How to reinvent oneself professionaly?
May 31, 2012 12:14 PM   Subscribe

Twice a pioneer, with career disrupted by immigration and maternity, needs badly to reinvent herself. Ideas?

I was one of the first Brazilian journalists to write about sustainability, in the late 80s. Had a very successful career (books, awards) and then moved on to be a pioneer Environmental/Social risk analyst in a financial institution. Denying credit to a client with slaves or bad logging habits feels sooo good.
Then I moved to a small US city for love, had a child, and entered this uncomfortable intellectual vacuum. Now I need to reinvent myself, maybe radically, to fulfill both my financial and intellectual needs.
The catch is: sustainability doesn't offer me the thrill of those pioneer days (I tend to be mainstream-phobic). And I need to be passionate to work well.
So what could be my next big thing? Suggestions?
BTW: I have only two rules: my new projects must be ethical and stimulating.
posted by Deep Brazil to Work & Money (6 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
What do you consider stimulating and what are your ethics? Answers are going to vary greatly depending on these two answers. For instance, some people would find doing risk analysis for a financial institution both boring and unethical. Some people might find moving to a new country and culture and simultaneously exploring parenthood thrilling.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:21 PM on May 31, 2012


Response by poster: Good point, 10th Regiment. In fact, my doubts are so personal that I begin to feel silly for having posted them here. Some decisions simply cannot be outsourced.
posted by Deep Brazil at 1:07 PM on May 31, 2012


The degree to which a given subject is stimulating directly correlates to the level of curiosity applied to the subject.

In other words, the more curious you are about something the more stimulating you will find it.

So, if I were in your position, I would start carrying around a little notebook to jot down all those little questions that we tend to let slip away while we are doing other things.

Also, I would do daily stream-of-consciousness writing to let my unconscous mind have a voice in the matter.

Start to see what patterns emerge, which questions get you motivated to find answers but, more importantly, get you to ask further questions.
posted by trinity8-director at 2:08 PM on May 31, 2012


It's funny isn't it. Now that social and environmental practices are more mainstream, they've lost the wild-west edge that attracted so many to them. Similar to IT in the 80s/90s. Things are so exciting at the beginning, for there aren't any rules nor dominant logic; it's a liminal state of constant invention. The mainstream arrives, makes rules, puts in processes, impact goes way up... but the fun diminishes. The excitement of discovery fades until disappearing. Dire Straits even wrote a song about it.

On one hand, it's wonderful. Now that IT is quite boring, it's literally shrank the world to a constant instant. Social business has seen the rise of fair-trade, living wages, and Kiva. Whilst the environment is still under threat, it's changing, and through labelling and consumer choices, we're faced with possibility of a better world in the future. All wonderful for humanity and the earth, but not a lot of room for pioneers.

One frontier is disintermediation. Crowd platforms, for example. They have hugely positive environmental and social impacts, and represents the next wave of innovation. The disintermediation of the real-world. AirBNB, Kickstarter, Fundable, Change.org. Yes, they live in cyberspace, but they are about effecting democritisation in the real-world.

In terms of how to get inspired, innovation lists are great. Take a notebook, and each day or week, choose a topic. Flying. Grocery Shopping. Nightlife. Childcare. Petcare. Genomics. Fill the page with ways that topic could be improved. There's not a direct output, rather the goal is to look at the patterns. What types on innovations do you find interesting? What is theme of your pioneer desire? Not blowing smoke with this technique either; have recently used it myself and am fascinated by the new direction it's led. Ethical to a fault, challenges about, and endless stimulation.
posted by nickrussell at 3:38 PM on May 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


I Could Do Anything I Wanted to If Only I Knew What it Was by Barb Sher might help. Good Luck!
posted by dawkins_7 at 4:10 PM on May 31, 2012


Radical homemaking?
posted by kmennie at 6:23 PM on May 31, 2012


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