What happens when you finally start building something new…and your old world suddenly comes knocking?
In this episode, Todd Jason and Chris Thide talk about one of the most confusing – and most common – moments in career change: unexpected opportunities from your old professional life showing up just as you begin to reinvent yourself.
This is almost a predictable phenomenon, and they’ll unpack why these moments are so tempting, how identity and nervous system conditioning pull us back toward certainty, and why this phase is actually a test of your long-term vision. You’ll learn:
- How to evaluate new job offers without panic or reactivity
- The difference between conscious choice and defaulting to safety
- How to set boundaries around time, energy, and availability
- When it makes sense to go back – and how to do it without killing your vision
- Why clarity around your future self changes every decision
The GOAL: to help you make the best decisions possible for your long-term future. So this episode isn’t about burning bridges or forcing bold moves, but about slowing down, staying aligned, and making wise, intentional decisions when things get noisy.
If you’re building something new – and feeling pulled back toward the familiar – this episode will help you stay grounded and choose well.
If this conversation resonated with you, visit ReInvention.biz to explore our guided workbook and join a community of people just like you – people designing what’s next.
**Subscribe to the ReInvention Podcast to stay plugged into fresh ideas, frameworks, and real-world tools for navigating the future of your work and life.
Episode Transcript:
Todd: Reinvention is an opportunity to reimagine what’s possible for your future.
I get juiced about it because I’m like, oh, it’s your opportunity. This is kind of what you’ve been waiting for. You’ve been on a path that’s diminished you, that on the outside looks good, but on the inside has been eating you alive and now you’ve come to this point.
Chris: All right, Todd, welcome back to another very special fireside chat for reinvention. What are we talking about today, my man?
Todd: Yeah, and for those of you listening to the podcast, we’re doing another one. We’re face to face and we got a fire behind us,
Chris: a crackling roaring fire behind us
Todd: So check out our YouTube channel is great. But Chris, this episode is dedicated to the people who started down the path of reinventing their careers in some way. People who have taken their skills and begun mapping out some consulting or coaching work, or started exploring fractional opportunities, but who are still not a hundred percent sure which future direction is the wisest best move for them.
And the idea for this episode came on the heels of a pretty juicy conversation in our community where one of our members put out his consulting shingle after getting laid off from a pretty damn successful 25 year career in medical device design, but then started getting hit up on LinkedIn for a variety of opportunities, and he’s now finding himself a bit confused about what to do.
Should he explore these opportunities, is he all of a sudden interviewing again? What’s the relationship between his new consulting offer and these emerging opportunities, and how can he make sure that he doesn’t end up in a situation where he’s burned out or let go within 12 months? Okay, so Chris, today’s episode in my opinion, is where the rubber meets the road for many reinventors situations get confusing. When you’re exploring new terrain, especially when you haven’t had much experience in these new waters. So our goal with this episode is to provide you with a clear framework for how to assess all the opportunities that are emerging in your career right now.
Even unexpected opportunities so that you can make really smart decisions to hit success and fulfillment faster. Chris, man, what do you think?
Chris: This is a big one. We talk about identity a lot in reinvention. I think that this episode gets to the core of that, this conversation, because really at its root reinvention is creating a new identity or maybe we can say revealing a true identity when you’ve been living under an identity or a persona for a certain amount of time that doesn’t fit you anymore. And like we encountered in our community, not only with this one person, but with a few people we’re talking to in the community, what happens is you’re so used to being a certain way, living a certain way, that when you go out and try to build this new thing and do this new way of being and way of living.
It’s scary, it’s different, it’s unknown. You don’t know where you’re going. When something reaches back out from that old world and says, Hey, you know, you could just get this job and you get this much money, or whatever it is. Mm-hmm. It’s very tempting. Mm-hmm. Because your nervous system really, I think, is tempted by that to say, uh, that would be a lot less anxiety.
That would be a lot less scary. You know, that’s the pain we know, let’s get out of the fire and back into the frying pan. Mm-hmm. Right. Some people might very well do that. But what we are here to take a stand for is that if you’ve got to this point where you are knowing that you need to reinvent and knowing that you can find fulfillment and happiness and abundance doing something different, you have to commit to that.
Mm-hmm. And you have to commit to the process. And you have to commit to that, not knowing what the outcome’s gonna be right now. And frankly, being aware of and avoiding, or at least managing the siren song that’s calling you back to crash on the rocks of the old career. Yeah. That that was causing you all this pain.
You’re in this conversation, you’re not taking it lightly. If you’re in this conversation, if you’re in the conversation about reinvention you’re ready.
Todd: Yeah. Well, I think it’s also a really important time to just reiterate what our vision of reinvention is or can mean, which is this notion that your next career move or moves can be your best one if you’re thinking about it in a way where you align the future version of yourself with your money making and what you’re doing professionally, your lifestyle, what you really wanna have happen and not necessarily your past trajectory. And that’s why I love this conversation that this came up in our community call because I know from a lot of personal experience with people that I coached, one-on-one entered our community that you are gonna get tested. Yeah. When you’re reinventing, you are gonna get tested. And by the way, this is not necessarily, at least in my opinion, a call that once you start down a new path like this one gentleman did, that there isn’t a world where going back to that old universe is not always a terrible thing. Yeah. I don’t think there’s a one size fits all, but I think the conversation is important because when you’re in this place right now, right? You’re sitting in this crucible state of potentially reinventing your life and your career, and you’re getting excited by listening to this podcast or people like us, and you’re looking out into the future and you’re like, yeah, I’m gonna align my passions and my interests with you know, my money making, and that’s really exciting. And I put out my shingle and I’m out there and all of a sudden that old world starts coming back in. Yeah, you’re gonna get tempted. It’s gonna happen for everybody. And so this conversation, is about just staying the line about what this process is really about, right?
Because at the end of the day. The call is to slow down and breathe and don’t make rash decisions because this is a moment to potentially make a change that will benefit your life over the long term. And so while that old world will come in calling, we’re just saying don’t necessarily get all lost in that because you might just stop and breathe and start making wise decisions, and we’ll talk about how to do that.
Chris: I have a good story about one of my favorite people in the whole world. Me and I, went through this right when I was, in year 10 of this job that I was so done with mm-hmm. Since year four, whatever it was, and actually got laid off from that role.
I kind of may have sort of engineered that, but I hung my shingle out and I said, let me do some consulting. Right. Let me see what this is. I didn’t have the words for it, but I was starting my reinvention. Mm-hmm. I was actually quite a bit into it at that moment.
Mm-hmm. Hung out my own shingle. Got a consulting gig right away. Also started doing a little bit of mentoring, which eventually led to coaching. I started that all in earnest at the end of 2019, and then going into 2020, things changed.
I ended up going back into corporate and I went back into corporate because there was an opportunity that came up that I was a perfect fit for it and it paid a lot more money than the last role. Mm-hmm. And there were lots of good things about it, but I went in with eyes open that I was like, I know this is not going to work for another 10 years for me.
Mm-hmm. God forbid, the 25 years till retirement or whatever it was. Mm-hmm. But, this is good when we talk about people who are at this moment in reinvention, to realize it’s not one and done necessarily. Mm-hmm. It’s not like, oh, flip a switch now I’m gonna just create this whole new career and this whole new life and I can never go back, or I can never recombine it.
There’s so many different patterns and versions of this that you can do right. Where you can say, Hey, I’m going to shift to. part-time and do a little bit of side consulting, or I’m gonna completely just hang my shingle and only go down that road. Like there’s a million different iterations or a million different versions of it that that could exist.
Todd: And that’s where it gets confusing too. Right? You know, I mean, it reminds me of like, I love Seinfeld, right? And he has a line in Seinfeld where it’s like, breaking up with someone. It’s just you break up with them. It’s like, knocking over a soda machine. You gotta push it several times, you know?
And eventually there’s enough momentum where you go like that, right? It’s true, in a lot of ways when you’re talking about changing anything in life and especially when you’re, in a position where you’ve had a career for a long time and now you’re looking at reinventing and there’s a lot of fear around that.
And even when you get to a place where this gentleman has gotten to, which is a pretty high level of clarity, that his best version of his life going forward is to have his own consulting and fractional work and he built a website and he has a couple of other projects that really juice him up that he’s not sure about how it’s gonna make money.
But he’s building those. So he’s smart, right? He’s in this place where, alright, he’s built out a shingle, you know, and he can make some money doing that or theoretically he can, like you did. Mm-hmm. And then he is got a couple passion projects that he’s like kind of gonna tend the flame. And obviously the hope is that some of those take off and all of a sudden he’s living this incredible holy grail lifestyle where he is like doing what he’s really here to do and it’s making great money and he’s feeling really great around that. And then the old world comes in.
And it starts saying, Hey I got this job for you and here’s what the salary will be. Right? And he got on the call and it was interesting how juicy it was for everybody because everyone felt like, yeah, this is a moment in time to slow down and breathe, and I think what you’re pointing to is this is the time to tactically start understanding how you can explore your reinvention in a way that works for you and not make rash decisions based on what your old identity will feel comfortable with. That’s the important thing.
When we’re talking about reinvention. we’re talking about creating a new line of work, a new way of being in the world, one that has a lot of excitement and potential fulfillment associated with it. Let’s stay there. Yeah. Let’s not get lost in our old self that needs that security necessarily. I mean, you may go back to the,
Chris: Well, it depends. It depends on your situation, right? I’m Thinking of. People on our call when we talked about this, and I know there’s one or two who have that feeling of, Hey, if the old identity came a calling, it might be the best thing for me to go grab that. Right? Right. And a lot of times this is driven by the financial reality of the situation or where somebody is the hope for me and what I think.
Ultimately will be best for people in that mode, is that maybe it does make sense to go back, I went back in for a couple years, but to go in eyes wide open and to stay open to the possibility of what’s out there and maybe to do similar to what I did, which is keep that work alive as a side hustle.
Todd: Is that what did?
Chris: Keep exploring that? Yeah, I did, I did some coaching around the side. I mean, I did some, volunteer mentoring that I did originally, some of that turned into some paid coaching and consulting. Mm-hmm. Right. So I kept it alive a little bit on the side. More important than even the work that was being done there it was the, concept. Mm-hmm. It was the dream didn’t die because I said, well I tried this for a little bit, and then actually, uh, I’m gonna hop back in. I think the thing is, is that it is circumstantial, for different people that are at different phases, but at the point we’re trying to get at is to be conscious and proactive in the way that you address it and aware, like a and aware of, that you can get pulled back in and to say, we talk about creating like boundaries.
Mm-hmm. To say, well maybe my boundary is I’m not gonna go back for a full-time job.
Todd: Well, here’s what’s interesting about it, right? So Chris and I, we think we’re these great coaches and we’re running this community, and meanwhile, when this person was sharing the situation, another member came in and gave the best coaching, right?
Well, yeah. You know, and she was like teaching this point. ‘Cause the question that he had was, am I all of a sudden interviewing again? And he felt weird about it ’cause he had, built up his coaching website.
Chris: he had just like committed to building this stuff and doing all this work.
Todd: He has thing. And now he’s on an interview, but he’s got this thing and he’s trying to understand, well, am I trying to like sell this guy my coaching service? Or are they trying to hire me? And so one of our other members who’s just a little bit further along in the reinvention process said, you have the power.
You have complete autonomy right now to create the situation that you want. And he’s like, well, what do you mean? He’s like, well, you know, let’s say that this company that’s interesting to you, because one of the opportunities that came to him on LinkedIn was interesting to him, right? He was actually somewhat excited about it in a way, which is good, you know, it doesn’t mean that you just cut yourself off from the world.
And I’m gonna build my thing. That’s not what we’re talking about here. Our whole pitch is to remain open-minded and flexible, but it’s how you have the conversation that was confusing to him and she said, look, instead of he’s interviewing you, think about it, that you’re interviewing him. And he just had this light bulb, come on.
It’s like, I can do that. It’s like, yes, you can do that. So he’s liking what your resume says on LinkedIn and thinks that you’re somebody of value that can help this new startup. Mm-hmm. But you’re also in a position where you could say, this is what I am available for. This is what I would be available for and be clear about what that is.
And then she went ahead and gave her example. I get hit up all the time for people that want me on their projects or businesses. She was a VP of engineering, I think, or head of product for a big tech company. And she’s like very clear that. She may have five hours or she may have 10 hours.
Right. And once she gets clear on what her boundary is, she’s now telling them what it is. And then they have to figure out, well, can we incorporate this person into what we’re doing right now? And more often than not, she said is that when you have that level of clarity, it creates a very easy situation for the other people to be like, oh, this is who they’re and where they’re at, and do we wanna fit them in?
Right? Yeah. And she’s found a lot of success doing that, where she has five hour, 10 hour per week consulting clients while she’s reinventing. But she has that clarity, right? Yeah. she knows the boundary and I thinks that’s what you were getting at.
Chris: Well, and I think it’s also, It’s a little bit of a tangent, but I think it’s an important one, is this idea that the companies that are reaching out and they have a job description or whatever it is, the idea that like, that’s the offer and that’s all it is.
You know, again, favorite person in the world. I like to talk about me. My first consulting gig was actually the person was trying to hire me full time. Right. that just wasn’t gonna work. Mm-hmm. Like the structure of it. And I didn’t wanna do the job. I came back and I pitched a consulting gig.
The good news is I knew about how much it would pay full time, and so then I was able to price something that made sense for everybody. Right. And that actually was a pretty easy deal to close. Right. Right. So this idea that it’s take it or leave it, I think it’s really tapping into this identity, fear that people have mm-hmm.
Of where it’s like. You’re out here and you’re creating this new persona or identity, and it’s scary and it’s unknown and you don’t know where it’s going, and then that little hint of certainty is held out to you. Right? Right. Oh, that’s really solid. That’s a job. It’s got a job description, it’s got this and that really, really tempting to just go cling to that.
And what we’re saying here and what our, friend and community member said, is that you don’t necessarily have to take exactly what is offered. You do have the power to say, well, this is my version of what works for me. I think what you have to really be clear on what does work for you,
Todd: Right, that’s the thing,
Chris: right? So that you have the, the backbone and the confidence to have that conversation. Honestly, in a way to kinda stand up to yourself to not just go jump to safety and security.
Todd: Well, I think that’s what I did the light bulb came on that I can do that. And now the second question is what does work for me?
That was the assignment. And then we said, okay, go figure that out. And when you come on our next call, let us know how much time are you open to doing consulting work for companies that come to you that you are now interviewing if they come to you right. As you are building out your own coaching consulting practice, and he’s like, that feels great.
Yeah. You know, that’s actually what I really want. And again, what I kept bringing him back to was the idea that, a lot of people get really enticed by the security, but we also just have to be honest that the state of the world is changing so much right now, It’s very possible that you could continue to get these jobs that within six months or 12 months, you’re gonna get let go again.
’cause I had a client who was a designer in Silicon Valley who kept wanting to go back to the well. And you know that industry is hard for designers at Silicon Valley right now and kept getting jobs. But in six months, let go, let go, let go to the point where he had to make a big shift and open up his own AI consulting and design business where he’s now has his own shingle.
Right? So you just gotta be aware that that certainty that’s being pitched to you isn’t necessarily as solid as maybe it was. 15, 20 years ago when the world was different. Right? So this is why we keep talking about being open-minded, you know, and being flexible and learning a new way of being in the world where you can, be your own boss and have these different opportunities and different ways to make money and see which ones want to go further as you move forward.
Chris: Yeah. And you can be okay if going back in for six months, stints. Is what’s working for you, that can be okay too. I think it’s the consciousness about it and it’s the tactical approach to it, and it’s protecting the boundaries of saying, Hey, I might do this as a means to an end, but ultimately I know what I’m working towards.
Specifically part of the conversation that we had in our community was around the time allotment in your week to say. Well, I’m gonna set aside 10 hours for these, you know, creative ventures that are pulling me, even though I don’t really know how I’m gonna monetize them, or even if I’m gonna monetize them.
Mm-hmm. But I’m gonna protect them because that’s something that’s been undernourished for the 25 years of my career up to this point. So therefore I’m only open to 25 or 30 hours of work a week.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t take opportunities from the old world, right? You just have to contextualize them. And this is a means to an end.
Todd: It’s a new skill. It’s actually a new skill that you need to develop. And I think what you just said is so important. What most reinventors don’t do, but actually where the real juice is of setting aside some amount of time for the creative projects, the ones that aren’t directly related to replacing income or replacing purpose, but the ones where you just get lit up. And it could be things like the places that you volunteer at. We have a reinventor who works in tech, but he’s really passionate about a certain sector of the world around clean energy. Mm-hmm. Where he does a lot of personal work and volunteering for, and we were like gently coaching him, Hey, maybe there’s a world. Where you can find a job and a career using your incredibly advanced tech skills in that industry. Right.
And he couldn’t see that at first. Like that was even a possibility because, you know, his line of sight was so direct on what the jobs that he does, and then what was interesting was we pushed him on it and he said, yeah, there’s three companies that I really love and I’ve actually made some contacts and know people really high up that do that, like the CTO level, you know? I’m like, okay, start contacting them and just this light bulb went on, right?
So this whole conversation is a call to be open-minded, right? And to explore these different opportunities and to create clarity, by how you spend your time. That’s what’s really hard about this. Yeah. I think for a lot of folks is, you know, you’re used to having a job where it’s 30, 40, 50 hours a week and you get a paycheck, and now all of a sudden you’re in a place where you’re exploring fractional work, you’re building out a website, maybe you’re doing some consulting, now you’re working on some creative projects.
We wanna say that this is the way. For successful reinvention to happen. And it’s a skill that you need to learn and it goes by practice, right? And this is why we always say, look, follow this podcast along, join a community like ours, or get people on your side that can help you build these new skills.
Because it’s not just automatic that you’re gonna be able to. And I think that the gentleman that we led off with, got a lot of value by being on a call with a bunch of people and getting the feedback where he now saw it clearly in his mind, oh, that’s a skill I need to develop. Right? That’s something that I need to do.
And I think that’s how you amplify your ability to succeed.
Chris: I think it really helps to have these things reflected back at you, because the truth is, is that he had been in our community for weeks and weeks talking about the new identity and the new direction that he’s going and super excited about it.
Right. With good reason. So then when this sort of siren song unbelievable comes up. Yeah. He’s like, oh, should I go back? Honestly, Todd, let’s be honest. Yeah. We are great coaches, but, but having this person in the community, say another person in the community, say to him, kind of reflect back at him.
Yeah. The possibility that he could manage this in a different way and still honor where he’s going. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s really powerful to kind of not have the coaches say it. Because we’re, we’re saying this, and I think it’s helpful to have the community around you that they’re in it too, right.
To support you and also to have seen, in this case, 10 or 12 times this guy’s been talking about where he wants to go and the direction he wants to move. Exactly. And it’s like, well, there’s sometimes you need to be reminded, Hey, you’re, you’re doing a thing here. Mm-hmm. You’re committed to this thing.
You don’t really know how it’s gonna turn out, but you’re pretty deeply committed to it.
Todd: You know what’s funny about this particular person, and this is gonna resonate, I know for a lot of people, ’cause we talk a lot about get clarity, get that North Star, get that vision, get excited, right? Like reinvention is an opportunity to reimagine what’s possible for your future.
That includes your money making, includes your career, like I get juiced about it because I’m like, oh, it’s your opportunity. This is kind of what you’ve been waiting for. You’ve been on a path that’s diminished you, you’ve been on a path that on the outside looks good, but on the inside has been eating you alive and now you’ve come to this point.
And you could say, all right, what can I do in the future? And for this gentleman, it was really hard for him to get that vision right. It took him a year. I mean like it really took him a long time. He would fight me. ’cause he was a one-on-one client and he would like, I don’t have a vision I don’t know.
He was like very adamant. You know, at the harder end of the spectrum. ’cause most people can create that vision if they’re prompted. But for him it was really hard to envision an exciting life that had money and all this. But he got there.
Okay, he got there and then he created a couple of artifacts in the world. The website for his consulting, you know, another thing for his passion project. And the third thing, he was like, I see it, I see it. And then all of a sudden that old world came calling in and it literally like got him out of that state.
Yeah. It’s like fascinating how he was taken out of it and then kind of had to come in like, what do I do? What do I do now? Right. And so what I reminded him at the end of that call was, what’s your vision? Like, let’s go back to the idea that we always say life is short. You might as well create one that is worthy where there’s no regret at the end of the day.
What is your path with that in mind? Yeah. With that clarity in mind, right. And I think that’s what brought him back to a very sober and clear set of decisions that he needs to do.
Chris: I think it’s actually a good experience in a way to have gone through all this work to figure out what to get the clarity of vision and to what he’s working towards.
And then sort of just when he’s starting to actualize it, the hydra that is linked in like wheels up and, and comes and grabs him back. It’s a good test, right? You’re gonna be tested throughout reinvention, right? Mm-hmm. a little bit of a test of how committed are you to this.
Mm-hmm. And community is so important because at these beginning stages when you sort of don’t really have the external feedback that your, clear plan is going to work. It’s good to be encouraged by the people around you that are also going in it to say, Hey, this really is what you want.
Todd: And by the way, let’s also talk some truth here, is that the people who are in your personal life, it could be your family, you know the people that rely on you and that old identity. Are not necessarily gonna be the ones, Yeah, to fully support this potential big change and life shift that like, they want to keep you in a very safe and comfortable place for them, you know, they also have fear and insecurity, and that’s not a bad thing. We’re not making your
Chris: It’s not malicious. It’s actually their way of caring for you in a sense. We’ve talked about this in earlier episodes. They’re not familiar with what you’re doing and where you’re going, and they’re, concerned for you in many cases, right? Because they’re like, what? What is this person doing?
Todd: And they also don’t know what your real internal state is like. Right?
Right. They don’t know most likely how bad it is. Or maybe they do, I don’t know. But they’re concerned, but they don’t know the truth, right? So when you’re reinventing, it’s tricky because you know a lot of the people that you talk to most of the day. You’re not comfortable really sharing and that’s why finding other people that are in the same boat Yeah.
You know, is so nourishing because they can give you feedback and recommendations about what to do that is very relevant ’cause they’re going through it or I’ve gone through where you’re at right now.
Chris: That’s a great point. I’m so glad you brought that up because again, this is something we’ve talked about, but it’s like the people who are closest to you. They love you. That doesn’t change, but they’re gonna have trouble understanding this phase of your life. Mm-hmm. Right. And we have a whole other conversation we can have around communication and how you communicate to these people, but when other people who are in this phase with you those people are much better at being able to reflect back to you where you’re at and to give you that support and to give you that boost.
And also to hold you accountable when what you’re saying does or doesn’t make sense. I mean that’s, the power of that community and being together with people who are going through it in their own way.
Todd: Yeah. I mean, look, there really is nothing like it. You know? Our whole focus is to speak to people that are, let’s say 35 and up, you know, for the most part in the middle of their careers, to some extent, have had some successes along the way from the external standpoint of things have looked good. But are at the point either where just incredibly burned out, being shown the door or have already been shown the door, or just know that change is happening in industry because of AI or other reasons or politically and, you know, are at that point where it’s like the path that you thought you were gonna go on forever is not really a forever thing. Right. And so It’s scary, you know? Yeah. And it’s scary for a lot of people. And like, that’s what we talk about, permission to be scared,
Chris: Permission to be scared. Permission to be scared.
That’s good one.
Todd: You know, it’s like, It’s okay. You know it’s not easy. And so fine. Let’s turn to that, like we’ve talked about in previous episodes. Let’s turn to that. And now let’s start to make wise decisions. And when you know going in that the old world is just gonna come at you.
All right. That’s good. ’cause now you know that’s gonna happen. And it’s also with permission, you can go back into that old world. Yeah. Like you did, right? Like you can totally go back in. There’s nothing wrong with it, but your awareness is raised and you’re still doing some other things because you know now whatever you choose to do right now is not a forever thing.
Chris: Yeah.
Todd: It’s always gonna change. It’s always gonna shift. I think reinvention mimics the law of life, that the only thing that’s constant is change. And I think what we’re battling against is this cultural addiction to certainty, which is completely unrealistic.
Yeah. And so now we’re in a moment where we have to deal with that and, and we just wanna help. Right? Like, we wanna help people through the process. It’s a human thing. It’s not a career thing.
Chris: Right. A hundred percent. I mean, for me, all the difference in the world between just rolling along on the track I had been rolling along on and consciously making the decision to go back into a corporate track while holding these other things and continuing to nurture this concept that I was working towards.
That was a huge difference on paper and from the outside. It just looked like Chris had one job and then Chris had another job that looked kind of mostly exactly the same,
Todd: but it wasn’t
Chris: Internally, it was completely different. Hmm. Interesting. And that’s that consciousness that you’re talking about, that awareness of saying, oh, I’m doing this for a reason and it’s part of a bigger picture.
Right. And I’m doing it with some perspective and awareness that, that this isn’t gonna be the next 20 years.
Todd: Yeah. It’s, it’s an evolution of your thinking. Yeah. Right. And look, we also don’t say it enough, but I wanna say it right now, like successfully, fully reinventing your career, which is what you did.
Mm-hmm. And you’re sitting here doing this podcast coaching a lot of people. Very different than VP of procurement or whatever you, I don’t, whatever it is. I still don’t understand what you did.
Chris: You can’t explain. I can’t explain. It’s so boring. I tried to explain it to Todd, he fell asleep.
Todd: It’s that Chandler Bing thing from Friends.
Chris: I do something in an office.
Todd: Something. He was working in an office. I mean, I never really did. So Exactly. He did something like that. But it is possible, and there is a line of a future where you can be like Chris and others like him, where you do find this thing that you love and you’re passionate about, and then you’re gonna find other people that could be business partners like me, you know, or collaborators and a whole community of people that are doing that.
And you can make really good money even better than before doing this new thing, like we tamper that down yeah a little bit sometimes when we’re having these conversations because I think we wanna make whatever’s happening okay. But also at the end of the day, like, I’m gonna stand for people like taking a huge stand for themselves? What is possible for me going out there, like what could I create, could I make money being a, I don’t know, a children’s book author or a gym owner, or, I dunno, something that is just more related, you know, to
Chris: to who you are.
Todd: To who you are, to who you are.
Yeah. Yeah. And like, I’m gonna stand for that look, I don’t talk about it a lot, but I’ll, I’ll share right now at the end of this episode, you know, there’s a path in front of me. You know, I married a French woman, right? Mm-hmm. And she’s from France. I mean, we live in California together and you know, at some point our plan has always been to move back to France, and one of the things that really gets me is that, you know, her father, when he retired, he was a cop, or like in the military.
Mm-hmm. He took over this family property. Has been in his family for a couple hundred years. You know, it’s France, a couple hundred years, like nothing, you know? Yeah. Right, right, right. But it’s a, a farm property that’s like almost a hundred acres worth of land that when I first saw this something about it was like, there’s a larger thing for me here.
Right. And now as I’ve gotten older and we’re 13 years into our marriage. Like I started thinking about my reinvention at some point where I wanna do something with that land.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Todd: You know? And there’s like something I wanna build there. Maybe a retreat center where I bring people into that part of France, which is epic by the way.
And we do some work on that property and I don’t know what it is yet. Mm-hmm. But like I have that, and having this frame of reinvention helps me because I know that I don’t need to do that right now, but it’s there. And something that I can continue to develop in my own mind as things emerge. Yeah.
Chris: I love that concept because it just makes me think of there’s so many people who are doing desk work, who that would appeal to, to do some physical Yeah. Activity and that’s what we wanna do. Physical work. We’re gonna go out there, man.
Todd: We’re gonna go out there. it’s like summer camp. You come out, you do some work. We go for a nice coffee in these little ancient towns, you know, cobblestone streets. I love that. You know, I mean, it’s three hours from Barcelona.
I mean, there’s a lot that you could do down there. There’s a lot to see down there. Like I have a vision. I get excited about it. You see that excitement Yeah. Is reinvention and like, it doesn’t mean I’m doing that now.
Chris: Holding that vision while doing different things in the meantime. Yeah. That is what this is about.
Yeah. Is being able to kind of add those layers to the possibility of your future life.
Todd: Life is short. Can I envision a life where that actually happens? Like that’s a good one for me. Yeah. You know, and also helping people reinvent along the way and it’s almost like part of the thing like, that is reinvention.
Chris: Yeah.
Todd: You know, I mean, I just love the word, I say it like crazy, but man, this is so juicy just to kind of cap this episode off. The old world is gonna come calling. You know, no matter what you’re doing in your reinvention, know that going in.
It’s totally okay. It’s totally okay to go back to the old world. It’s totally okay to continue down new pathways, and our recommendation is to stay in the middle. Right is to just have your awareness raised so that way you’re constantly making good decisions about what you’re doing. Decisions, conscious decisions where decisions like this is the time not to be rash and like go back to that old job or like just fully go into that new thing necessarily.
Reinvention, there’s moments when you know what to do, right? There’s moments when you get that, oh, I know I need to do that, go back or move forward, but bide your time. This is a, a moment to be mindful, to breathe, to get support, to hear others that are doing in this process, and you’ll know when it’s time to make a very clear decision along the way.
Chris: Hundred percent. I think that’s great. I think that’s exactly right.
Todd: I love being here with you as always. This is always, this is great. Really juicy and yeah, just continue to follow us along, subscribe to the podcast, and we can’t wait to do more.
