I’ve been semi-retired from my time management seminars, speaking, and consulting business for about 12 years now. But I have been transitioning into semi-retirement for about 32 years.
In Part 1, I mentioned that Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, can be applied to retirement as well as business in general. Here are the seven habits mentioned, along with their relevance to retirement.
- Be proactive. Most people wait for life to happen to them, and then they react to it. In retirement, you get a second chance to determine your own destiny. As Wayne Schmidt, a Wesleyan minister, is quoted as saying, “Good planning always costs less than good reacting.”
- Begin with the end in mind. If we’re talking retirement, at the end is death. (At the end of this life on earth, that is.) We have a 100% chance of dying. And that has frequently caused a lot of problems, in addition to the grieving part. You won’t want to burden your family and friends unnecessarily. Therefore, you may plan for everything that can be taken care of in advance. It’s a stressful time for loved ones that you leave behind. I have heard family members arguing about whether their father wanted to be cremated, or who should have that beautiful painting, or whether he wanted such a large celebration of his life, or which hymns he preferred, or how he wanted his personal possessions distributed, or whatever. Take a few hours to write those things down, bring your will up to date, choose an executor, and have your wishes written down. Get all that stuff out of the way, and start having fun.
- Put first things first. Make a list of the important ways you want to spend your time. Where do you want to live? What do you want to do? How do you want to live? And so on. These might not be the things you think about when you are about to retire. However, remember that the primary goal was to be proactive. Retirement isn’t just stopping work and spending your time watching TV or playing golf the rest of your life. It’s a significant transition to a new phase of your life, full of opportunities that could last longer than your current employment.
- Think win-win. Everyone should come out ahead when you retire. Your family and friends need not worry whether you are safe, happy and secure. You won’t have to worry about finances or being a burden on anyone. You may have the opportunity to explore other careers, meet new people, make friends, experience new adventures, acquire new hobbies and habits, and pursue higher learning.
- Seek first to understand and then to be understood. Finally, with retirement comes the time to understand others, make the most of friendships, and learn the value of connections. Friendship is crucial to your health and can contribute to a longer lifespan. As mentioned in my book, How to Grow Older Without Growing Old, one study of 3500 people revealed that more time spent with friends was associated with higher scores on memory tests. And interaction with people provides greater brain stimulation.
- Synergize. Following through on the importance of people, creative cooperation whenever possible is a key to a successful retirement. Two heads are always better than one, whether it’s simply walking together, working together, or learning together. It helps in forming habits, studying, discipline, and perseverance.
- Sharpen the saw. This applies to more than just productivity in your life. Although pausing to rest, keeping your working tools in order, and getting enough sleep will increase your productivity, so will maintaining good eating habits, exercising regularly, adopting a positive attitude, and engaging in lifelong learning help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
SPECIAL NOTE: As mentioned in the earlier articles on retirement, I’ll be presenting a break-out session at the POC Conference on October 23rd on “Making Retirement Work for You,” and I have been given a discount code for anyone to use when registering for the Conference, TAYLOR10. Using it will let me know if anyone bothers to read my articles, and could evidently make me so rich that I can immediately go into full retirement, which would help everyone. Or something like that. And the beauty of it is that you don’t even have to attend my session! Visit the Professional Organizers in Canada website for a complete description of the theme and presentations.
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