Our culture has an unwritten expectation that a retired person will be unproductive.
The very words “retire” or “retirement” perpetuate the myth that old age is an unproductive time in life and imprints the belief that people in their later years should simply sit back or indulge in a recreational activity like golf.
The Seven Graces of Ageless Aging, by Jason Elias
Many retirees feel entitled to a retirement marked not by productivity or service to others but by self-centeredness and selfishness. “I’ve worked full-time my whole life; now it’s time to play full-time.”
That’s not necessarily true in other cultures, such as Japan. “One surprising thing you notice, living in Japan, is how active people remain after they retire. Many Japanese people never really retire — they keep doing what they love for as long as their health allows.” Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, writing in Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.
Full-Time Leisure in Retirement Typically Leads to a Loss of Identity and Purpose in Life
It’s normal for people to enjoy an extended “vacation time” when they first retire. They go on cruises, fish, or golf every day and enjoy not having to go to work every day.
But over time, this status of full-time vacation starts to lose its luster. Retirees begin to feel unfulfilled because they have lost their sense of purpose and identity.
Leisure makes a great booster to long-term productivity in our pursuit of meaningful goals. But leisure makes a terrible goal in itself.
Joshua Becker, Things that Matter.
In his insightful video, Dr. Riley Moynes discusses the four stages of retirement:
• Vacation time – You enjoy an extended vacation and do everything you didn’t have time for when you were working.
• Feeling loss and lost – A sense of loss of identity and purpose.
• Trial and error – As you try different things and search for meaningful activities.
• Reinvent and repurpose – Finding a new sense of identity and purpose in life.
My experience in retirement followed these four stages. I began by enjoying having lots of leisure time, but that soon grew old. I was feeling restless, unproductive, and mentally stagnant.
Choosing a Retirement of Personal Growth and Service
“The key to a happy retirement is to have something that you are retiring to, not just something that you are retiring from. The difference between happy and unhappy retirees is having a purpose.” Joshua Becker, Things that Matter.
Instead of viewing retirement only as a time of permanent vacation, take an alternative approach — Use freedom from the need to work as an opportunity to grow and serve others.
While some older people must still work to support themselves, many have the means to live without working. Use this to focus on personal growth and discover new ways to use a lifetime of skills to serve others.
How to Find Your Purpose in Retirement
To find purpose in retirement, you’ll need to identify your natural and acquired skills, identify the kind of work you find fulfilling, and find ways to serve others by doing work that fits and fulfills you.
1. Have you done a Life Roles Inventory? I began my journey to purpose when I encountered David Spark’s Life Roles identity and evaluation approach, as described in his Productivity Field Guide.
I identified the significant roles in my life (husband, Father, Friend, Teacher, etc.) This gave me a practical way to determine what was important to me and what I valued.
Next, I wrote an ideal “best version of myself” for each role. These Arete (Greek word for excellence or virtue) statements gave me concrete ideals to aim for and evaluate my behavior against. They also defined my intentions for my life.
Identifying what was important in my life helped me to determine what type of work might be important to me and worth my time. It also gave me an overarching purpose: continually seeking to improve my life in each of my roles. In other words, seek to become a better person, as defined by my Arete, or “best version of myself” statements.
To implement my intentional work, I use the system suggested by David Sparks of quarterly, monthly, and weekly reviews, and daily planning to plan and schedule my intentional work.
2. Look at your natural and acquired skills. The DISC personality profile helped me to determine what my strongest skills were, along with their corresponding weaknesses. Rather than fighting to overcome my weaknesses, I wanted to build on my natural strengths.
3. Determine what kind of work motivates and fulfills you. The Motivation Code online test highlighted what type of work in the past had made me feel most productive and fulfilled.
My personality profiles told me I was good at analytical skills, details, simplifying complex material, and organizing.
My motivation code evaluation informed me that in the past, the type of work I found most fulfilling and productive was learning new things, breaking them down, organizing them, and then teaching that material by writing or doing presentations.
My personality profile and motivation code helped me to decide what type of projects to select to help further my Arete “best version of myself.”
Based on these insights, I knew that working as a teacher or guide would be fulfilling. That is what led me to my current work as a blog writer.
4. Have you been involved in any side creative work? Do you have hobbies or areas of interest that you might expand into productive service?
5. Try doing some new things and see if they fit. The third stage of retirement is “trial and error.” It’s time to try new things you think might work for you. I volunteered in a Sheriff’s Posse for five years. Even though I became a shift supervisor, I became bored with the lack of intellectual challenge and lost interest. Over time, it was not a good fit.
If something works out, and you feel fulfilled doing it, stick with it and seek opportunities to practice in this area. Go for it.
If something doesn’t work out, it’s just an experiment, so you can drop it and try something else. You haven’t committed to doing it forever.
Retirement Doesn’t Have to be All Work and No Play to be Productive
I’m not saying that you have to work all the time to have a productive and fulfilling retirement. That would be bad advice for people working full-time as well.
Retirement can also be a time for pursuing your interests and activities. I enjoy hiking, backpacking, photography, and computer war games.
Since I’m retired full-time, I can spend much more time on these activities than when I worked full-time. That’s OK, and I’m grateful I have the circumstances that allow me to do so. I have a lot of margin in my schedule, allowing flexibility. Just today, my wife and I took off this afternoon to drive up into the Black Hills in South Dakota where we live, to do some hiking and wildlife viewing. It was a beautiful day and we decided on the spur of. the moment to take advantage of it.
But I also balance these leisure activities with my work as a writer and thinker. This work gives me a sense of purpose and identity in retirement.
Follow Your Unique Path to a Productive and Meaningful Retirement
Retirees need to recognize that a retirement filled with full-time leisure may initially be appealing, but it can lead to losing identity and purpose over time.
Instead, retirees should embrace the opportunity to pursue personal growth and find ways to serve others. By identifying their natural and acquired skills, determining the type of work that fulfills them, and exploring new interests and hobbies, retirees can discover their unique path to a productive and meaningful retirement.
It is important to remember that retirement doesn’t have to be all work and no play; there can be a balance between leisure activities and purposeful work.
So, take the initiative and embark on a journey to find your purpose in retirement – a retirement that is not just about self-indulgence but about personal growth and making a difference in the lives of others. Start today and create a retirement that brings fulfillment, purpose, and joy.
Since everyone is different, you’ll have to find your way to purpose in retirement. Your path will likely involve something entirely different from mine.