How many times are you willing to die?

I love the idea, central to some religious faiths, of being “born again.”

The idea that we can, in a moment, become a new person.

Take on a new identity.

I have found, even outside of a religious context, this is not only possible, but often necessary.

As a consultant, I became a different person than I was as a lawyer. As a manager, I also had to be different. Leading client relationships, I had to be different. As a board member, different.

And as a coach, I have to be different. With every change, my old behaviors were no longer useful. Even in my coaching, as who I coach has changed, who I show up as to coach them changes.

Each of these things has felt like a kind of death to me. A transformation. That death, that willingness to let go of a former self, is the only way to get to what’s on the other side.

While it might feel scary, it is also necessary.

What is your current identity keeping you from? What if you declared today, in this moment even, to take on a new identity?

To die and be reborn as the person you always wanted to be? As the person who will do what you’ve always wanted to do?