Today I found out that 29 CDs can be put into a package of Catupiry, the most famous cream cheese in Brazil. So what? Well, those backup CDs, presently scattered in drawers, will now all be kept together. At least 29 of them. In the old days, the package for this cheese, created in 1911 by Italian immigrant Mario Silvestrini, was a wooden one, and I used to keep nails and screws in it.

Times have changed, my needs are different, and cheese is nowadays manufactured in a way that would have looked like science fiction a hundred years ago. But the manufacturer preserved two important things: the flavor and the characteristic Art-Deco label. What could be improved was improved, and what should be preserved was preserved. Now the package is made of white polypropylene, and I have no more screws to put away, because I've also changed. Today I have CDs.

Before you ask, yes, in order to store 29 CDs you first have to eat all the cheese in the package. No, the roll-type package is not appropriate for storing CDs. Yes, there is a solution for those who have lots of CDs: try purchasing the 3.6 kilograms bucket. Your fourth question might be: What does all this have to do with my life, career, or business? Everything.

I mentioned Catupiry, without having been paid a cent of merchandising for it, to show two things. The first one is that, even if you and your career are constantly changing, the essence of what you are must be preserved. Your label the reputation people have come to recognize should also stay on. Sure, this is true only for those who are well-seasoned and have a good market reputation. If that's not your case, then you'd better do your homework before we go on with our conversation.

The shape of the Catupiry package remains the same, an analogy I'll have difficulty in applying to anyone my age. My shape keeps changing, for the worse. But let's leave the form aside and focus on the utility of the package. Times have changed, the package has adapted itself, and I've found new uses for it.

Now this applies to you and me. There is always another use for any professional. Some keep on trying to find a position in the same activity they've been in for the last century, without noticing that the market has changed. Maybe the time has come for you to change, to find a new use for the old you.

But is there an alternative use for you? Well, it's always possible to find some profit-making activity with your own repertoire of skills. You have to

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