Success starts in your head
Somewhere in your mind there is an image of retirement success. It may be something you think is impossible; a dream that somebody else can achieve but not you. It may be more modest but still a stretch- something that will only happen if you work at it. Whatever it is if you don’t visualize that image daily, it won’t happen. Whether it is a wild and crazy idea or just a stretch slightly beyond your current lifestyle, it requires effort to become reality. You must initiate actions to move beyond ordinary. If you don’t keep that image in your head, all it will ever be is a fantasy.
We are prisoners of habit
Humans are creatures of habit. We like routines and and cling to old patterns. We don’t like change and will keep doing what we know even when it isn’t what we want. It takes extraordinary effort to leave the comfort of what we are used to. New goals mean abandoning old habits and making new ones. They mean starting new behaviors and sticking with them long enough that they become new habits. And it means being strategic about what these new habits are so that they take you in the direction you want to go. This takes great strength of will. And where will you get that strength?
Belief can give you that strength.
But where can you find that strength of will? What can give you the confidence that your effort will produce the results you desire? You have to believe in the goal you have set but you also have to believe that you have what it takes to reach that goal. First you have to inhabit the dream. Live the dream in your mind until you can feel it. Experience the dream in your mind until it feels right. This will give you the strength to do what it takes to make the dream a reality.
Start with a dream.
Dig your dream retirement fantasies out from where you have them hidden, dust them off and make them real by visualizing them daily. Make a dream board. Put some pictures on your computer so that you see them daily and visit the dream. This is how you start making those dreams into a reality.
Your article makes sense and reveals the positive excitement one must feel when approaching, entering or living within retirement. “You’re only old once” and your concept and philosophy bode well in embracing and looking forward to retirement rather than fearing this. I keep a hobbie in the wings that I’ve been nurturing my adult life and preparing to unveil when I collect social security: ham radio. I have worked stations world-wide, although not for years, and have plans to upgrade my license when the time comes. Thank you for writing this.
Bill,
Thank you for sharing your retirement plans. Retirement should be exciting because by now, there isn’t time for do overs.