At HPH Solutions we know that it’s not good enough to simply be financially secure in your retirement, you want to have a life of meaning and fulfilment there too.
When individuals are unhappy in their work lives, they focus more on what they are ‘retiring from’ rather than what they are ‘retiring to’. They see retirement as the goal or a finish line and give little thought to what life will really be like once they quit working.
In doing so, those individuals are also ignoring the benefits that work provides beyond the paycheque such as:
- Structure to the day
- Regular interaction
- Friendships
- Identity
- Challenge
- Recognition
It is true that in retirement, you will have more freedom than ever before regarding how you choose to spend your time. But it’s important to consider how you will spend your days in retirement before you get there. And important to consider what you might do to ensure you are still getting the six benefits of work outlined above.
But you don’t just want to be busy. In the book Comfort Zones: Planning Your Future, the authors warn that ‘keeping busy is a fine idea for retirement – provided that the individual is doing what he/she wants to do, and the activities are personally meaningful and fulfilling.’ They encourage each person to not trade a life of challenge and opportunity ‘for a passive existence composed of busywork’.
How might one avoid that ‘passive existence composed of busywork’?
It is thought that there are three ‘doing’ components of a retirement lifestyle:
- Learning
- Work (paid or unpaid)
- Leisure
If you are able to think ahead and identify post-retirement learning, work and leisure activities that will be meaningful to you, this will go a long way to setting yourself up for a retirement that is fulfilling.
You can download our ‘My Ideal Week in Retirement’ template here to get started with your planning.