The Art of Reinvention, by Ken Hellem

Name: The Art of Reinvention
Rating: 4.9 (16 reviews)
Author: Ken Hellem

Reviews

Early reader reviews

4.9 out of 5 from 22 early readers.

★★★★★
This isn’t a book you skim. It’s one you work through, and I’m still working. If you’ve built a successful life by saying yes and are now asking what the next chapter is for, start here.
Aimee S., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
I really wish I’d had a book like this during my previous reinventions. It would have sped up the process for me, given me a clearer direction, and probably reduced some of my anxiety along the way.
Matthieu B., reader

★★★★★
It doesn’t push you to change or to “achieve the perfect state at work and in your life”. Instead, it gently takes you through examples of real people and tools.
Svetlana R., reader
Read it on Goodreads

★★★★★
It’ll have a permanent space on my bookcase, something I’ll definitely pick and flick through time and time again.
Frederique L., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
A practical guide to changing your life without blowing it up. Ideas like that of creating an “MVP of your life” are particularly practical.
Valentina Q., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
Ken’s trick is to make the steps small and cheap, for example testing a new direction for six weeks before committing to anything. Almost like Atomic Habits, for reinventing oneself.
Jan T., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
What I love about this book is the idea that we don’t have to limit ourselves to one version of who we are. This book reminded me that reinventing yourself isn’t about leaving your past behind, but allowing yourself to keep growing and discovering new versions of yourself.
Vianca R., reader
Read it on Goodreads

★★★★★
I knew I was in a bit of a rut but this has given me the power to pull myself out of it.
Marvin B., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
The book is great! I love the content, it is really interesting and written in a super easy and quite humoristic way!
Cecilia C., reader

★★★★★
I liked this book a lot. It’s an easy read, makes you stop and reflect and somehow feels very relatable. I especially enjoyed the method of having tasks to do along the way.
Thomas H., reader
Read it on Goodreads

★★★★★
Some passages mirrored my personal experience. And I loved the values exercise.
Delphine Camberlin, read it cover to cover
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
I wish I would have read something similar during my working years.
Mike R., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
The stories, doubts, and triumphs of real people, including the author himself.
Coral R., reader

★★★★★
Some books you read them and put them back on the shelf, others come into your life and you always have them at hand. For me, this is one of those books.
Manuel M., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
Anyone in mid-life (and beyond) should lay hands on this gem of a book, pronto.
Jalita A., reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
The exercise What’s Your Reinvention Type? Helped me to visualize and understand the type of reinventions I have done in the past
Amazon reader in Japan
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
It gives you practical tools to recognize where your life may no longer fit, reconnect with what matters to you, and figure out what could come next.
Misty, reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
The Art of Reinvention is so much more than making career choices. For me, it’s a guide to assess our selves and our life situations, and then to provide a roadmap for achieving our goals.
Amazon reader in the USA
Read it on Amazon

★★★★☆
He has genuinely lived many different lives, and those experiences give the book a sense of authenticity.
Canel, reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
This book will be a valuable compass for the present generation of working people.
Goodreads reader
Read it on Goodreads

★★★★★
It makes you think, feel, and reconnect with yourself.
Aga, reader
Read it on Amazon

★★★★★
I really liked the book! I feel very identified with searching for meaning behind what we do.
Julie, reader
Read it on Amazon

What you will learn

10 things this book teaches you

Every chapter ends with an exercise. This is what they teach you.

How much of your life actually has to change.
How to score eight areas of your life and see where the gap is.
How to turn “something feels off” into one sentence you can act on.
How to find out what you were like as a kid, from the people who knew you then.
How much of who you are is borrowed from your job title.
How to find your values by starting with what makes you angry.
How to draw your Ikigai and see what sits in the middle.
How to get people you admire to meet you, and what to ask them.
How to try out a new life before you quit the old one.
How to plan the money with a worst, a normal and a best case.

The method

Reinvention is not luck. It is five steps, taken in order.

From the outside it looks like one brave leap. Up close it never happens that way. What helps is knowing which step you are on, and what the next one is.

Hover overTap a card to turn it over and read a line from that part of the book.

Acknowledge

Name the gap and admit something needs to change.

Fine is a strange place to be. It is comfortable enough to not have to act. But at the same time painful enough to quietly bother you.

Chapter 6Is This It?

Rediscover

Reconnect with who you are and what matters.

I’m not trying to become someone else. I’m just trying to become more aligned with who I already was, underneath all the noise.

Chapter 11Your True Self Archetype

Get Inspired

Talk to people you admire and explore real possibilities.

Serendipity is what happens when you expose yourself to the world.

Chapter 15You Can’t Think Your Way to a New Life

Sense

Test possible futures in small real-world experiments.

Sometimes the suit fits. Sometimes it goes straight back on the rack. And sometimes you discover that the thing you really want was hanging beside it all along.

Chapter 20The Dress Rehearsal

Embrace

Claim the new identity and start living it.

A plan lives somewhere in the future. You can admire it, prepare for it and postpone it. An identity lives now.

Chapter 23Let Me Reintroduce Myself

A line from the book

Is this it? I thought there would be more.

Part 1 · Acknowledge

Buy the book

Inside

A book you write in.

Read it in a week. Work it over a few months. Every section ends with something to do, not something to think about.

The book open on a desk among index cards, sticky notes and a pen

5Stages

Acknowledge, Rediscover, Get Inspired, Sense, Embrace. In that order.

18Exercises

All of them work with a pen and one sheet of paper.

28Chapters

Real stories from people who did it, not hypothetical case studies.

Buy the book

“I don’t want to do the same year ten times.”From Ken’s episode of I Thought This Would Be Simpler, hosted by Andy Golding.

About the author

Five lives.
Four reinventions.

Ken Hellem has decided to live ten lifetimes in one. He is currently on his fifth.

Two decades in technology and leadership got him here. Management consulting, startups, four years at Google. Then Head of Product at a mental health startup, where he got fired. Later Chief People Officer at a fully remote company. Now coach and author.

Ken was born in Norway and has called eight countries home. He lives in southern Spain now, because “life is better in the sun”. He still travels with a guitar and a journal.

This is his first book.

Follow Ken on Amazon and Goodreads.

GoogleGeneral ElectricAccentureFounderChief People OfficerCoachAuthor

If you enjoyed…

Read it next to a book you already love.

Buy the book · from $12.99

Before you ask

The obvious questions

What are the five stages of reinvention?

The book follows five stages, in this order. Together they spell ARISE.

Acknowledge: name the gap and admit something needs to change.
Rediscover: reconnect with who you are and what matters.
Get Inspired: talk to people you admire and explore real possibilities.
Sense: test possible futures in small real-world experiments.
Embrace: claim the new identity and start living it.

Do I have to blow up my life?

No, and the book spends a chapter on it. There are four types of reinvention and only one is a clean break. For most people the career changes shape rather than disappears.

Am I too old for this?

Most of the people in this book were in their forties. One was fifty-eight. What makes reinvention hard is not age. It is how much you have already built.

Is it a memoir or a workbook?

Both, deliberately. The stories are there so the method has evidence behind it. The exercises are there so you have something to do.

Which edition should I get?

The paperback if you want to write in it. The exercises work best with a pen. The Kindle if you read on your phone. The audiobook if you would rather listen, on a walk or in the car. An AI voice reads it on ElevenReader and you pick the voice.

Do the exercises need the website?

No. All eighteen work with a pen and one sheet of paper. Three have an online version because the scoring is quicker that way.

Can I work through it with you?

Yes. I coach people through this process one to one. The book and the coaching cover the same five stages. The coaching page is here.

I don’t use Amazon. Can I still get it?

Yes. You can buy the EPUB from me directly. It works on Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books and most reading apps.

The Art of Reinvention: Is
thisit?

Get the book

Early reader reviews

Nothing is wrong. That’s the problem.

10 things this book teaches you

Reinvention is not luck. It is five steps, taken in order.

A book you write in.

The people in the book

Where it’s being read

Five lives.
Four reinventions.

Buy the book

Buying copies for your team?

Read it next to a book you already love.

The obvious questions

Is This It?

Here’s your chapter.

Get the book

Early reader reviews

Nothing is wrong. That’s the problem.

10 things this book teaches you

Reinvention is not luck. It is five steps, taken in order.

A book you write in.

The people in the book

Where it’s being read

Five lives.Four reinventions.

Buy the book

Buying copies for your team?

Read it next to a book you already love.

The obvious questions

Five lives.
Four reinventions.