Defining success in any business is an important first step that is often ignored. While project management is a way of life in most successful corporations, most people don’t apply that discipline to their personal lives in any meaningful way. They spend forty years working and saving and suddenly find themselves approaching retirement age without a plan.
Most people think about the financial aspects of retirement when considering their future after work, but that’s not the only area where careful planning is needed. All the money in the world won’t matter if there isn’t a sense of fulfillment and well-being when you wake up with no job to go to and a calendar that only has doctor’s appointments. The sad fact is that most people don’t think about the lifestyle they want to create when they finally finish their working career.
Retirement can and should be the happiest time of anyone’s life, and with a little planning and insight, it can be more rewarding than most people ever imagined. Imagination requires thought, and the topic of a “successful” retirement never cuts the cut when it comes to most people’s thought process. Aside from checking your 401K and other savings accounts from time to time, thoughts of retirement are a long way in the future. But retirement is more than about money, it’s about how you’ll spend your time. You don’t have to wait until your first day of retirement to find out. People love to plan their vacations, but how many put the same amount of effort into planning the rest of their lives?
The possibilities are endless, and while many people begin their retirement life with the once-in-a-lifetime vacation they’ve always dreamed of, they end their celebratory trip with a tinge of sadness and a little worry about how to fill their days when the need to going to work for a living is over. It doesn’t have to be that way, and with a little thought and planning, it won’t be that way. The remedy is simple. A self-discovery process that takes inventory of your abilities and talents, your likes and dislikes, and even a list of your biggest life accomplishments can help you determine priorities in your life. The fact is that you will need some priorities to keep yourself busy and satisfied. If you think you can spend the rest of your life just playing golf, you may well be in for a nasty surprise after your first year.
Taking the time to explore long-lost desires and creating a list of things you’ve always wanted to try will be time well spent as you plan to make your retirement years even happier than your working years. Always have your next trip planned and have a list of places you want to visit. Is there a hobby you’d like to start or an instrument you’d like to learn to play? Do you still want to write The Great American Novel? Plan to do it as soon as you can. Some of your plans may need to be adjusted. Perhaps those flying lessons that you wanted to take in your youth are not as attractive as they seemed. You can get almost the same excitement with a drone that has a camera attached to it. Making slight adjustments to the dreams you’ve been entertaining can give you many years of enjoyment.
Make your retirement years better than your working years. Keeping them as exciting as possible will add years to your life and your ability to enjoy all the things there are to do. It is never too early or too late to start. Make it part of your plan to embrace and enjoy retirement life.
