It’s a new year.

Many people are changing jobs, starting a business, engaging in new routines, committing to the gym or a diet, or engaging in a brand-new hobby or activity.

Some of those people (as I have heard from the language they use) feel as if they are starting over and starting from zero. They speak as if this is the first day and they are beginning this new phase or new venture with absolutely no resources to pull from. This is not the case, ever.

When you begin a new venture or a new season in your life do not think of it as standing at the starting line bent over with your finger tips on the ground waiting for the gun to go off so you can begin the race. Instead picture it more like a relay race where you are handing off the baton from yourself to…. yourself!

Additionally, I had friends in my own life contemplating a job change and worried about starting in a new industry or a different company. They expressed concern about not being able to find the exact job title they have now, or a job description that matches their current role or duties.

One of the phrases I often heard when listening to the Ramsey Show was “When you leave, you go with you.”

This was something Dave or one of the other co-hosts would say to the caller when talking of changing jobs or relocating to another area. When beginning again you do not leave behind what is between your ears or what is in your heart or how you feel. It all comes with you.

All of the finances, all of the emotional baggage, all of the family dynamics, all of the thoughts you tell yourself, they all come with you wherever you go.

This is also something I struggled with at one point because I had almost a decade and a half in the same industry and even in the same company when I decided I wanted to start something new in the area of my career. I felt I was starting from zero and would need to look for a place I could get in on the ground floor in order to work my way up a new ladder.

What I came to realize is skills are transferable. Experience is applicable. Knowledge is adaptable. You do not lose these attributes when you clock out of one job for the final time.

You are the sum of your experiences and accumulated knowledge.

That doesn’t go away when you decide to do something new in your life.

When I was in college, I first studied graphic design where I learned the concept of layers, how building a graphic is done in stages that all come together to make the final image. This would later become applicable to me when I studied music production and was able to take the visual concept of layers and apply it to the audio medium of building a song instrument by instrument, or layer by layer.

Fast forward a few years and I am diving full force into marketing where once again the knowledge of layers comes into play when putting together a campaign. The main message, the client avatar of the target market, the media platforms and deployment methods, the delivery timeline, all of it worked together to build together to the final campaign before launch (or GTM), but it was important to understand how one layer builds on the next.

Today that simple concept I learned years ago when I was studying graphic design has helped me in day jobs as a project manager, it has helped me when planning a photoshoot whether for internal purposes or for a paying client. The concept of layers helped me move from one state to another because I was able to sit down, put a project together and execute in the order of importance to get the outcome I desire.

Every single experience I ever had went into making the move. Skills I hadn’t used in years came out to play. I went with me in the physical sense, the mental sense, the financial sense, and the emotional sense as well.

This is only one example but there are plenty of others I can pull from my life as well. Making a money move in my early twenties that I can now see a mile away as I approach 40. Going into a new gym location and understanding how a machine works even though I have never stepped foot in that building before. Cooking a dish for the first time and knowing exactly when to pull it off the burner because I understand how long the heat will carry over. Driving a rental car for the first time after not having been in that make or model ever before.

Steve Jobs is known to have said "looking back you can connect the dots" but I want to encourage you that looking forward you can build from where you are.

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it best when he stated "The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." which is a good thing. You would not be trying something new if you were still in a previous way of thinking or of viewing the world or your own life situation.

Once again, I want to remind you that the experiences you have had, the knowledge you have gained, the skills you have worked hard to develop all stay with you as you transition into a new career, a new business venture, a new relationship, or a new hobby.

You are not starting over from the beginning; you are beginning from where you are right now and that is the beautiful thing.

Starting over is not starting over.

It is simply starting.