Reinvention Summit 2 is history, but I’m continuing to recap, synthesize, and expand on its 20 excellent sessions.
I would like to think that my husband and I have followed the advice of Robert Tercek, described as “one of the world’s most prolific creators of interactive content,” to make a “choice … to become the author of your own destiny, rather than playing a role scripted by someone else.”
Robert, one of the best-received and most inspiring presenters at 
Reinvention Summit 2, talked about the pivotal moment “that every creative person faces, whether they are entrepreneurs starting a new business or creative artists starting a new project.”
In a lengthy — but fascinating — preamble, Robert said we all function within the narratives set forth by, yes, buildings, towns, and the things we consume. Hence, we are often in a trance and neglect to make the choices that would unleash our creativity.
Robert’s emphasis on place was resonant for me since the choice my husband and I made was so tied into place. We had a perfectly good life in Florida. The weather was nice — if hot and humid — most of the year. Interesting flora and fauna surrounded us. Randall was tenured at a university, for goodness sake. We could have easily functioned within the narrative that place dictated for us.
But around the middle of the first decade of the millennium, we realized our marriage was on autopilot. We were moving trance-like through our jobs. We had creative spurts, but inspiration was lacking.
At the end of 2007, I decided to take a year-long sabbatical to decide what to do next. Shortly afterwards, Randall felt he had to make a choice between his online business and his teaching career. And then, on a complete fluke, the universe beckoned us to Eastern Washington. The move wasn’t job-related. It was, however, the jolt we need to break our trance and turn off the autopilot. We made a choice.
Here, we are inspired daily by the beauty, wonder, and tranquility of the place. I am indeed far more creative here than I’ve ever been, including my summer crafts activities.
Robert Tercek is about not only creativity, but change-the-world creativity. He’s Chairman of the Board of Creative Visions Foundation, which supports creative activists who seek innovative solutions to local and global issues. He gave three example projects in his Reinvention session, including this one described on the Creative Visions site.
As I thought about the choice Randall and I had made to author our own destinies, I questioned whether we’d taken that extra leap into change-the-world territory. But maybe we have. Our work producing content for Quintessential Careers educates and empowers people to find meaningful jobs and careers. Our work as tree farmers makes us good stewards of the earth.
It’s a start.
Robert Tercek wrote a blog post after he’d recorded his session with 
Reinvention Summit but before attendees experienced the session. The post gives a good flavor of his message.
By the way, it wasn’t until his session, one of the last of the summit, that I realized that I consistently feature Robert here on A Storied Career because of this post, which I regularly bump to my front page.