Reinvention is how you live multiple lives in one.

Let me explain how. April 12 was my birthday. The birthday came with beautiful prayers, wishes, and messages.

And it felt so good to be appreciated.

The birthday anniversary also reminded me of how fast life moves, with responsibilities and relationships growing stronger or weaker with time.

Time is Constant for Everybody, yet Different for Anybody

When you are in your 20s, you seem to have abundant time.

It’s the same 24 hours for everyone, but you have more energy to stay awake. And so many interests, passions and causes compete for your ‘seemingly infinite’ time.

Whether it’s launching a business or growing your business. Whether it’s finding a new job or maintaining your current job.

Starting an NGO. Or being part of an NGO. Watching a personal development video. Or re-watching a Netflix series.

The options are limitless.

Then suddenly, your time now seems to get shorter with every birthday celebration.

There used to be days when I woke up by 5 a.m., went to work, called friends, read voraciously, wrote over a thousand words, took an online course, slept by 1 a.m., and still felt energetic the next day.

Now, there are days when I struggle to read, return a missed call or finish a 90-minute movie as I try to relax.

Even though you want time to go at your pace, this is when patience comes into play.

The Patience Paradox

In this present age of cybercrimes and the increasing display of wealth, it is easy to sway from the right path.

Let me explain this with a few real-life scenarios:

Example 1: You just started your business. You sell cakes. Or probably clothes.

Your cakes are sweet and amazing. Your clothes are top-quality and fitted.

But the customer patronage is low. The sales are not coming as you expect.

Then you ask yourself, why do I have Few customers?

The keyword is PATIENCE.

Example 2: You wrote your first book. Or built your first app.

You spend a lot of energy and time on it. Excitement overwhelms you. You are hyped up.

You finally launch the book. Your app is live on the mobile app stores.

You get a lot of congratulations, but the users are few.

It’s nothing compared to the resources spent.

Then you ask yourself, why is my book not a bestseller? Why are people not talking about my app with their friends and family?

My friend, the keyword is PATIENCE.

Example 3: You organise an event.

You design flyers and publicise them on social media.

The venue is set.

You even bought light refreshments for your guests. You tell your friends, family and even enemies.

Most of them promise to come. You are already imagining a fully packed event.

Then the D-day comes. Only a handful of people attended.

And some of them only came because they heard there would be small chops.

Then you ask yourself, am I missing something here?

The keyword is PATIENCE.

In these situations, you have two options.

You can either wait for your friends to make money and then buy your products.

Or you can search for clients who are willing to pay for your services.

Both choices will still take time. It will still require PATIENCE.

Does this mean, you should stop trying? Of course not.

Patience is one of the most underrated virtues. It takes patience to stop making rash or stupid decisions when climbing the ladder of success.

It takes patience to analyse a situation and make the right decision.

You can always speed up the process through direct mentorship, deliberate practice and careful observation of the greats.

But you should not skip the process altogether.

Trust the process. Enjoy every moment you spend today in improving yourself and your craft.

Patience is the bridge between lifetimes, and this is when it leads to growth.

Growth – The Misinterpreted Compounder

When we were younger, growth was often defined as the irreversible increase in age and size.

But now that you are older, this concept changes, especially for life itself.

Growth is now the increase in character, competence and convictions.

The attitude you exhibit. The passion and dedication you infuse in your work and craft.

And the values and principles that govern your daily decisions.

As I read some messages on my birthday, I rediscovered that growth is not just counting the number of birthdays you have witnessed so far on Earth.

But it’s also in the quality of your relationships – people above, below and on your level.

Growth is reflected in your influence over people and in the values you try to teach and learn daily.

The destination may change. The career prospects may not be what you planned it to be.

But one thing is still sure,

God’s Grace. Dedication. Diligence. Perseverance. Execution. Creativity.

The principles that worked for successful people will still work for you and me too.

Growth is the soil where your multiple lives bloom.

The Rule of Reinvention

In my “past lives”, I have been a laptop seller, graphic designer, biology undergraduate and even a client experience officer.

Elon Musk worked on online maps, business directories, and financial services before he became CEO of Tesla. Dangote imported and distributed commodities before he started manufacturing. Jesus Christ was a carpenter, healer and teacher before he became the saviour.

Most people replay the same year 10 times and call it a decade.

They work, sleep, scroll, repeat. They do not evolve, only age. That’s not life.  That’s existing.

Living multiple lives in one lifetime requires intentional evolution, not just passive endurance.

Leonardo da Vinci didn’t just paint the Mona Lisa; he was an inventor, scientist, and architect. Each pursuit was a “life” he lived within one lifetime. Oprah shifted from news anchor to media mogul to philanthropist. Each phase was a distinct “life.”

The key to reinventing yourself is to learn skills and keep compounding them. Every new skill is a new life. So, try to learn and apply one life-changing skill per year.

Coding, storytelling, public speaking, negotiation, photography — each opens a new version of you.

My book, Fast Track, can help you learn skills and place you on the path of reinvention in a shorter time.

Embrace skill stacking. Don’t see learning as ending with formal education or your current job. Actively seek out and dedicate time (even just 30 minutes a day) to learning a skill completely unrelated to your main hustle.

Use Patience to build competence, let time allow it to mature, and watch how this new skill adds another “layer” or potential “life” to your existence.

Treat your Life as a Netflix Series

Think of your life not as a single career path or role, but as a Netflix series.

Just as how a Netflix series rarely stops at a single season, you should not limit yourself to one version. Develop all aspects of yourself.

Each reinvention of yourself is a new season.

Your season 1 can be “the Hustler”. Season 2 can be “the Learner”. Your season 3 can be “the Baller”

You don’t cancel the show after one season. You keep producing, rewriting, shocking the audience. The plot twist is your responsibility.

Living multiple lives means actively working and balancing these different storylines in your series over time.

Some seasons might be excellent while others are just okay, and you might add entirely new storylines throughout your lifetime. Time allows each episode to improve, Patience helps you get better seasons (life challenges), and Growth is the overall increase in your series’ value (your richness of experience and character).

Don’t let your years pass by and track only birthdays.

Create intentional ceremonies or markers when you’re entering a new “life” phase.

What about the day you started your first business? Or started a new job? Did you mark the day you moved to a new city with just faith and your laptop?

In the End, Reinvention is for Your Own Good

When you cultivate different aspects of yourself – different skills, different roles, different knowledge bases – you build incredible resilience.

If one area of your life faces a setback (like a job loss, a business downturn), you have other developed parts of yourself to lean on, draw strength from, or even pivot towards.

You’re not a “one-season wonder.” You’ve lived multiple lives and learned different ways of thinking and problem-solving.

This adaptability, nurtured by patience through various growth cycles over Time, makes you better equipped to handle the inevitable uncertainties life throws your way.

You bounce back faster and see opportunity where others see only crisis.

This is how you will live multiple times in a Single Lifetime.