CASE STUDY:
Easing Into Retirement

COMMON QUESTIONS OF PEOPLE EASING INTO RETIREMENT:

• “My work has become my identity.  How will it be when I’m not there anymore?”
• “I feel guilty leaving my role because they need my help and there isn’t a good candidate to take over for me.”
• “I want to take a break, but I’m afraid to stop being productive.”
• “I’m afraid I’ll be lonely.”
• “What if retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”
• “I feel pressure to make the most of this phase of my life, but I don’t even know what my interests are anymore. What will make me happy?”
• “I’m not sure how things will be at home with my partner who is also retired.”
• “Are my colleagues building my coffin on their lunch breaks?”

MEET LORETTA.

How do I transition into the “R word” (retirement) so I can still contribute in ways that I consider meaningful? I don’t plan to golf all day. I don’t even know how to golf.

SITUATION:

Strategizing an ideal path from full time work to possibly part-time or no-time work.

CURRENT JOB:         

Vice President of Strategy at a Fortune 500 manufacturing company with 30 years of industry leadership experience.

COACH’S NOTES:

• Loretta was ready to transition from a full-throttle corporate role into a new chapter of life.  She was motivated and hungry for a plan, not surprising given her day job of overseeing strategy. We agreed that three months was the right amount of time to get her focused and acting on a plan.
• We embarked upon the Discovery phase of the program, where we delved deep into Loretta’s vision of her next phase of life. Her interests, values, hesitations and motivators all came into play. We learned that Loretta was fearful of not maximizing the experience of her retirement, and that she had placed an immense amount of pressure on herself to achieve the Best Retirement Ever. Achievement and success were two of her top values, and we identified ways she could still honor them outside of the corporate setting.
• Loretta took a keen interest in identifying her purpose in life. Her purpose was previously tied to her career (driving results and mentoring others to grow), and a new reason for getting up each morning was essential for Loretta to feel comfortable with her upcoming change. After getting clear on her new purpose (to enjoy life in the moment through all of her senses while creating joyful experiences for others), it became clear that Loretta wanted a definite retirement from work instead of a gradual (part-time) transition.
• In the Design phase of Loretta’s program, we crafted a series of short and long term goals (some as long as the rest of her life: the proverbial bucket list), and mapped out a starting point to smartly overlap her final month while working. Loretta wasn’t in touch with many of her interests after having devoted so much time and energy to her career (something she began to regret), and she wanted to start her retirement on the right foot. She tested various interests and activities in advance of Day One, which she had visualized down to the finest detail through one of our exercises.
• We redesigned Loretta’s plan slightly after she agreed to stay at work for an additional two weeks, and after learning that she did not enjoy yoga, that she wanted to enroll in a pastry program despite the time commitment, and that her son’s family was coming to visit for three weeks in the summer.
• By the end of her program, Loretta strategized her ultimate retirement based on her purpose, values, newfound interests, and a reframed perspective on what happiness during retirement meant to her. She was set to start her new chapter of life with a Happy Spectacular Work + Life Plan, fully strategized and fully editable based on how her retirement evolved.