Measurement matters

Productivity is a very important matter in the world of the employed. Tote that barge, lift that bale; as the lyrics of the song had it, many years ago.

As a result in the world of work there is a strong focus on, and belief in, measurement; measurement of output, measurement of the effectiveness of an employee. It seems so rational compared with anything as old-fashioned as judgment; and we could have an argument over the merits of measuring versus judging as a way to assess an employee’s worth to a company.

But let’s not do that, and instead consider retirement. As a retired person, you can shuck of any sense of measuring your success, and swim with the tide, as you no longer have a boss.

And now for a practical example: learning a foreign language.

You could take all the exams and get all the certificates that you want and need: all good. But, and this is a CRITICAL difference, you could also simply work to improve your proficiency in your chosen foreign language: that is to slowly immerse yourself in the language and its associated culture. You won’t be able to measure your success, but that is OK, as you can form a judgment. And guess what: your stress levels will reduce because you are not being measured!

This is a radical distinction; as you have moved from measuring to judging your success.

At base, this is all about setting your expectations. The choice is yours. I would simply emphasise that in postwork (as distinct from when you had a boss) you can set your own expectations and work within those; you can even change them of your own volition, without a need to ask anyone for permission.

Retirement: you won’t know what it is like until you get there.

Choice and regret, there is more to say....

I discussed choice and regret earlier this year; writing that:

“To state the obvious, making a choice logically implies choosing NOT to do other things.”

Let’s try this little thought experiment. You chose career A and worked in that all your life. Now in late life – say aged 60 - you ask yourself could you have chosen career B instead and had a better life? This is a type of regret. We all feel regret from time to time, but in this case it’s a fallacy and here is why:

1)    At 60 you’ve never experienced career B so you can’t know what it would have been like for YOU. Yes you can read the memoirs of successful career B practitioners but that is their story not yours. You can’t know what the experience would have been for you. You can only hypothesise.

2)    Now imagine that you had chosen career B. There are consequences. You may now be living in a different house from your actual career A house. Good? Bad? Who knows?

So don’t feel regret. Think about it by all means but now, in retirement, try to move forward and experiment with different choices.

I hope that now you won’t fear the regret that comes from choice.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

The philosopher Kieran Setiya has written eloquently on these matters.

Your balance sheet in retirement

Permit me to make a crude analogy. Your life in retirement will have its own balance sheet: that is assets and liabilities.

No I am not talking about money. In this article liabilities are your obligations and commitments. What might these be in postwork?

It could be that you have agreed to mind grandchildren on certain days of the week, until they become teenagers and the rulebook gets torn up. It might be the case that you have some board position or do some charity work.

However, as we know, balance sheets have to balance - so now let’s talk about assets, because this is where it gets interesting; as it’s a matter of optics.

You have this time in your life postwork. Ask yourself this question. Is it a gift to exploit where you learn new things, meet new people, expand your horizons; or is it a bore where time slowly ticks away, that gives you little pleasure, and even makes you anxious?

The choice is yours for both the assets and the liabilities on your personal balance sheet, postwork.

It has to be worth thinking about - don’t you think?

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

Time in retirement part 2

I wrote previously that when you are postwork a funny thing happens with time - it’s as if time stretches.  It means that you can feel very busy with your activities even though, by the standards of when you worked full-time, your diary may now look patchy and bare.

But time is a strange thing. Unlike vision and sound – which we perceive directly through eyes and ears – we can’t directly perceive time: we can only notice things around us that our brains then fit into a sequence of time.

What? If you are doing a boring job that causes you to look at your watch (substitute iphone) all day long, then you are measuring time in one way. If you are playing tennis with such joy and attention that you only notice the time when the next players ask to use the court, then that is another measure.

Here is a definition of time. It is the way that we record, think about and are struck by the movement of the events of life around us. Or, a trace of our memories of other things. So time is a very personal deduction from experience. And yet we think that the clock is a universal measure of time. It’s not that simple.

Our language reflects these very personal experiences of time: “I lost track of time”; “time weighed heavily on me”; “I have time to kill”; “time flies, doesn’t it”.

To return to my previous examples. If you spent a whole day only looking at the clock then you would judge that time went slowly; whereas if you spent the day captivated by some activity special to you then you would judge that time sped past. What about a year or a decade?  A different kettle of fish perhaps. This is a very timely question for a retired person.

In retirement you will have the time to think about these things.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

 

Values part 2

In a recent post I wrote about values; bringing to the fore three questions for those in retirement, or about to retire (those who are swinging on the gate between work and postwork):

·      Do you want to feel valued?

·      Do you want others to think that you are valuable to them?

·      Are you doing it in a way that is consistent with your own most important values?

I called these the 3 Vs and, in that blog post, I started to give some practical ideas on implementation, which I now want to build on.

Quite simply it should begin with the discovery of your most important personal values. Some obvious values that are central to many people (but not all) are: the drive to act charitably to others; and the wish to obtain greater knowledge.

Values connect to beliefs that are held with emotional force and that drive behaviour. Importantly, for the creation of meaning in life, they are the garden in which the retirement coach can help you to grow your answers to the other two Vs: giving value and feeling valued.

There are various ways to discover your values and I can help you to locate them.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

 

Legacy-part 2

In a previous post I discussed the concept of legacy. I avoided discussion of financial legacy, which is the most obvious form.

Instead, I preferred to concentrate on what I called one’s “trace in the world”.

A trace in the world, as legacy, could be your charitable works, dedication to family and friends, or, the things you created or did for yourself: art, craft, sport etc.; but - put simply - it’s what you will be/are remembered for; or what you leave behind you.

But this depends on how other people perceive you, a concept we wrestle with our whole lives, and which Robert Burns the Scottish poet summarised in the hope:

“Oh would some power the gift give us, to see ourselves as others see us.”    (*)

In your professional life you may have worked in a role that everyone understood (or at least they thought they did), such as bus driver or doctor; or one where most people had no idea of what exactly your job constituted.

But that is in the past, now in postwork do you feel that other people understand what you are about? Perhaps you don’t know yourself and perhaps that is a problem for you? There is an answer: find your meaning.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

(*) From the poem: To A Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church.

Value, value and values

As a worker you were valued by, and delivered value to, your employer, your clients and others: I hope. You also had personal meaning conferred on you by your work: again, I hope.

Translating this into the postwork environment, I have written more than once about the imperative to find meaning; but what about value? Do you want to feel valued? Do you want others to think that you are valuable to them? And are you doing it in a way that is consistent with your own most important values?

Alright, practically speaking you may want to sit in your garage making model boats strictly for personal pleasure. Fine, that will have value for you. It is said that Chinese artists of the past would create art – say a pen sketch on paper - and then roll up the scroll and never show it to anyone else. Also fine.

But at the other extreme, suppose you decide to donate charitable hours to working with sick people. Then I say you almost certainly will feel that you are valuable to other people, and that you will feel that you are valued by them; as part of a feedback loop. In a play on words, you are doubtless connected to one of your own deepest values; that is to help others less fortunate than you.

In summary we have the 3 Vs. To give value, to be valued, and to connect to your values. To do this you should:

·      Clarify to yourself and others what you want to achieve

·      Connect with others of like mind

·      Celebrate the various forms of the three values that you now enjoy

Is that so different from the successes that you experienced when you worked?

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

Structure and Certainty Part 2

Recently I wrote about the related concepts of structure and certainty; making the point that both are a natural part of life-at-work; yet postwork both will probably disappear: together.

What is to be done?

The first thing to say is that during that initial flush of retirement there is unlikely to be any urgency. You can start by feeling what it is like to be retired. It may feel strange because, all said, it’s something you have never experienced.

Without forcing it, over time, you will likely get some ideas about the structure that you want to have in your life postwork. This will centre around activities or plans that have meaning for you, the unique you, not someone else.

Build that structure, like a house, then celebrate the construction of each room - as each room starts to place some level of certainty in your life. Champagne corks everywhere. The bigger the structure the less the uncertainty I say.

Finally, stop this process when you want. It’s your house so you can build it to the size that suits you. And remember: it’s not a permanent structure-you can rebuild it - if you wish.

What about this idea: I hear that older people in Japan work in squads to clean streets or work on gardens; whether paid or not I have no idea: perhaps as a way of giving back to the community. An interesting idea.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.

Structure and Certainty

Many are the differences between life at work and life in the world of postwork. Two words that come up in my discussions with clients are:

-Certainty

-Structure

Why so? To put it simply, work offers both, as it is present and demanding on any Monday morning. We know this.

On the other hand, when you stop work any structure will be self-imposed: such as routines with grandchildren, charity work, pursuit of a hobby etc.

But if you are not interested in a heavy structure – perhaps you always longed to escape from that once you finished working – then you will be dealing with a lack of certainty.

That is not a bad thing; lack of certainty can be quite liberating and lead to unforeseen opportunities.

In an earlier post I teased out the difference between wingers and planners. Same thing.

There is no right or wrong. However it is useful to acknowledge these matters. To do so can save a lot of wasted time spent in anguish over a matter that can be solved, with or without the help of a retirement coach.

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.