Tag Archives: Relationships

Creating Your Early Retirement Lifestyle: Beware The Comfort Zone Rut

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The greatest thing about early retirement is having the time and freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. But when creating our early retirement lifestyle it’s easy to fall into the comfort zone rut. Ruts are easy to fall into and hard to get out of. We constantly tip-toe the ruts in life’s path. But because we are still going in the direction we want they sneak up on us and we fall in.

Unfortunately we can be rut-unaware because we are actually enjoying what we are doing as we fine-tune our early retirement lifestyle. When we are no longer obligated to a boss or work it’s easy to get a little lazy and stick with what’s comfortable. Same goes once reaching our retirement freedom goals. The comfort zone rut isn’t bad because of what we do while in it. It’s more about what we miss out on as we happily skip along early retirement easy street.

I Love My Comfortable Early Retirement Lifestyle a Little Too Much

I just recently had an OMG  moment. We had a long planned vacation where we had an out-of-state family wedding to attend followed by a 10 day beach vacation. I came face to face with the fact that I didn’t really want to travel. The kicker is I really enjoy visiting with distant relatives. Not to mention hanging out among palm trees and the ocean. During the weeks and days before leaving it messed with my sleep and added stress as we prepared for the trip.

Then it came to me. What it really was about is that I love the early retirement lifestyle at home that I have created for us. I didn’t feel like taking a vacation from it. I was in a comfort zone rut.

We did go on the trip and during our travels I realized the importance of pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I took account of what I would have missed and what I have been probably missing lately and neglecting in everyday life.

Being obligation free and having the freedom to always choose ‘easy and comfortable’ over ‘not sure’ meant a lot less spice in my lifestyle. I not only enjoyed our vacation but I met many interesting people. I had great conversations and gained new insights that I would have never experienced if I had elected to stay home in my comfort zone rut.

Here are a Couple of My Observations:

A Break in Routine Can Be a Good Thing

The thing about early retirement lifestyle routine, even when it’s all freely and happily entered into, is it becomes simply a habit. We no longer make a cognitive choice. Not that it’s bad since we do enjoy what we are doing, but in the grand scheme of things it is limiting. It is both enjoyable and comfortable but at the expense of passion and excitement. There are things to be learned from stretching beyond the comfort zone.

What I will now consider in life and restaurants is to go ahead and occasionally pick something different from the menu instead of always picking the same things that I know I like. There will be some selections that will pleasantly surprise me and others not so much. But I will never know if I don’t taste what is available to experience.

Be Open to New Perspective

It isn’t surprising that we gravitate more freely to what we agree with or how we see things. We move toward what closely matches our own identity and thinking. Our ruts can leave little chance of exposure to anything different. We never challenge our views and the ways we see things beyond our perception from a distance. Stretching past our comfort zones allows us to see things from the different angles and have a better understanding of the world around us.

This is where I see traveling in retirement adding tremendous value above just getting a leisure fix. However, I think keeping an open mind and ditching the comfort rut in our day-to-day offers a chance for gaining new perspective too. I don’t have to adopt newly encountered perceptions outside of my own. But I experience personal growth by advancing my understanding.

Appreciate Our Early Retirement Lifestyle

I never stop appreciating my hard-won early retirement. But after removing myself from my comfort rut and a lot of self-reflection, I now feel like in some ways I took for granted everything I really do have. Sometimes it takes the stress of being uncomfortable to place value on the life we get to live. I believe it enhances our gratitude when we turn off the autopilot of routine and habit. I love the living part of my early retirement lifestyle. But it takes a lot of things to pull it off. Like Heath, home, loved ones, etc. When something disrupts my comfort or plans I would get agitated. But there isn’t time for that. I shouldn’t choose agitation and frustration to be in my early retirement lifestyle and instead focus on what I do have with appreciation.

By regularly counting my blessings I will appreciate my early retirement lifestyle and all that I have even more. I don’t use a smart phone. But I always see many people walking or sitting at the coffee shop, even in the company of someone else, with their head down looking at their phone. I believe the comfort zone rut is similar. It’s where we can be preoccupied with our comfort zone existence without recognizing everything going on around us nor interacting fully within our world. There is value in appreciating what we have and the moments we are in. 

Comfort Zone Rut Caused Social Isolation

I am fortunate to have a decent sized social circle. It consists of people I really enjoy having in my life. But it’s obvious to me that it isn’t growing and it may be shrinking due to some more distant relationships being neglected. I think in a way my comfort zone rut has caused a certain social isolation because I no longer reach out to people I care about who are a little more distant from me.

It’s easy to stay connected to people who are in close proximity. The comfort zone rut takes the path of least resistance. We can be blindly satisfied while we neglect others we care about. Early retirement when we are young and active means having the time to whatever we want. Part of that should be occasionally taking time to reach out to everyone we care about both near and far.

What It All Comes Down To

Having the freedom to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, in early retirement doesn’t mean we should only choose what’s comfortable. It is too easy to live an autopilot existence, playing it safe, so to never feel uncomfortable. Life is short and there is so much in the world, even within our community, to experience beyond our comfort zone habits.

I loved my early retirement lifestyle so much that I didn’t really want to vacation from it. I forgot how much I need to have some discomfort in my retirement in order to grow, keep things interesting, and improve myself. It’s now clear to me that comfort is an easy rut to fall into and I will be more cognizant about the daily choices I make. The comfort zone rut will sneak up on me again. It will take a constant effort to recognize it happening and snap out of it.

I think we all could choose to keep our heads up to look beyond our comfort zone and add a little more spice, passion, and excitement to our active early retirement lifestyle. I know I need to occasionally push myself to pick something different from the menu, care for all my relationships, and constantly count my blessings.

Retiring Well: Looking Beyond Finances

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Retirement brings freedom and options. With that comes many choices that retirees must make. Obviously having our finances in order is a key to retiring well but that alone is no guarantee. There are two questions I always ask myself as a guide for keeping me on my retirement well-being track. Two questions that I believe can help anyone avoid doing something that will mess with successfully retiring well.

Having enough money available to live the retirement lifestyle you want and can enjoy is primary to retiring well. There are many online retiring well financially geared articles and plenty here on this Leisure Freak site.

Of course there should always first be financial analysis. Deciding whether we can afford to do something or how our spending, portfolio strategy, budget, saving, etc. will impact our long-term retirement funding. After that is settled comes the two questions to make sure we truly retire well.

Retiring well means retiring without regret or unnecessary backtracking to repair a bad decision.

Believe me, retirement and its freedom brings a lot of options and decisions to make. Retiring well means living life on your terms and doing so purposely. Retiring well means retiring to something, not just from something. Nobody plans on retiring into a void. That isn’t retiring well. Neither is retiring and taking on bad projects, strangling obligations, putting up with difficult people, being unnecessarily idle, or accepting a unfulfilling retirement job.

Retiring WellRetirement is much more than our finances that support it. There is the living part of retirement that must be addressed so that we can retire well.

Retiring well must include our avoiding making any bad move that strays from what it is we really want in our retired life. We get to call our own shots and everyone makes mistakes. But I use these two questions to make sure I am truly on track to a no retirement regret decision.

Two Questions To Ask Yourself To Help Ensure Retiring Well

Question #1- If money was removed from my decision, would I still do this?

By answering this question we force ourselves to focus on the importance of the decision. Its importance as it relates to what we truly value in our retirement.

I definitely used this question in my decision to retire early the first time.

It was the end of 2009 during the recession. My portfolio was significantly down but the retirement calculator numbers still came up with favorable but tight results. When asking myself this question the answer was YES. A financial only mindset would have probably caused more retirement delay even though I was truly ready to move on to my freedom. Answering this question gave me the push to clear all the economic uncertainty. There will always be less than perfect financial conditions.

I have also used this question when presented with a paid opportunity.

I focus on skills and experiences of interest and passion when it comes to working in retirement. Sometimes the salary can have me momentarily stray from my planned path. In those cases the answer to this question is NO. But for one stepped down lower paying gig the answer came up as YES. It checked off all of my interest and passion boxes and I enjoyed every minute of it.

This question was also prominent in our retirement decision to not move to a less expensive and snow-less location. Although our financial analysis showed we could improve our finances by making the move. It also showed we could stay put without negative financial issues. But by answering this question we were able to focus on what we really valued. That is, being close to our children and grandchildren. So the answer was NO.

There have been times when our financial analysis showed that we best decide against something.

But by asking this question we gauge the importance to what we value in our retirement. In some cases we really did want to move forward and answered YES. We then made necessary budgetary and income adjustments to counter the financial negatives.

Question #2- If I knew I only had 10 years left to live, would I still do this?

This question is the ultimate ego tamer when it comes to work, activities, and relationships. It forces us to remember an undeniable truth that we are finite and puts our mortality into the equation. It has us prioritize what is most important to us.

When it comes to work opportunities it counters heavy financial justifications and our ego.

In the case of relationships it has the power to force us to focus on where we are and where we really want to be.

How we want to really handle a bad relationship, what to do about grudges we may have, or close the distance between friends and loved ones that we want in our lives.

It has us look differently at social activities that we may not feel like participating in.

It does so by adding, do I really want to miss this opportunity to be with those I care about? Answering this question can change our focus because there is no guaranty of tomorrow.

This question comes up for me with work opportunities.

They checked off all of my interests and passion boxes after passing the first question that removes money from the decision. But I have answered NO for this question because the commitment was too long. Other times the project looked and sounded perfect but I had no respect for the company or its leadership and policies. One in particular opportunity had very tight deadlines covering many months. It would have made taking time-off for family trips or vacations too difficult to fit in.

Sometimes I need this question to silence my ego when it pushes me to investigate or do things that are not aligned with my retirement values.

It allows me to stop wasting my time on things I do not value. There can be many reasons why I wouldn’t want to waste any of my finite time. I then answer NO to this question.

This question has me prioritize relationships that I truly value so I can strengthen them.

I also use the question in how I view and limit relationships with people I really don’t care for but still have because of business or other connections.

In Closing

Retiring well does need having our finances in order. But there is the living part of retirement that counts just as much. The freedom that retirement provides also brings many options and decisions to make. But decisions dictated by a singular financial mindset may cause a retirement of regrets.

I use the above two questions to enhance my retiring well decision process. I am sure there are many others that can be used to keep us on the path to enrich our retirement with what we truly value. For instance questions about our health which is also important to retiring well.

Hopefully these two questions has you thinking about questions that go beyond finances that you can use as guidance toward your retiring well.

Turn Retirement Wishes Into Reality

Non-financial Aspects of retirement,

Retirement is a celebrated event that usually comes with cards and signed banners full of coworker’s, friend’s, and loved one’s Retirement Wishes. Most are just different flavors of the same common wishes. Understandably many are written simply as participation comments. Taken from online lists of retirement wishes without much thought. However for some well-wishers their wish is truly heartfelt and personalized. Those are the best wishes. Even when they are only personalized versions of the common retirement wishes.

Turn Retirement Wishes Into RealityMy wife and I retired early but we stay in contact with our good friends from our past working lives. We recently attended a retirement party for my wife’s ex-manager. Reading through the many retirement wishes brought back memories of my retirement. I mentally checked off all the wishes that actually came to be and what it took to make them come true.

I also thought about what we as heartfelt well-wishers could do to help our newly retired friend’s retirement wishes become a reality.

Going From Retirement Wishes to Retirement Reality

May your retirement bring you prosperity, health, and happiness.

There were many retirement wishes along this same line of thought. It certainly would make a short but sweet toast to the retiree while holding drink glasses up high. It is a common but great wish and one I and any retiree would totally want to come true.

What it takes:

Prosperity- Enjoy the celebrating and jubilation of ditching the rat race. But remember there is more to retirement than Aloha shirts, tropical drinks, and travel. Make sure your finances and retirement budget match. Stay engaged with your retirement funding and spending. Prosperity isn’t limited to  finances. It is the whole well-being package that includes your health and happiness.

Health- More free time means more available time to be active. Take advantage of it. There is nothing better than improving your health. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money either. Bicycling and hiking/walking are great retiree activities. Find ways to stay active and exercise. Don’t forget your brain. Stay curious and always try to learn new things.

Stay on top of your health by striving to eat better and restrict or cut any unhealthy vices. Health also includes having a social life. Stay involved in your community, church and other organizations. Always keep an open eye towards opportunities to expand your social life.

Happiness- Happiness is the one thing we can choose to have. People who have miserable conditions can still be happy about what they do have in life. Taking control of our finances is important. But taking care of our health and having a vibrant social life full of friends and family is a happiness boosting insurance plan.

Congrats! Go enjoy yourself in retirement. Retirement isn’t the end of the journey but a new beginning. Now is the time to live the life you have always wanted.

This is one of the best retirement wishes and it comes with a side order of pep-talk. Beginning a new life living our dream is a worthy goal to achieve in retirement. A happy and successful retirement isn’t about retiring from something but retiring to something. 

It takes having a vision of what you see as your retirement adventure. What is the life you always wanted? Make sure you have the answer. Don’t make the mistake of retiring into a void containing only spare time with nothing planned.

What to do:

Create your personal retirement lifestyle project plan. Set a loose schedule of fun things you want to accomplish and the routines you want or need to complete. Those daily routine activities like chores, exercise, Kazoo lessons/practice, etc.

List your hobbies. The ones you have and the ones you want to explore. Make time for them. Include all of your passions like fishing, golf, woodworking, brewing craft beer, etc. Make a point of having many interests and hobbies. Never allow the word boredom to be part of your retirement.

Set your travel goals, family related activities, and your plans to grow your social life.

Free yourself from your work identity and re-event yourself. Retirement is the time for YOUR new beginning.

Most of all allow yourself time to transition into retirement. It may seem strange to think that retirement can mess with your mind but it will. Just going from retirement saver to retirement spender did a number on me for a while. There will be an adjustment period after the celebration cools down.

May you find that perfect retirement job doing what you love.

Obviously this retirement wish is only proper for a retiree who has said they are looking forward to a stepped-down retirement job, starting an encore career, or starting a business. It is a simple but specific retirement wish that certainly strays from the casual common and participation-only retirement wish comment.

In my case I made it known to everyone that I planned to retire early and often  where I wanted to pursue opportunities aligned with my passions and interests. Many new retirees plan to do some form of paid retirement work.

To make it happen:

First figure out what your perfect retirement opportunity is. It starts with understanding what it is you want. List the dream-job attributes that you want to find. Identify your interests and passions. Then match them to your payable skills.

Target your resume towards opportunities aligned with your retirement work goals.

This was one of my retirement wishes and I have had successful paid work adventures in retirement. It certainly has been a rewarding retirement reality for me.

For the Retirement Well-Wisher

Doing more than offering casual retirement wishes

Many retirement wishes noted that they stay in touch. If your written retirement wishes are truly heartfelt then do actively strive to stay in touch. Be a part of the retiree’s social circle. You never know if they are struggling to stay close with their ex-coworker pals or having trouble keeping or growing their social circle in retirement.

I know it took a great effort to keep my work-pals and grow my social circle beyond work friends after three decades in a career and the only life I knew. I was very happy to have great ex-coworker friends.

Retirees, myself included, feel that those still working are very busy and the last thing they needed was a recent retiree taking more of their precious time. Reach out occasionally even if it’s just a short and simple email.

If you can, write retirement wishes specific to the retiree. Think about what they have talked about looking forward to. If you don’t know then go ahead and use some of the common send-off retirement wishes but personalize it. Even just adding your contact info and an invitation to use it would be welcome to any new retiree. Especially if you are close and know that they struggle socially or have a limited social life outside of work.

It’s not just for the retiree’s benefit-

You will retire someday too. By staying connected you will have an experienced retirement pal to help you with your transition into your retirement freedom. If retirement looks like a huge challenge for you to achieve, then they will be a good source of information and encouragement to help you figure out how get there. I know that my retired friends were a huge inspiration for me on my journey to early retirement.

In Closing

For our newly retired friend whose party inspired my retirement wishes reflection and this post there is an active social connection in place since my wife’s retirement. Our retirement wish was centered around “welcome to the club” and included our looking forward to expanding our social interactions.

Everyone loves good heartfelt retirement wishes and wants them to come true. I have only covered a few of the common ones I received and like I saw at the retirement party. But they do cover some of the best retirement wishes anyone would love to come true.

Retiree- With a little planning and effort, retirement wishes can all become a retirement reality. Go ahead and wing-it though your celebration phase. But afterward choose to actively pursue the best of your retirement wishes and enjoy your hard-won freedom.

Retirement well-wisher- If you are close to the retiree then go beyond the one-size-fits-all common list of retirement wishes and make it personal. Mention anything that you know that they are looking forward to doing in their retirement. If you are close to the retiree then make sure to stay connected. Good friends can be hard to come by.

The reality is that good friendships benefits all that are involved.

Early Retiree Free Time: The Double Edged Sword

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I recently posted that people who value more time instead of money are the happiest. Our hard-won Early Retiree Free Time brings us great happiness. But it can also bring conflict. It is a double-edged sword. Time is a valuable commodity in today’s busy world. Where family and friends wouldn’t think to ask early retirees for money. Early Retiree’s free time is another story.

It takes a certain kind of wealth to retire early. Our net worth isn’t usually advertised or shared. Friends and relatives may make assumptions but seldom hit early retirees up for money or even consider it. But wanting use of our free time seems totally up for grabs.

Assumptions about retirees always having free time to give can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. It is up to the early retiree to manage their free time. Early retirees must manage both the requests for favors and our own emotions. Life is short. Relatives and friends are our greatest treasure. But nobody on either side of these relationships wants to feel used or let down.

Early Retiree Free Time Can Cut Both Ways

Having won free time in our early retirement to follow our passions and interests can cut both ways. It is the reason for celebration and happiness. But it can also bring requests for help and obligations beyond what we bargained for. Even though I put a high value on being there for those I care about. I have experienced the strain of having to be there for more than my schedule had room for. I did retire to something and believe me it keeps me pretty busy.

Early Retiree Free TimeThat said, I know firsthand the pitfalls of my hard-won free time. How it can weigh on my emotions and relationships. This happens when everyone’s expectations are out of whack. It is hard to say no to someone you care about. However it is better to be honest and upfront about things.

When we retire we want to make family and friends a high priority in our new life. That includes being there for them by sharing our free time. To both enjoy spending more time together and help when and where we can.

There is something worse than saying NO or the recipient hearing the word NO when there are time conflicts. That is our doing something we really didn’t want to do or couldn’t do at that time. Then complaining about it. Our words and attitude will come out into the open one way or another. It hurts both us and our loved ones. It comes down to this. Either happily do it or just say no.

The Upfront Approach – Verbal Contract

This might be hard for some to do. Especially before any favors or requests for time have been made. But if you have a reasonable concern of what might come once your retirement is known. Then laying out ground rules to friends and family may be the best strategy.

My mother had no problem doing this. She is from the old country. From a place where being abrupt and direct is normal. She announced to the family about her pending retirement and said, “Don’t expect me to babysit everyday”.  Nobody had mentioned a word about her doing that. But it did set the ground rules early. Way before anyone made some false assumptions about how mom would be spending her new free time.

Setting a verbal contract with friends and family can help ease any future conflict.

For example, by simply stating that except in cases or emergency all babysitting must be approved in advance.

Requesting that our loved ones get advanced approval is important with many time requests. The same would go for driving folks around. I have an early retired friend whose parent and in-law sets appointments. They do so without finding out first if he and his wife have already made travel or other plans. Many times he has changed his plans to keep the peace and not upset anyone. He happily obliges but is cause for annoyance to him and his wife.

Advanced approval is necessary for many time requests. Dog or house sitting, moving, painting, etc. Many people have an assumption the early retired have nothing ever planned. They always have time to help when needed.

Being upfront helps saying “NO”. It could eliminate false assumptions. When a time conflict does arise the retiree-free-time verbal contract is something that could be pointed back to.

Set Your Limits

There are things that I have to say no to when asked. There have been many times I have had to say no to friends and family because I just can’t help them. One limitation is associated with pain. I know what my bad back can handle.

Many times all people see is a healthy and handy 6’3” man who should be of great help. But I have to draw the line. Even though I may risk injury and pain to do these things for myself. I can’t move their furniture, load trucks, ladder work, paint, shovel or blow snow, plumbing work, etc. for them. Saying “NO” is necessary. Sometimes I do say “YES” and pay dearly for it. I let my wanting to help override the limits I have set for myself. I am then quickly reminded why I have set those limits.

Assess what you will be happy to do and what you definitely wouldn’t or shouldn’t want to do. That includes allowances where you are happy to reschedule your plans around for them. That way when one of these kinds of requests comes up there is no hymn-hawing about it. It is then easy to stick to your guns and kindly say no at the time of the request.

Dealing with Spousal bias

Dealing with spousal family bias has come up with us and a friend of mine. I am sure it is quite common. This is when we spend a great deal of time lending our time to family. There are time conflicts and changed plans that occur. There are then complaints that too much time plan changes are allowed to one’s family members. Yet no complaints about the same time and equal allowances given to the spouse’s family when similar time conflicts arise.

Blood is thicker than water. Bias is natural in most cases. Aside from having good communication skills and relationships with our spouse. Calmly talking about the situation and setting a plan is better than going over the scoreboard to prove our point.

  • Never favor your family over your spouse’s family for your time or making time conflict allowances.
  • Never volunteer your spouse for time and services without first asking them if it’s OK.
  • Set the same limits and guidelines for all requests for your time.
  • Treat each other as partners in managing your early retiree free time and back each other up.

Know thy self – Overcoming guilt.

There are always those special family members and friends who know how to perpetrate the best guilt trips. Dropping one of those bad boys on people is an art form. It is however a gift you can refuse. Guilt trips are in our own head and we don’t have to be ruled by them.

I still occasionally fall for this insidious emotion. Somehow my inability to accommodate someone’s wants and needs means their hardship lands solely as my responsibility.

We always want to help but sometimes time conflicts happen. Hearing that –

  • They already spent the money on non-refundable tickets.
  • We haven’t the money to pay someone else.
  • It has to be done now and there is no time to find someone else.
  • We can’t reschedule on our end without losing XYZ, etc.

None of that is our fault or reason to feel guilty over our not being able to accommodate. Explain that obviously if you could and didn’t have the time conflict you would. Reaffirm that if only THEY had pre-approved the time-frame for the time needed. They should get the picture that if they had then this time conflict wouldn’t have happened.

Of course if I can change my schedule for an emergency I would. But not everything is a true emergency.

Time Conflicts from Outside of Family and Friends

Early Retiree Free Time can be considered up for grabs from even outside our friends and family. It can happen when working a Part-Time gig. Where coworkers and management may make assumptions. Whether being asked last-minute by a coworker to cover their shift or the boss filling holes in the schedule.

Many retirees spend some of their allocated free time doing volunteer work for their community or church. Those in charge may make assumptions and believe the early retiree can handle more assignments.

I am sure there are many more examples of clubs and organizations that are part of what we retired to. Any could make a request of more time than our early retirement lifestyle schedule has room for.

The Bottom Line

Early Retiree Free Time is the prize that keeps on giving. It gives our own happiness and the ability to spend it with friends and family. Even helping them and their lives be easier and better.

That free time cuts both ways. Time conflicts do arise and we hate letting people that we care about down. But by setting some personal limits and having up front verbal contracts we can ease bad assumptions.

Misunderstandings about our retiree free time can add pain to a relationship. Don’t simply agree to do everything and then live your life complaining about it all. That only leads to animosity and distance between us and the people we care about. That is not what we retired to.

One last comment – Of course when I say “No” in this post I don’t mean we flip the word “No” out there all alone like that. We can always be polite even while getting our point across.

Do you see Early Retiree Free Time being an issue for you to handle?

Have you considered laying out ground rules in a verbal contract? If so, what was your ground rules?

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals

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When it comes to my goals for the New Year they are more Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals than financial. I have read a lot of impressive goals on many personal finance sites. They have motivated me to also begin my process to set and write down my goals for this New Year.

Being that I am early retired and living from my portfolio I have no real financial targets other than staying on budget.

IF I decide to take on a paying gig within my interest and my passions then my goal is simply to save 100% of the income it produces. At this time I have no such targeted opportunity in mind. I may not start any this year so I can’t set as a goal a targeted number to be saved.

You may be wondering, what are these Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals? They are goals to help me live a more fulfilling life. Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals are worthy goals for anyone retired or still on their financial independence journey.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals 

Always Be Motivated

Nothing is more motivational than having something to look forward to. Having a goal or adventure in front of me that is something that I am interested in, passionate about, or just plain excites me can’t do anything but keep me motivated.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused GoalsI could rename my bucket list and change it to my motivation list. It is having these listed experiences and adventures or my always being open to an unknown adventure that keeps me remembering that my life is something more than my day-to-day life, routines, and habits. Part of this Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goal is working my way down my list and when appropriate adding to it or removing something that no longer interest me. It also includes taking action to make them happen. Even if it takes long-term action to get there. It is still motivating to see progress.

So what is on this list? It has the answers to the all-important question: What do I want to experience and accomplish before I die.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 1- Be a Motivated Person. Motivation leaves no room for boredom, discouragement, or dread in my early retirement lifestyle.

See the Silver Lining

This is a very challenging goal. Life is full of ups and downs. My goal is to always look for the good in any bad situation. It is all about keeping a better perspective and maintaining a positive attitude. The idea is to see the Silver Lining so I can find the meaning in my mistakes, failures, and losses so I can learn from them. Then make adjustments and move on without stewing in negativity about anything bad that has happened.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 2- Seek Silver Lining Freedom. Finding the good in bad situations means I can successfully move forward instead of being chained to the past.

Count My Blessings

By focusing on all the good things that I have in my life and what I want to accomplish I can live feeling content. That is certainly a better way to live than the alternative. Focusing on my losses, failures, or what I don’t have would only cause negative feelings and a negative attitude. Taking stock of all that I have and being truly thankful is a goal that ensures a happier life.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 3- Recognize that I am Blessed. Understanding that I am fortunate and have an abundant life means negativity and envy can find no home within me.

Feed and Grow Personal Relationships

My family and friends are the cornerstone to my well-being. Some relationships come easy and others require work to stay connected. One reason I have this as a goal is that these relationships are counted as part of my blessings. Also by giving myself to others outside of any other goals or my happiness makes ME a better person.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 4- Treat Family and Friends as Priceless. Selflessly giving and connecting to other human beings that I love and care about is the only path to a full, loving, and rewarding life.

Make My Health a Priority

My health is what it is. It could always be better and it sure can be worse. It is up to me to do all I can to be as healthy as I can. I want to live a long time and enjoy my early retirement freedom. My goal is to pay myself first through daily exercise and staying active. I always feel better mentally and physically after exercise. Other health goals are to always seek ways to improve my diet and stay current with medical and dental checkups. My exercise goal is a way to delay aging into a rocking chair. This lifestyle goal is to stay vital and active for as long as I can.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 5- Protect My Valuable Health. By staying healthy I might be able to keep putting distance and time between me and my becoming a sick old man waiting for the Grim Reaper.

 Take Calculated Risks

Staying comfortable is the easy way but a less rewarding way to live. But my taking calculated risks that takes me out of my comfort zone is necessary for me to create what I want from life. That is to live life as an adventure and let my passions and natural curiosity guide me. My goal is to reach beyond what I know which is a big part of the early retirement lifestyle I want to create. I want to constantly learn and experience new things.

Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals # 6- Embrace Strategic Risk. Live life to the fullest and avoid regretting later in my life the risks I didn’t take.

In Closing

You may be thinking these are goals that I should always have. Not something to just list for the New Year. That is absolutely correct. I believe taking the time to list out goals whether they are common-sense or raising the bar on our accountability is important. It is all about choices. We choose to better ourselves, our finances, our happiness, our career, etc. Listing our chosen goals is the first step. We then get to put action towards them and measure how well we have done. We then can identify areas we need to work harder at. My Early Retirement Lifestyle Focused Goals are all about living the best life I can. Not only this year but the rest of my life.

Do you have any non-financial based goals for the New Year to make your life happier and more fulfilling?

Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy

Career, Non-financial Aspects of retirement,

Someone close to me is retiring early at the end of the week. She is consumed with thoughts about her pending Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy. Many people think about leaving a legacy at work and I had the same mindset with my first early retirement. To some people this may sound crazy. But it is a very common emotion that many people have before pulling the retirement-trigger from a long-held career.

There seems to be two far-end retirement camps. The extreme ends are those who could care less and even do all they can to be dismissed before they retire. They try to secure a severance package and/or start their retirement collecting unemployment payments. On the other end there are those who don’t want to do anything or leave behind anything that will tarnish their good works. Certainly there are those who fall between the extremes.

Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy – Your What And Why

If you are having any thoughts about leaving a legacy at work or think you might then do so understanding your legacy’s What and Why. Take it from me, most of us miss the boat. There are a lot of people who after years of financial planning and taking successful action have this retirement and leaving a workplace legacy issue gnaw at them. It can cause misguided efforts to try to fulfill their desire of leaving a legacy at work in the final months, weeks, or days of their career.

Non-financial aspects of early retirement, Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy / leaving a legacy at workThere is a desire to leave behind something meaningful to be remembered for after giving your all towards a long career. Especially for those who worked for the same employer for many of those years.

I know that I did and I have talked to a lot of people who had the same thoughts. But I admit I missed the boat on what was really going on and what the reality of leaving a legacy at work truly is.

Perhaps this is a boomer issue or that of older Gen X where we worked many years under the earlier employer/employee culture. It may sound crazy to many younger employees today to concern ourselves with leaving a legacy at work. Especially in this current mobile employer/employee career environment. However I believe that anyone who fully engages into their career and their company with the idealistic view of always working hard to make a difference will one day struggle with this same legacy issue.

Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy – Your What…

Understand What you truly feel your workplace legacy is.

  • Was it the mentoring you did?
  • Is it all the operational processes you created that are now the backbone of the organization?
  • Was it transferring your knowledge through the formal training classes you developed and taught to all the new talent coming through the company?
  • Maybe it was how you freely shared your knowledge and experience.
  • Was it always being there when the stuff hit the fan and staying late to help your co-workers out?

These examples were what I considered my legacy for career #1. Leaving a legacy at work is about what you have achieved and passed on to others. That is what lives on after your retirement. It is about having a defining purpose for all the work you did. Purpose that is bigger than yourself just doing a job.

There was no way I could slack-off to get let-go with a severance package and tarnish all that I did. Even though it would have made more financial sense. There was a lot of personal sacrifice through my career. I couldn’t sell that for some temporary financial gain. I didn’t want to be remembered as a go-getter who in the end dropped the ball or couldn’t do my job any more. Leaving a legacy at work was something I really cared about.

Ask yourself Questions to find your “WHAT”
  • What is it exactly you want your colleagues to remember about you?
  • Exactly what is it that you want any of your customers, clients, and external stakeholders to remember about you?
  • What is it of your work that you believe is important to be passed down to everyone coming up the ladder at your work?
  • What is it that you have done that helped and will continue to help your organization succeed?

Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy – Your Why…

Once you know what you consider your legacy is then understand your WHY.  Why you feel the need to leave a legacy at work. There must be a reason why you have this gnawing desire to leave a workplace legacy.

For me it was about all my personal life sacrifice. The constant engagement. Trying to make a difference every day. It was about making sense of a long hard career and mentally trying to justify all the hardship and BS as something bigger than myself. Trying to reconcile in my mind that it was more than a paycheck.

How much of our desire to leave a workplace legacy is just vanity or ego?

For those of us in the “leaving a legacy at work” camp we all want to be liked. We want to be fondly remembered. I admit that was also part of my Why. Truthfully, if that didn’t matter to me I could have been one of the countless mediocre. Those who barely engaged and never advanced or could be depended on.

Those of us who shoot for financial independence and early retirement are very driven and that is also how we are in our work.

The hard truth. In the end I believe the biggest reason for wanting to leave a workplace legacy is nothing more than our own mind trying to deal with our walking away. Walking away from what was a huge part of our life. It’s about fooling ourselves into believing we leave it better than we found it. But it has nothing to do with them and is all about ourselves. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy – The Reality…

When you have identified your Legacy What and Why it is obviously the accumulation of your career. No busting your keister at the end is going to make much of a difference.

Even if in the end we did leave the organization better than when we found it, most workplace legacies are short-lived. The reality is that our workplace legacy will be very limited to those we mentored. To those we had a personal relationship with. In many cases it will only last with them while they stay in the same position/organization that we shared. Also realize that it will fade in short-time.

That is one of the differences between yesterday’s and today’s employment culture. It is now always moving. You seldom hear of anyone staying in a job very long. People are either taking an internal company transfer or heading to a new company. Even if they do stay, your past organization may change direction with new management every 6 months. Making all of your workplace accomplishments and contributions obsolete and forgotten.

Even if your organization and your closest colleagues stay in place. Your retirement and leaving a workplace legacy will have no institutional or organizational memory. No matter what you accomplished nor how many fans you have. Our work and accomplishments belong to the company. They can do with them what they want to.

The Reality about Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy

The reality is, our workplace Legacy WHY is for our own peace of mind and going into retirement with a positive attitude. Retiring and having a feeling of accomplishment. It is about retiring on our own terms. Without any doubts and going full speed ahead. Retiring without ever having a feeling of retreat or regret.

Our workplace Legacy WHAT is all about the personal relationships we have made during our career. It is not about the accomplishments. It’s about how our accomplishments, efforts, and good work helped others to do their job. How our accomplishments made part of their lives easier. That is what will be remembered about us after we retire.

Final Comments on Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy

What I told my pal was you have created a legacy of good work through your entire career. So don’t kill yourself in the final weeks or days trying to secure it any more than it already is. It is all about those who you enjoyed working with and those who have enjoyed working with you.

  • Still do your job well. Do so with the realization that your work is soon finished. It is OK to have a little celebration hidden in your stride. You never want to burn bridges. If you want to do the retire early and often thing you can count on them as a reference.
  • Look at your Legacy What and Why and if there is a legacy to be remembered for, it has already been accomplished.
  • Do let everyone know daily how you have appreciated working with them. Be honest about any work you have that is unfinished and may need to be picked up. It isn’t necessary to work extra hours to clear everything up before the big retirement day.
  • Transition and delegate all that you have left on your plate. Leave without negative feelings.
  • Your work is now the company’s to deal with and do what they want to do with it. Just like all of your past contributions to the organization.
  • Those close to you will still remember you fondly. You don’t have to kill yourself in your final stretch to have that.
Retirement and Leaving a Workplace Legacy is more about getting our own mindset right.

Our true workplace legacy is within our mind where it will endure far longer than in the actual workplace. At least that is my experience and that of those I have had an honest talk with about it.

Did you retire with feelings of wanting to leave a workplace legacy?

Do you see yourself falling into the workplace legacy camp? Or more towards doing something to get yourself let-go and collect some severance and/or unemployment cash? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Retire Early Living Life as an Adventure

Early Retirement Lifestyle, Non-financial Aspects of retirement, ,

Even before I retired early the first time I was Living Life as an Adventure. I believe it is another key to happiness. It all started in my first career as a Telecom Lead Engineer. On average I had to travel all over the USA for a week a month. It would have been easy to just check into the hotel room and watch TV, sleep, work, and repeat to get through it.

Business travel sounds great to many people but believe me the attraction soon fades. Especially after you miss a few connecting flights and spend a few nights sleeping in the airport terminal. In order to tolerate another week away from home and family on a business trip while my real work at the office piled up. I decided I would make these trips something more without spending a bunch of my money playing tourist. My goal was to treat each trip as an opportunity for adventure.

I would attempt to meet someone new beyond my work relationships. See something new and interesting, learn something totally new, or simply walk and be engaged in everything that was going on around me as if I am documenting in my mind a strange new world. And strange this world is if you pay attention. It provided me with habits that I now use in my early retirement to keep living life as an adventure in my own little way.

Living Life as an Adventure is Simple

Practice Daily

I try to practice Living Life as an Adventure every day. Yes being retired means I have more time to do things but I am not talking about exotic adventures like climbing Everest, canoeing the Amazon, or wing-suit base jumping from the Sears Tower.

What I am talking about is making myself step outside my comfort-zone and seek new experiences. It doesn’t happen every day but I constantly stay open to adventure because the most amazing things only happen when they happen. You cannot predict when your next chance for adventure will come along.

Just like with any exotic adventure, there will be down times. You do still have to take care of business. To me that is the easy part, the comfortable part, because it is the daily script we all live by. However if that is all I am about then things can get a little boring. I want there to be occasional excitement and surprise in my life. There is something energizing when you are tapped into the world, community, and people around you.

I know from my time working long hours in my first career what it feels like to feel powerless and stuck in a rut. Slogging through every day wishing for the day to end. I never want to feel like that again. Some down-time in life is unavoidable but when I have the chance for adventure I want to take it.

The Mini Adventure is about Discovery

What I am looking for in my mini adventures is learning something or discovering something new. Sometimes it is getting to know someone new, someone outside my circle and maybe even where we share absolutely no common interests. Someone I should have never met during my life because there is absolutely no reason to. I have met many interesting and some famous people. Some have turned into friendships. Others their face and the interaction are fresh in my memory but I can’t recall their name.

I am sure to the famous I have met I am remembered neither by name nor by our chance interaction. I am certain it wasn’t remembered as the adventure I took it as. And that is the flip side to this. Making sure that I am interesting enough to be remembered as part of someone else’s adventure. I want to make this a 2 way street even if they have never thought about living life as an adventure.

Living Life as an Adventure Habits

Here are some habits to practice that will allow living life as an adventure:

It starts by being approachable.

Crack a smile once in a while. Nobody wants to talk to someone who looks like they are planning their next murder.

Do not take yourself so seriously.

People are strange in one way or another. We are all freaks and weirdos in different ways.

Be in the moment.

There is no time like the present to focus on. You are not open to adventure if you are stuck dwelling on the past or contemplating the unknown future.

Talk to someone new.

They are called strangers for a reason and if you are lucky they will be interestingly strange. However this isn’t a call to engage with someone dangerously disturbed. Look to people who are definitely different than yourself and outside of your normal circle by way of attire, job, culture, etc.

Always be ready for and stay aware of danger.

Use caution when selecting new people to talk with and always make sure you are in a safe environment.

Learn something new and mind-blowing.

Learning new things is at the top of my list and the crazier, funnier, or more bizarre the better. I always go back to a Seinfeld episode where Kramer explains: “Have you ever met a proctologist? They usually have a very good sense of humor. You meet a proctologist at a party, don’t walk away. Plant yourself there because you will hear the funniest stories you’ve ever heard.”    

Living Life as an Adventure
What’s up?

Speak to animals like Dr. Doolittle.

When I hike I talk to the prairie dogs and any other birds or animals I encounter along the trail. I do think some of the animals other than the snakes are starting to recognize me. It’s great practice in being totally open to another living creature and in accepting rejection when they don’t talk back or answer my questions. Some human beings will and do reject me so I have learned to not take it personally. 

Pay attention and see what is really going on.

I call it being more than just a spectator. Try to see what people are doing or anything that is occurring in a way outside your normal bias and thoughts. I try to set myself in the scene and feel what they are feeling or see what they are seeing. It’s especially good for when waiting in a line at some busy location. Time flies.

Recognize adventure and opportunities.

I have let a good adventure and some opportunities pass me by because I was too fatigued to recognize it at the time. I then kick myself later. Try real hard to catch the ride when it arrives.

If you feel like singing or dancing in public then sing, dance.

You can take this literally if you choose or just think of it as dropping your hang-ups and just have some fun.

To Conclude:

Living Life as an Adventure is a way to keep life interesting and always improve ourselves by learning new things and meeting new people. It is also a way for us to find a connection to this strange world, inject some fun into the everyday, and seek the happiness we all desire. It is all really about living a happy life.

Are you Living Life as an Adventure? Do you have some other adventure seeking habits to add to my list?