Beyond Retirement

John spoke of a lot of things, but his main focus was the idea that we need to establish office hours for ourselves in retirement. What he meant by that is that we need to have time to tune into the things going on in our lives – the taxes, the groceries, what’s going to be for dinner, what should we do this weekend, etc – but we also need to have time to tune OUT those things and the other “static” in our heads and just do nothing.

        I agree with this idea completely! The majority of people I know have a LOT of things going on in their lives, so many different parts that all need attention from us. It’s really important to take the time to tune it all out for awhile and just relax. From the time we get up till the moment our head hits the pillow at night, most of us have so many thoughts running through our head that we have trouble keeping them all straight. As we age, people laugh about “senior moments” and about our memory being the first thing to go. It’s no wonder our memory fails us sometimes; we’re always trying to remember so many things. That’s why I’m a big proponent of making lists. It frees up that valuable space in your brain for other things that are more important than whatever is going on the list. We don’t have to have lists in our head when they can be on paper or on our phone.

        The idea of establishing office hours is a wise one. We can set aside time that is specifically for us – no uninvited guests, no clients without appointments, no urgent activities. It’s time that we can do nothing. Whether you choose to “do nothing” by meditating, by walking alone along a quiet road or in a forest, or by simply sitting silently in your favourite chair, staring out the window, is up to you. The point is to be silent and do nothing. No scrolling through your phone, surfing the web, no reading a book, no conversation. Just you, alone with yourself. It doesn’t have to be a long time; even 30 min a day would be enough. I imagine a few of you are cringing at the idea of spending quiet time, without electronics, just “being still.”

        But, as John said, we’ve all got a creative, magical part inside us that has hopes and dreams. Many of us push those hopes and dreams aside as we get involved in our lives. But that part of us doesn’t really sleep, so if you give yourself time to get in touch with it, you can pull out some of the hopes and dreams that you stuffed down for so long. You can remember the things that excited you, the things that spurred you on when you were younger.

        An interesting point that John made was that we are the only creature on Earth that can dream and then wake up and bring those dreams to reality. And it’s a shame that so many of us don’t take the time to really get in touch with those dreams and pull them out to make them real.

        Many people I’ve talked to over the course of this podcast and as I journey toward retirement have said that they want to give back, to help others the best way they can. This is wonderful; I believe that deep down everyone has the same purpose – to help others live a great life. And I think many of us forget that purpose, or maybe haven’t realized yet that this is truly what they want. I’m not saying everyone wants to be a coach or a missionary or build homes for underprivileged people. What I mean is that whatever we’re doing, once we get past the superficial reasons that we do what we do (which, by the way, is generally to make money to survive, and then to make more money to live the life we think we want) we’re really doing it to make someone’s life better. The doctors and dentists and other healthcare people do this in an obvious way, but the plumber makes lives better by fixing leaks and installing toilets. T

John Lefebvre is a retired lawyer, an author, a musician, an environmental and social activist, and a philanthropist. He made it big in the dot-com era, only to find himself arrested and charged with various illegal activities stemming from that business.

He's now got a lot of time to think about the responsibility of the people in the world who are privileged to ensure that those same privileges are available to the rest of the Earth's population.

He believes that we should strive every day to ensure we move toward the day when everyone can enjoy what we (as the privileged) take for granted.

In terms of preparing for and living BEYOND retirement, his wise advice is to ensure we find time for leisure. It's important to establish "office hours" for the things going on in our heads and in the world around us, to ensure that they don't overwhelm us.

John has written a couple of books, both of which are available from Amazon and other book retailers.

All's Well - Where Thou Art Earth and Why; and

Good With Money - A Rich Guy's Guide To Gaining Everything By Losing It All

Everyone wants to have a "great life", it's true, but how many of us really know how to achieve it? It's a matter of deciding what you want and believing you're going to get it.

Lisa Winneke is a speaker, an author, and a connector. She is the host of The Good News Guide, which is transitioning into The Wholehearted Woman.

She believes that many people, women in particular, are choosing to settle for less than they can achieve in their lives.

Lisa's message is simple at its core, but oh-so-difficult for many people to grasp and follow:

Your goal should be to make your life extraordinary. This can be accomplished through clarity about where you are and what your values are. To get that clarity, you must do the following:

1. Acknowledge if you're settling for "okay" or "mediocre"
2. Honour where you are
3. Ask yourself what areas are not currently soaring

Then you have to change those areas, relationships, health, whatever they are. Are you living your values, or are you saying "yes" to things that aren't true to you?

Please look Lisa up! You can find out more about her and what she's doing here:

www.lisawinneke.com

Youtube - https://tinyurl.com/thegoodnewsguide

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn: @lisawinneke

The important idea in today's episode is that you are "enough" and what you hope for and dream for in your life is valid and true... regardless of who you are or what you already have.

Getting out and doing something - ANYthing - after you retire is important... to your mental and physical health. WHAT you do isn't as important, so do whatever you want.