Once you achieve Financial Independence, you may choose to leave salaried employment but with decades of vibrant life ahead, it’s too soon to do nothing. The new stage of life between traditional employment and Full Retirement we call Victory Lap, or Victory Lap Retirement (also the title of a new book to be published in August 2016. You can pre-order now at VictoryLapRetirement.com). You may choose to start a business, go back to school or launch an Encore Act or Legacy Career. Perhaps you become a free agent, consultant, freelance writer or to change careers and re-enter the corporate world or government.
You have to give credit to Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, a university professor who has managed to build a mini empire around the nebulous concept of Flow. We have already reviewed here at the Hub the original Flow as well as Creativity and Flow.
I’m pretty sure today’s review of Finding Flow will be my last but who knows? This particular book does have the virtue of brevity when compared to the other two: it runs just 180 pages, or 147 if you don’t count end matter.
As noted in the earlier reviews, I’m intrigued by the concept of Flow as it applies to Encore Careers and life after corporate employment. As many blogs in the Hub’s Encore Acts section have pointed out, aging baby boomers still have a potentially long and creative period ahead of them that lies between the traditional career and what used to be called Retirement.
So it seems to me that if late-bloomer Boomerpreneurs are going to make a success of this new stage of life, they’d better tap into the concept of Flow. It’s all tied in with passion and mastery, which is why I went to the well one last time with Czikszentmihalyi (pronounced, as the book helpfully notes on the back cover, “chick-SENT-me-high.”
One of the mistakes I made transitioning into my own Victory Lap was that I didn’t take any time off to regroup and refresh. I was suffering from “Sudden Retirement Shock.”
I wasn’t thinking clearly and I did what I always do when things are going off side: I roll up my sleeves and worked harder. I decided to go into full new business mode, spending the better part of three years in a cave writing a book and trying to figure things out.
Sure, things worked out well in the end but it took a lot of time, researching, and learning what I needed to know. Looking back now I realize it didn’t have to be as hard as it was.
I also have a bad habit of always going it alone, something I developed while working at the Corp., a John Wayne thing. I believed asking for help was a weakness and made me look vulnerable. I always took the hard way and would try and figure it all out by myself. That kind of thinking resulted in me not creating and benefitting from mentors. This was a major mistake I made in my career. Life could have been so much easier if only I had been more open minded and willing to ask for help and advice.
Retirement planning is one of the most important processes you will go through in your life. Making a plan will improve the quality of your life now and in the future by providing a plan and goals. Most of us are goal oriented and achieving success in your working years, like paying off your mortgage, saving for your child’s education, etc. provides great motivation as you work towards your Victory Lap.
Don’t DIY your retirement planning
Since time, not money is the important asset you have, don’t DIY [Do It Yourself] retirement planning. Continue Reading…
I have invested a lot of my lifetime learning, living, teaching and writing about healthy practises around money. When a young friend recently asked for some guidance on making peace with money, I wanted to fall back on those well learned strategies.
There are many practises that will bring some ease into your financial life. Living within your means, paying yourself first, getting your financial house in order: but you must lean into your own wisdom to bring peace. It’s an evolutionary, lifelong journey for all of us and I am moved by the struggles we all have with money and the false powers we grant it.
What we buy, what we invest in, what we purchase for others and what we choose to finance or contribute to can bring us peace or its polar opposite. What if we had a change of heart or a shift in worldview? A change of heart brings about a change of circumstance: that’s transformation. Changing our worldview means changing what you believe is true – do big houses, fancy cars, expensive wardrobes and larger paycheques really spell success, acceptance, power or freedom? Ask your authentic self that question.
The Heart test
We are all vulnerable to ambitions that disregard the balance and wisdom of our intuitive hearts. What if every spending decision had to pass through your heart before you pulled out your wallet? Would you spend differently?
When we use our resources in ways that truly meet our authentic and universal needs for connection, integrity, joy, inspiration, physical well-being, meaning and choice, we find a path to peace. That’s when money is in service to us and not the other way around. Money is an admirable servant but a terrible boss.
Lining up money’s flow with our authentic self and using it as a direct expression of our values and our vision is simple but it’s not easy. It requires daily discipline to follow the practises that are the gateway to peace. Continue Reading…
I was really tuckered out after a month-long stay visiting my family in California and was looking forward to an easy flight home to Guatemala. Billy (that angel of mine!) was waiting for me in Antigua and had arranged for our private driver to meet me at the Guatemala City airport about an hour away and bring me to our hotel.
Traffic was smooth riding over Highway 17 from Santa Cruz to San Jose Airport this Tuesday morning and I arrived in plenty of time to go through TSA pre-check security and catch my flight.
Everything was going as I expected, and once I boarded the plane and settled into my seat, I ate one of the sandwiches I had packed to get me through the long day of travel ahead.
Just a moment please
I didn’t even blink twice when the airline pilot said we would be having some repairs done to the fuel gauge before we left the hanger. I figured he’d pick up any extra time we needed while in flight. I had a tight 40 minute connection in Dallas that would take me to my next flight to Guatemala City, but I tried not to stress about it.
The captain again came on the intercom to tell us that the fuel gauge had been repaired and that we’d be on our way …
In fact, Billy and I discussed the idea of becoming car-free for several years. There were good reasons to do it: no more maintenance and repair costs; no more fees for insurance, license plate renewal, or registration; no more fuel expense; and no more worry about storing the vehicle here in the States when we are traveling overseas for months or years at a time.
But there were also some obvious downsides. We wouldn’t have the freedom to come and go at a whim. And because we live in the American Southwest, where temperatures reach triple digits in the summer, we wondered how we’d manage to get around during the sun season.
Silly idea or feasible plan?
Most people we know couldn’t fathom the idea of giving up their vehicle and saw this new lifestyle choice as a hardship. Americans love their automobiles, and owning one is packaged as part of the American Dream. A look at the automobile and truck commercials today describe how we will be sexier, more popular, physically stronger, and obviously smarter if we purchase their brand of car.
As we’ve described on our Retire Early Lifestyle website, Billy and I live in an active adult community where we are within walking distance to stores, restaurants, and several different entertainment options. Most of what we need is near to us, and we appreciate the slower pace of life with all the rewards it brings. Many of our neighbors use a small scooter, golf cart, or bicycle to get around within a reasonable range. When we need to go somewhere farther, we trade services or pay cash to a neighbor or friend for their time. This is much cheaper than a taxi, more sociable, and we aren’t bogged down with worries about maintaining a vehicle. Both sides appreciate the trade, and our lives are enriched.
After almost two decades of world travel, we realized that the only place where we need to drive is in the States. Elsewhere, we take public transportation or hire a private driver. For the amount of time we live in the States, and for the amount of money that owning our own transport required, we finalized our decision to sell our vehicle.
The year was 2009.
What about you?
Retirement takes many expressions and even if you could never see yourself as becoming completely free of car ownership, maybe you have toyed with the idea of keeping only one vehicle instead of two.
The following sites may help you with this transition: Continue Reading…
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You have to give credit to Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, a university professor who has managed to build a mini empire around the nebulous concept of Flow. We have already reviewed here at the Hub the original Flow as well as Creativity and Flow.
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