How long it takes to reinvent yourself is a bit of a “how long is a piece of string” question.
It depends on a lot of factors including how much of a reinvention you want to do and how much time you want to devote to the reinvention each day. In other words, whether it’s going to be a gradual change or something more dramatic.
So it could be a few weeks or a few years or anywhere in between.
Start by deciding what your future self will look like
This is fun!
It’s best done with old fashioned pen and paper – for a start, you’re away from the distractions a computer screen holds plus there’s an extra connection between what you’re thinking and what you’re writing when you put pen to paper.
Make the description of your future self as detailed as you possibly can. Include details of what you’ll look like, the clothes you’ll be wearing, the location, the aromas you’ll be experiencing, the sounds you’ll be hearing.
The closer you can get this to being able to step into the description in your mind’s eye, the better.
When you start writing, leave the timescale out of it. Because you probably won’t know how long it will take until you’ve done the rest of the writing. A new hair-do and wardrobe will take significantly less time than a complete lifestyle change that maybe includes a change of house and a few other things.
But don’t limit yourself on the timescale – include “or sooner” when you write it to allow the universe the opportunity to deliver things faster than you currently imagine.
Even changing location can be relatively quick, depending on whether your plan includes owning a property or just living there.
Create a vision board
Vision boards are reminders of how things will look.
A few years ago, I’d have suggested cutting pictures out of magazines and adding them to your vision board. Whilst you can still do that, most people nowadays will get their images from the web and either print them out for their vision board or copy them into it. There are lots of apps and websites that you can choose from.
Make the images powerful because you want them to inspire you to change.
Put reminders to yourself everywhere
Reminders and hints and clues all help.
So if you’ve decided that part of your reinvention means moving to a new place, put a photo on your mirror and the corner of your PC screen or use it as a screensaver.
Similarly, send a postcard to yourself from the new place.
Use one of the many apps to recreate the future image of you with your new clothes and accessories and maybe even a new partner in life.
These triggers will help your mind to come to terms with the idea that the change is already happening and that will help to shorten the timescale.
Work on recreating yourself every day
It’s probably best to treat this like a giant to-do list.
Once you’ve got the idea of who and where you want to be, slice it up into small, manageable pieces.
Each piece should be as simple as it can be – book an appointment, buy something, meditate daily, practice mindfulness, use your vision board to truly visualise your dream-you.
Then make sure that you do at least one thing towards reinventing yourself every single day. With this kind of thing, I find that it’s best to do that thing early on in the day so that you don’t get sidetracked – you know you’re a lot less likely to catch up tomorrow, so do at least something today.
Get help
Sharing your vision of the new you publicly is a good start. Tweet about it, post it on Facebook and anywhere else your friends congregate online.
Tell friends and family what’s going to happen and reassure them that they’re part of the big picture of your reinvented self. Always assuming you’re not planning to vanish completely of course.
Chat with people who’ve done this already – you should be able to find them on sites like Facebook and Quora and Reddit – so you can get tips and also help when the process seems a bit “off”.
Listen to a hypnosis track regularly. This will help keep your mind on-board with the changes you’re making and will get your subconscious working with you as well. It will even let you “test drive” the vision you have for yourself which sounds like something out of science fiction but really works.
It’s best done with old fashioned pen and paper – for a start, you’re away from the distractions a computer screen holds plus there’s an extra connection between what you’re thinking and what you’re writing when you put pen to paper.
