change, talk to the people you see on your route. If work gives you no connection, join a gym, a theatre group, a startup incubator, or volunteer regularly for something you care about. Any regular activity that benefits you or the community counts.
These routines ground you and give the place purpose, and they are a good way to make friends. The same applies to any reinvention, whether it is a career shift or a lifestyle change, and not only to physical moves.
9. Find your first anchor of happiness, then build around it
Give it enough time and effort and something clicks. You meet someone, your new business takes off, you get a promotion or make a great friend. That event is your first anchor in the new life and a sign you are here to stay.
Early success opens other circles. A partner introduces you to friends, the startup attracts investors, the promotion brings benefits. Your new life starts to make sense and you may feel a rush of euphoria.
The anchor validates your ability to thrive, and you can call this place home.
10. Set big goals for your new life
You did not do all this to end up a bit better. If things are rolling, the question changes from whether it will work to how big it can get.
Two examples show the idea. A freelancer might aim to work six months a year and travel the other six. A first-time author might aim to sell a hundred times more with the next book and make a living writing.
You are going to dream anyway, so dream big. Some people look to reinvent themselves because they are unhappy and some need a few tries to find what they want, but those who make the jump never look back.
11. Build your social circle
Friends are your safety net, they open doors and pull you out of your comfort zone. The line in the script is blunt: your life is boring because you have boring friends. If you want cool friends, become cool yourself and you will meet them on the way.
Engage with different people, different views and different cultures, and go to events. Use the 24 hour rule: if you meet someone at a social event, follow up within the next 24 hours to keep the momentum going.
12. Pay attention to not repeat the patterns of the previous life
One of the biggest mistakes is changing location without changing behavior. If everyone you meet is difficult, either you are the difficult one or you are in the wrong place. If you move and everyone is still difficult, only one option is left.
You cannot expect the way you interpret life to change because the setting changed. You are still you. Reinvention means shifting your behavior or the lens through which you see the world.
It is easy to slide back into the habits that made you miserable. When you notice it, raise a red flag and remember why you left the old version behind.
13. Prove to yourself that you can live off this new lifestyle long term
Now the new reality becomes your long-term reality. You have a system that is sustainable and predictable, and this time it does not make you lose your mind with regret. It just feels right.
Something special happens: your return increases because you enjoy the work more. You are more productive editing videos, writing books, painting or running a business than you were before. Once you cross a sustainability threshold, things accelerate.
The script shares that the team’s first goal was to earn enough from its digital publication to avoid getting a job. The goal then became supporting their families and the families of the people who worked for them.
14. Incrementally improve elements around you
With the reinvention done, upgrade what can be upgraded, one area at a time. Improve your relationships, your food, the comfort of your home and the ideas you expose yourself to.
If the old you was version 1.0 and the reinvented one is 2.0, these small gains are 2.1, 2.2 and so on. People were not designed to be stagnant or to work themselves to death paying bills. It is in our nature to keep improving.
15. Achieve the new version of success
When you began, you had a vague picture of version 2.0. Along the way you learned about yourself and that picture changed. Through small iterations and new input you are ready for version 3.0.
Your values and beliefs evolve until you find peace, which is the success you were after in the first place. The process has two halves: moving away from discomfort or pain, then entering a new role and maturing in it.
At the end of the constant iteration comes a moment when you have no other desires, and that is when you find peace.
Bonus: You can reinvent yourself more than once
What if every ten years you chose a different kind of goal? For the team behind the video, the first adult decade went to financial freedom, which they say they achieved. The next decade could go to creativity, art, philosophy or writing, whatever makes your heart skip a beat.
That is the logic of solving money first: it lets you pursue everything else afterwards. Nassim Taleb is quoted here: if you want to become a philosopher king, become a king first.
Never be scared to reinvent yourself. Do it as many times as you need until you find a version you want to keep.
Build something new, not a copy of the old
The steps look long, but they follow a clear arc: decide, plan, practise, find a guide, survive the first weeks, settle, then raise the ceiling. The script closes with a question worth answering for yourself: if you could reinvent yourself today, what would you want to be or do?
This is a year for rebuilding, and nobody asked you to rebuild the same thing as before.
FAQ
How do you reinvent yourself and start over?
Decide you want to change, write a 6 month plan, build the new skill set, find one connection in the new world, move, survive the first weeks, then build routines and a social circle. The script lays this out as 15 steps.
How long does it take to reinvent yourself?
The script says 6 months is enough to get started and that in 6 months you could be a new person. It also says to expect the new life to feel lonely and chaotic at first, and that familiarity comes with time.
What if starting over does not work out?
The video argues your old life is your default and the door stays open. If it does not work out in 12 to 18 months, you can go back, so you risk a few months and a little money.
Why does changing location not fix everything?
Because you take yourself with you. If you move without changing your behavior and the way you see things, you are likely to repeat the same patterns and end up with the same results.
Can you reinvent yourself more than once?
Yes. The video suggests choosing a new kind of goal every ten years and says you should reinvent yourself as many times as you need until you find a version you want to stay with.
Keep reading
- 15 Steps to Reinvent Yourself and Start Over
- 15 Ways To Start A New, Better Life
- 15 STEPS TO START OVER
