Reading: Take the Big Leap: Reinventing Everything All at Once

Pamela Redmond Satran was a best-selling author, owned a successful baby-naming site, had a marriage of 33 years, a big house in the suburbs, kids and even a picket fence. And then she turned the age at which her mother died. Her book “Younger” was optioned by “Sex & the City’s” Darren Star, and she decided to start over.

Pamela’s Top Reinvention Tips

1. It’s okay to do it all at once.
Making a lot of big changes makes you braver about making even more changes. It felt like I took a swing on a bungee cord, and I survived and it was kinda fun. So maybe I can do it again and make another change. Being brave can really open up the horizon to a lot of things.

2. Toughen up.
I feel myself getting tougher all the time. You have to find ways to deal with that rejection, which is so inevitable. I can tell you that despite all the success for the last five years since I made these changes, I’ve gotten so much rejection around my writing. Hundreds of rejections. Hundreds! But now everything is coming together and I’m so glad I stuck with it. It was not easy, and the only answer is to get tougher and just keep going.

3. Find other reinventors and schedule regular meetings with them.
One thing that we’ve done is that we get together and talk to each other about our business plans and what we’re working on as if we were partners, except we have different businesses. It’s really a great way to feel like you have some community. We have a standing weekly appointment for lunch, or drinks or a bike ride, and we talk about what we’re doing. It’s how I’ve gotten some of my best ideas, and I love being able to give advice – other people’s problems are so much easier than your own!

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