Three years after the pandemic shutdown, the crisis may be receding, but we don’t seem any closer to the “new normal” than we were back then, especially when it comes to the workplace. More than two-thirds of Americans aren’t feeling engaged with their work, according to a recent Gallup poll, and job unhappiness is at a record high. Many are considering switching careers altogether. Forget the Great Resignation. Millions of Americans are looking for a Great Reinvention.
But how do you figure out what’s next? In the popular imagination, reinvention requires some kind of abrupt transformation or sudden epiphany, a metamorphosis from ugly duckling to swan. Mark Zuckerberg goes from college kid to tech billionaire. Boom. Vera Wang from figure skater to bridal designer. It’s daunting. It seems unattainable to the rest of us—a big disincentive to even try.
