Purposeful Retirement Workbook & Planner. Hyrum W. Smith

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

       Purposeful Retiring

       Exploring Options

       Deciding

       Purposeful Planning

       Weekly Planning & Accomplishments

      WELCOME TO RETIREMENT!

      Welcome to your time! No longer are you an unwilling subject to alarm clocks that ring too early, coworkers who act incompetently, and in-boxes that never stay empty. The day is yours to fill—or not to fill—as you choose. This is your time.

      As amazing as that sounds, retirement can also be unsettling. It’s simply an odd creation of a modern society. How do you go from daily, routine activity over a period of forty years or more to nothing just because you reached a certain age or a certain date on the calendar? How does it all just end?

      A job ending can and should be an exciting personal beginning. This is your time! What are you going to do with it? Whatever you choose to do, don’t focus on the “tire” part of retirement. This is not the time to tire out.

      For decades you’ve made a difference in your home, in your community, in your office. You’ve made a difference at both a personal and professional level.

      Don’t stop now. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to let someone hand me a Social Security check and shoo me away. I am going to treat retirement as my time. I am going to ensure I make a difference with the time I am given.

      “I will not go quietly.”

      —Don Henley

      THE REST OF YOUR LIFE CAN BE THE BEST OF YOUR LIFE

      The British have a saying, “Who is she when she’s at home?” This idiom from across the pond points to something very important—we show different faces to the world. In recent decades, we spend more time at the office than anywhere. Thus, the face you show at work is very closely tied to your sense of self. Most of us spend around 50 years working, and whether you climbed the corporate ladder or spent your days at a trade you love, working-life is deeply encoded in your identity. There is also the social aspect, with friendships, rites of passage, shared goals, and close bonds from shared failures and successes. From your lunchtime chats over the years you no doubt know the names of your coworkers’ children, spouses, and maybe even their pets. They, in turn, know about your hopes and dreams, have weathered your career setbacks alongside you and have been there for you through it all. Many lifelong friendships have started at the workplace, to be treasured and maintained long after the job ends.

      It is not so easy to simply drop this side of you as you enter this new phase of your life. The best advice I can pass along is that you are still you. You bring the same value to the world even when you stop going to work five days a week. In fact, you might now be able to contribute more in service to the world by giving back to others, a marvelous benefit that comes with the opportunity to manage your time in a different way.

      It’s all in your hands, completely up to you. You have a choice, and my suggestion is that you embrace these years with zest. Whatever you do, do not withdraw from life or sit around and wait for things to happen. Be passionate, not passive. The rest of your life can be the best of your life. Each day is an opportunity to improve your relationships, stimulate your mind, invigorate your body, and grow spiritually. Retirement can easily be an unbelievably bright future for you and your loved ones. You are not a “has been,” you are a “will be.” Above all, be purposeful. Enjoy all that lies before you!

      HOW TO USE

      THIS BOOK

      This book isn’t supposed to look pretty sitting on a table. This book is a tool for transforming your life. Write in it! Get it dirty! Use it for taking notes. Photocopy pages out of it. Try out your thoughts in the workbook sections. Experiment in the planning sections. Measure your progress by recording your thoughts and results in the weekly planning and accomplishment section.

      Learn and grow.