This Playbook includes the following sections, select a heading to jump to that section.
IDENTIFY YOUR LIFE DIRECTION.
Establish what's important to you and what life you actually want to pursue.
This model is easy to understand and crazy hard to live by. But it might help you assess your current life choices and identify what changes you want to make based on the check of 'what will get me out of bed in the morning?'
What do you really want? What's really important to you? What life do you want to create? Surprisingly, this 'negative' emotion might help you map out the life you're yearning for. Member's can click into this model to download a canvas to help.
UNDERSTAND & CHALLENGE INERTIA.
Understand the seemingly contradictory inertia and temporary nature of your current life direction
We bet you didn't expect to see the Second Law of Thermodynamics here! It's a reminder that nothing is permanent. Your relationships, your career, are not constant — they require ongoing energy to maintain. You're spending energy to keep afloat, so why not use it to go in a different direction? And yes, embracing this might deepen your existential crisis, but crises can drive change.
Begin your reinvention with some compassion for yourself, because there will be resistance. This model, traditionally used for understanding customer behaviour, can also explain the inertia you will face moving forward to create significant change in your life. Just switch out the words 'service' for 'life' and you get the idea.
It's overwhelming to think of massive change in your life, so don't. Break it down, experiment, take small steps and move in the direction you want.
Don't let it be all or nothing. Remember that change can often happen slowly but consistently. Start trying to put those small dominos in place, you never know which one will lead to a chain reaction for major change.
Sooner or later, you're likely to hit a big decision point. When you do, you might want to look at the model that Jeff Bezos used to give him the confidence to quit his day job and start a company that you might have heard of...
Even when present you knows what sort of life you want, there's no guarantee that future you will stay on track. That's why you might want to experiment with Ulysses Pact to lock your choices in.
Huge goals can be motivating, but also intimidating and oppressive at times. Those are the times that you'll want to embrace systems — daily activities that are embedded in your process to move you in the right direction.
Finally, this economic model describing how something new can be born from an existing system can be applied to your life. Think about the seeds you're creating in your current life and work, that might be grown and pursued to create your reinvention.
Leverage your unconscious bias to create change, make it easier to embed new habits and mindsets by making the most of Temporal Landmarks to separate 'past you' from 'future you'. Click into the model for practical tips.
Are you wanting to reinvent yourself because of major challenges or falls in your life? If so, you might want to console yourself with Kintsugi, which will help you to embrace and even celebrate the 'new' from the 'broken'.
UPGRADE YOURSELF.
You might need to make some self-improvements to realise the life that you want.
You might know this as an ideation and innovation tool, but click into it to find out how to challenge your identity and embed deep new habits.
Once you know your goal and how you want to change, use this classic coaching model for a simple gap analysis on yourself. Yes, you can coach yourself to success, and this model will make it much easier.
More than just new and divergent ideas, it's likely that your new path will require new skills. There are a lot of learning-inspired models on ModelThinkers, but this is the best for developing complex skills faster. Click into it for practical tips.
On a similar theme as the Circle of Competence, consider your existing knowledge/ experience/ expertise. Then think about how you can add a new domain or idea from left field to reinvent your approach.
HACKS TO HELP YOUR JOURNEY.
Use these models to uncover your passion and direction, and make the hard decisions to prioritise moving forward.
A huge part of living the life you want is saying no to the distractions and temptations around you. It's about real commitment and focus on what you want to achieve and who you want to be. When you're ready for such focus, try Buffet's brutal Two List cut off.
Reinvention might not involve new additions to your life, it might just involve removing things that do not serve you. Explore this counter-intuitive model for more.
Just because you're going in a new direction, you don't have to jettison everything you know, are capable of, or have done. Use this model to consider your current competencies and to map out a gap analysis of what you'll need next.
The hero's journey isn't just a way to understand hit movies and books, it's a way to frame and understand your life. This model is a reminder that you will face challenges, indeed those challenges will help you forge something new.