Member-only story
“Practicing Retirement” — A Crazy Yet Brilliant Idea
A minute or two a day guarantees an outstanding retirement
Terry told everyone for years how eager he was to retire. He talked about how liberating it would be. Life would be so amazing without the conflicts, demands, and petty games at work. He could do anything he wanted to, and nobody could tell him otherwise.
The day finally came, and he was bursting from the seams. It was over. Like the end of a prison sentence, he walked through the iron gates to a new life, unshackled freedom, and a bottle of fine whisky— a gift from his friends. We were envious but happy for him and his newfound freedom.
Nine months later, Terry was back at work.
“I was bored with nothing to do but walk around the block and sit on the couch watching golf. Then the office called, and I said, ‘sure, what the heck, I’ll come back.’”
What went wrong?
Like Terry, more than 1 in 3 retirees will return to work, most often because of boredom. It’s easy to fill your days when they’re consumed by your job, but meaningful activities don’t naturally flow like water to fill all the free time you now have.
You can’t ponder retirement as you would an abstract painting, staring, dreaming, admiring, but not engaging. To many of us, retirement is a concept as foreign as a trip to the moon. When you go to your moon, will you hop out of bed and dash into the spaceship with a bottle of bourbon and your jammies? No, you’ll plan ahead. You’ll talk to experts, know what to expect, and —
You’ll practice. Every day until you’re ready.
Because it’s critical, it’s life and death, my friends.
Practice IS your plan
First, let’s confirm that your retirement won’t include a return to the job you just left. Stress is not a replacement for boredom. That would be lunacy.
So, how do you avoid it? You plan to succeed at retirement just like you planned to succeed when you took up soccer, programming, bartending, teaching, or intergalactic travel.
Your plan for success is a time-proven recipe: Practice
