Making Retirement Wishes

Hi Career Coach,

My question might seem strange to you considering you are a career coach but I feel that one of the toughest things to realize is when to give up or change your career path or slow down.

I am 54 years old with 25 years of IT experience and 28 years of work experience, overall. I do not have any fancy degrees but a wealth of experience. Over the last year or two, I have been toying with the idea of retirement. Financially, I am more than content for my lifestyle. Agreed, any amount of money is never enough but one needs to draw a line.

Here are some options I have thought of:

1. Stop working on a certain date (I’m considering end of 2010) and just take things easy. It sounds good for now, but I’m not sure how I will handle my free time two to three months after retirement.
2. Stop working on a certain date then look for part-time work. What kind, and how, I am not certain.
3. In the third quarter of this year, start taking extended time off, like leave without pay, for couple of months and see if I am I ready call it a day by the feel of no work. This option means I am simply putting off a post-retirement career or “what to do” thoughts.
4. Look at less intensive opportunities in my present company toward the end of 2010, even if it means taking huge salary cuts. I am prepared to work at nominal
5. Look for volunteer opportunities post retirement at the end of 2010.

Thanks for your patience and I appreciate your thoughts,

Kashina

Dear Kashina,

It’s exciting and alluring to think about retirement. I think your attitude about the money and drawing a line is so enlightened. It can be tough to sort through your retirement wishes.

The biggest challenge that my clients have when planning out the second part of their life is letting go of the grounding that their job gives them. The more a person is defined by and attached to the identity created in their former life, the harder it is to transition. For example, I coached a gentleman who was the founder of an IT organization. He was very proud of his accomplishments and the company was like his second child, making it even harder to separate from the company. Since he was the CEO of a very large organization, he had positional power where people looked up to him and respected him for his accomplishments. Like you, he’d been in the IT business for over 30 years. All of these things - the power, the clear purpose and identity associated with the job - made it hard for him to transition to retirement.

I like to think about these transitions from a spiritual perspective. As humans, we are on a quest to understand the following spiritual questions. Who are we? Why are we brought to this planet? How we can best serve? Mapping this to the above example, if you have been working for 30 years as the head of the organization, all these answers have been about the same for the last 30 years. What happens once you quit your job? These same questions will come back to be answered.

As a contrast, I know of people who never identified who they are as their job. For example, I know of a financial analyst who thought of the job strictly as a paycheck. He could separate himself from work quickly and suffer limited bruising of his ego.

The answer to your question on the options above is, “It depends.” It would be helpful to honestly appraise where you are on the two outlooks mentioned above - identified mainly with work or not. Imagine in the future being at a dinner party and someone asking you, “What you are doing now?” You say “I’m retired,” and they say, “Isn’t that nice,” and walk away. Or, if they are nice, they may talk to you in a somewhat interested way about what you are doing. Do you shrug your shoulders and smile? Or, do you sort of shrink inside feeling a bit less worthy or valued?

Most folks I coach in the U.S., where working is so heavily tied to import and power, suffer the latter. If that is the case with you, then you may want to transition more slowly, which maps to thinking about all options aside from number one above.

Your option number four should be carefully considered. If you can do this without a blow to your ego, then it’s a fine option. Imagine reporting to someone that used to report to you or two levels below. How would you feel? If you’d feel okay about it, then it’s a fine option. It can stay on your wish list.

Irrespective of the options above, the key thing to do is to map out time to explore what you would want to do to live a full life with no regrets. If you don’t know this, then any of the options that buy you time or help you create a “cover story” for those status folks that ask you about work would be helpful. These cover stories are only if you have some ego attached to the job transition and want time to explore your interests without catching any grief from others. If you have none of these concerns, then quit your job and enjoy life.

Best wishes,

C.J.

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