Reinvention is:

*Defining freedom in different ways (reducing expectations, increasing sources of income so no one source controls you).

Improving relationships. Plus, minus, equal: Finding mentors to teach you. Finding the next generation to teach. Finding friends who build you up and challenge you.

Habits. It’s the 5x5 rule. You are not just the average of the five people around you. You’re the average of the five habits you do, the things you eat, the ideas you have, the content you consume, etc.

NOBODY is 100% original. This is the anxiety of influence. Almost all of our decisions and even creativity are outsourced to the people around us who influence us: peers, teachers, religion, parents, bosses, etc. Our personality is our own particular mishmash of influences. How we deal with that anxiety, how we RECOGNIZE the influences, learn from them, build from them, is the birth of all of our creativity.

I have to give myself permission to not be as good as I can be. I have to practice. Practice, for me, creates greater calm and then maybe happiness. All of this is to say, follow down the rabbit hole of your influences. Every song you like, every movie, every book, every leader, every philosopher. The seeds of change were planted a long time ago. Centuries ago. Follow the path. Read them. Study who they read. Wonder about their ideas. Wonder about their history. Every day I try to jump down that rabbit hole. I find something I love. I dive in. Where did that love find its roots?