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Don’t settle for when you retire
When we talk about an outrageous retirement, it has to be more than just settling for whatever happens to come along. Maybe that was the way you handled your career or your family. I hope it was not. I hope that you were pushing every opportunity to make sure that your family felt special. I hope that they will remember those experiences to inspire them to create their own. I hope that your job, whatever it was, inspired you with the mission to make your performance special and add value to everyone you interacted with. But that was then; this is now.
Start with a clean slate
Whatever your life has been up to now is a closed chapter. It doesn’t matter what you accomplished. It doesn’t matter what your position was. You are retired and the life you lived when you were working is history. Forget it because everybody else will. Whether you were chairman of the board or the janitor, your status now is wide open. You are free to make whatever you choose of of the new chapter in your life. Your family doesn’t need you anymore. Now your relationships are beyond obligations. You are a free agent. You can choose.
What do you love?
So, now, before you can decide what your outrageous retirement will be it is time to take some time to think about what you love. And then you will know what to do!
Only keep the baggage you need
Here is where the rubber hits the road. Most of us are used to making half-hearted efforts because of the obligations of work and family. Our passions defer to the realities of responsibility and obligation. The baggage that we accumulated in our lives creates a prison of habits and duties. Take a hard look and ask if your life excites your passions. If the answer is yes then give yourself a high-five and get on with it. If the answer is no, take a time out and search your soul. What do you love?
Your outrageous retirement may not seem outrageous to anyone else. Maybe you want to become a Master Gardener. Maybe you want to be the best Grandparent that ever was. You might think that there is nothing outrageous about either of these goals – and you are right. The goals are not outrageous. What is outrageous is the commitment and focus you dedicate to accomplish them. You drop the baggage that stops you from success and keep your eyes on the prize. You are a bulldog about your passion and indifferent about everything else. You do whatever is takes to reach your goal – no excuses and you drop all the baggage that slows you down.
Go for it with all your heart
It is a new world when you retire without the limitations and definitions that controlled your working life are history. No more compromise. No more settle for. Go for what you love with every outrageous bone in your body. Do what you love. If this call to action starts you thinking or if you have already started your outrageous retirement, share it here in the comments. If you are tempted but feel that your baggage is too important to drop, share that as well. Nobody says that outrageous retirement is easy. Lets share experiences and help each other move ahead.
