“Reboot” is often a term used in association with computers – to reboot a computer is to restart it.  But recently, I’ve heard of people who are rebooting themselves or rebooting their lives, meaning that they’re starting over, or recreating themselves.

I can understand why you’d want to reboot yourself if things aren’t going as well as you’d hoped, or if you want to make some significant change in your life – like start your own business or find a new career.   But reboot yourself when you’re at the top of your game and enjoying great success?  Doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?

Last week, I bought a copy of the Forbes 400 Richest People in America. It is a special edition that Forbes has published each October for 29 years, featuring, as the title implies, profiles of the 400 richest people in America.

I’ve read the Forbes 400 since I was a teen.  My dad would buy it each year because he found it interesting to read the stories of how the rich and famous got to be, well, you know, rich and famous.  Somehow, I got interested in it myself and have been reading it each year since.  I was especially fascinated to read about the people from Michigan (my home state) who made the list.

While reading the 2010 Forbes 400, I was particularly interested in an article entitled, A Select Breed:  The Rebooted Rich.  It describes how a few notable entrepreneurs, having found great success in their lives, refused to rest on the laurels of that success, but went on to reboot themselves and create new levels of success – sometimes in the field that first brought them success, but many times in brand new fields. [Read more…]