Retirement is not a goal.
If you think it is, there’s probably a good chance you feel trapped by your current lifestyle.
I still remember coming home from my first day of working a 9-5 job.
I walked through the door and asked my mum, “is that actually what people do their entire lives?”
She said yes.
I physically cringed.
And somewhere along the way this routine became normal for me, just like it has for everyone else.
But I’m learning that no matter what your relationship is like with work, escaping it is not the answer.
Every moment you spend thinking about retirement is a moment away from the only meaningful goal you should be pursuing.
The thing is… most of us don’t even know what that is.
One Day Will Probably Never Come
It’s obvious why retirement is so appealing for most of us.
We don’t want to work anymore.
We don’t like our jobs.
We don’t like our bosses.
We don’t like the commutes, the small talk, the deadlines, the low-wattage microwaves in the lunch room.
I mean… fair.
But these aren’t problems that a destination 20+ years in the future can fix.
These are problems that need to be dealt with now.
See, having retirement as your goal shifts your focus from now, to ‘one day’.
Things suck now, but one day they won’t.
I’m so sick of being cc’d on all these pointless emails, but one day I won’t be.
I can’t quit my job and travel through Europe now, but one day I will.
So you allow yourself to be trapped, doing something that eats away at you day after day, because you convince yourself that’s the only way.
‘That’s just how it is’, right?
Well, no.
And deep down you know that’s not just how it is.
But if you convince yourself that retirement is a goal, it means you don’t have to go through the deeply uncomfortable journey of changing your situation.
Monotony creeps in.
Then it takes over.
Seek Discomfort: Watch What Happens
If retirement is your goal, it most likely means you don’t enjoy what you’re doing now.
Makes sense.
That’s why I said above that changing your situation is ‘deeply uncomfortable’.
Because for most people, finding the things you truly enjoy, then having the guts to pursue them (in this economy!!!!) is deeply uncomfortable and often very difficult.
I get that.
I understand that you still have to do things you don’t want to do (because I’m right there with you).
But instead of having retirement as the goal, what if your goal was to shift your ‘work’ towards something that aligns more with your values?
This is a slow process, and that’s what deters most people.
People are so used to instant gratification in this modern world, so they expect instant results.
But this stuff takes time.
So much time.
So many failures.
And oh so many doubts.
Again, this is why it’s deeply uncomfortable.
But man, putting in the effort and experiencing some pain to find and pursue what you love now has to be better than waiting 30 years to stop doing something you hate.
Chase That Flow State Baby
“Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person’s skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow
I said in last week’s newsletter that I believe one of the only things you should chase in life is a flow state.
The mental state of deep focus and immersion where you become fully absorbed in an activity, losing track of time and experiencing heightened creativity and productivity.
The more time goes on, and the more I’m working on things that better align with my values, the more often I experience this state of mind.
Believe me when I tell you, this is the greatest feeling in the world.
If your job brought on a flow state, you would scoff at the idea of retirement.
Finding an activity than gets you there can be difficult.
Finding ways to get paid for that activity can be even harder.
But I am fully convinced that if you overcome those two barriers, your life will be bloody good.
I can comfortably say I’ve cleared the first hurdle.
Writing gets me there every week, and I’ve now started creating short films which, incredibly, puts me into an even deeper state of flow.
The challenge, however, is this…
I do not want to write for other people.
I do not want to create films for other people.
So, naturally, I am unable to fund my lifestyle by doing these activities… yet.
This is the second, much taller, barrier.
And this barrier is why people choose to instead focus their efforts on retirement.
Because it’s easier to rue your life and do nothing about it than it is to jump over hurdles, solve problems and chase fulfilment.
Embracing Mini-Retirements
Now, after all that, I’m still going to encourage you to seek retirement – just not in the way you’ve been conditioned to think about it.
Ever heard of ‘mini-retirements’?
Mini-retirements are extended breaks taken through your career that allow you to recharge, reassess and re-explore new opportunities or passions.
This encourages you to live fully in the present and do things you want to do now, rather than waiting until the end of your career.
This scares people.
Firstly, because of the lack of income.
That’s fair, but I’m sure you know whether or not you’re in a position to be able to take a break, so let’s skip that point.
Secondly, people seem to hate having a gap or career break on their resume.
I have never understood this.
Being scared to live your life because of what a potential employer might think?
Two things…
They don’t care.
And if they do care, you don’t want to work for them anyway.
I took eight months off to travel the world and recharge.
I learnt more about myself and my goals in that eight months than I did during the previous five years of work.
A career break will benefit you far more than time spent in an office doing something you hate.
You know that, so try it.
Either way, stop thinking about retirement.
Start thinking about ways to make your life more enjoyable in the now.
