Retirement Transition Plan: Three
Brilliant Ways to Segue Into Retirement
Are you looking forward to no alarm clocks, nowhere
to be, nothing to do for some undefined period starting day one of your
retirement? Dreaming of no one to answer to? Craving some serious down
time before you figure out what's next for you? Beware. You need a
segue plan. And no, it's not endless days of open-ended nothingness.
It's a plan that takes you 180 degrees away from your career, doing
something that really gets your juices going. It will take you
successfully from your last day of work through some pre-determined
period of time, so you can avoid post-career depression and other
assorted woes that happen to those who fail to plan an excellent segue.
You may not know what's next for you, but you can make sure that you set
yourself up for a painless transition.
Here are three terrific ways to segue from your career to retirement:
1. Plan a year-long adventure. When Don Kjelleren retired in
1993 after 37 years of service with DuPont, he instinctively knew that
if he went to a dead stop from traveling non-stop around the world and
managing over 1000 employees running international marketing for the
company, it would be, well, deadly for him. As a lifelong mountain
climber, Don had already climbed many of the planet's most famous
mountains. He is also an adventurer, so he combined his love of travel
with his passion for mountain climbing and his competitive nature and
created a year-long goal to climb the highest mountain, run 10 miles and
swim one mile in all 50 United States.
And, in case you think this was all a slam dunk for Don, you need to
know that before this adventure he was terrified of the water. Not only
did he overcome his fear and reach his goal, but Don successfully
decompressed from his high-powered career and was recharged and ready to
create the life he's enjoying today. He currently serves on the
Governor of Delaware's Commission on Lifestyles and Fitness, is Vice
Chairman of the National Senior Games Association (the Senior Olympics),
Chairman of the Advisory Council for the New Castle RSVP, and belongs to
a number of additional organizations associated with health and
well-being. Don loves focusing his time and energy on his mission --
encouraging others to take responsibility for their health.
2. Get a degree in a topic that fascinates you. When Jean Shula
left her career as a successful therapist at 62, she, too, was ready for
an adventure. She's curious about the world, loves meeting people of
all ages and exploring new cultures, and has had a lifelong love of
learning. She thought learning something new would be a kick, and while
exploring what was out there stumbled upon the European Peace
University, and a year long master?s program -- one academic year spent
at the University in Austria and then finish her thesis at home.
Jean found the program exciting, stimulating, and intellectually
challenging, but her greatest joy was living in a dorm with people from
every continent, many of whom were living side-by-side with their
"enemies" (i.e. Israelis and Palestinians, Indians and Pakistanis.) She
found it a great place to lose one's fears and prejudices, and she came
away from the year with an understanding that she'd already led a full,
rich life, and had accumulated some wisdom to share. By the time she had
completed her thesis, she knew that she would pursue her lifelong dream
of writing. Today, the success of Jean's first book, The Coming of
Aging: Learning to Live from the Inside Out, takes her around the
country keynoting and leading workshops, and her second book will be
published shortly.
3. Shift down in your work, as you gear up for the next thing.
Claire LeSage is retiring the end of 2008 and has created (and is
already living) her segue plan. At the beginning of the year, she
decided that she was going to take control of her life, and her future.
So, she began exploring - through coaching - what might be next for
her. Claire was pretty certain she wanted to start her own business,
and it didn't take her long to hone in on the idea of Wittz End, a
relocation concierge service specializing in helping seniors, their
families, and estate executors prepare, organize and coordinate the
entire moving process. Her personal experience of moving friends and
family over the years had led her ultimately into the moving industry
where she's worked as an administrator for the past 17 years.
Now halfway through the year, Claire's website is about to be launched,
logos, business cards and brochures are printed, and her home office is
coming together. Recently she began working 4 days a week at her job,
and three days a week on her new business. She's begun networking,
joined BNI (Business Networking International), and is negotiating
offering her services through the company she's working for. Who
knows? As the year progresses, she may drop back to three days a week,
or even two. One thing's for certain. Using this last year of work as
her segue is setting Claire up for a strong start to her new
"retirement" life.
Remember -- that dream life of nothingness could well be a nightmare.
Think about how you'll segue into retirement, and create a plan for
yourself that's fun and challenging.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Certified Retirement
Coach Lin Schreiber, author of the popular The ABC's of Revolutionizing
Retirement, helps self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next
stage of life, formerly known as "retirement." To claim your copy of her
free popular Revolutionize Retirement Starter Kit, visit her site at
http://www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com.
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