I heard the phrase this week “Rewirement, not Retirement”, and I’ve been mulling it around for a few days. Many of my 1-2-1’s this year have been with folks thinking of retirement, and they are not too sure what happens next. Yes, they can jump into consulting, or board work, and, they plan lots of travel. More daily exercise is high on their agendas which makes me proud. But, these are super busy people who have worked their whole lives with nary a break. This will be a big change.
What happens when your business card says retired? Okay, so no one carries business cards any more, so maybe you duck that bullet. But really who are you when you are no longer the CEO, or CFO? When you don’t hold a work role that identifies you as a VIP? Are you relevant? Who are you now? Being super busy can keep you from feeling that you are aging. Having free time gives you the opportunity to think and dream – to recreate. Now what?
One way to address that is to ask yourself what you wish to have more time for? Is it to write, or paint or learn another language? Are there friends and family you wish to spend more time with? Is there someone you want to mentor? Is there a charity that you want to support? Does that new self-care plan take 2 hours a day when the old one was 20 minutes the 1-2 days a week you managed to fit it in? Oh and sleep a bit more?
I ask my Vistage Members not to commit to anything for 6 months when they get bought out or they retire. Some of them get swarmed by folks asking for their help or for their financial investment. I tell them, they may not say yes. They don’t have to say no. They can just say not yet. They need the time to reassess. It is too easy to jump into something that is familiar – that is just like what they were doing before.
Even if you are not ready to retire, thinking of rewirement may help you assess what you should start and stop doing to be more fulfilled in your life. Take an hour this week to think.
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Photo from the Chicago Arboretum’s amazing train section.