Retirement coach Larry Jacobson joins Suzanne to talk about his process of helping people find their life purpose and meaning in retirement.

Larry explains, "I take people through nine stages to find their purpose and meaning in retirement. I call it, "What is Your Encore?" What are you going to do next? When people retire, say at 65, well, we're living a lot longer than the previous generation. If you make it to 65 there's a good chance you're gonna make it to 85. That's 20 years. What are you gonna do with yourself? So I first take people through, well, what is your vision? What is it that you think you want to do? And if you don't know, then I take them through the passion quiz, and that asks lots of questions about what they like, what they don't like. 

"Once we come up with something, and even if you can't come up with something, I say, well, just come up with the idea that you're gonna wake up in the morning for something that you love, and let's just move on from there. So then we talk about what steps would you need to take in order to make that happen. So you take a big dream, and you break it down into smaller goals. We go through a SWOT analysis. Those from the corporate world will know that a SWOT analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. That's how we analyze a product, or a company, or the competition, or our own company in the corporate world. I use it to analyze an individual. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What opportunities do you have? What threats do you have? So you might say something like, 'I don't know anything about investing money, but my cousin happens to be a financial advisor.' So that's an opportunity that we take advantage of."

Larry adds, "And then a lot of people will say, well, what I'm thinking about doing is risky. It's too risky. I'm afraid to take the risk. We do a risk analysis. And then, an issue that comes up a lot in personal decision making, is that people can't decide what should I do, what direction should I go? And I'm of the theory that we make decisions based on our priorities. What are your priorities in life? And that will help make your decisions a lot easier and faster. So I teach that.

"There's a whole segment about fear. It's my favorite topic. There is a lot of fear: fear of success, success of losing friendships or losing routines or fear of change. And then if someone decides, there's the fear of what if I go the wrong direction? What if it doesn't work out well? That's OK. We're gonna set it up so that you're gonna enjoy the path along the way, right? And what did you learn in the process? 

"I teach people to focus not on a problem, but on the solution. Then also it's perseverance, keeping a positive attitude, a commitment to what it is that you've decided you want to do, and tenacity. and fortitude.

"Visualization is another thing that I use a lot. Now, that's lesson one. The first three lessons on visualization are free. And I'd love your listeners to go take the free lessons, and that's https://buoytraining.com/sail-into-retirement/."

Hear more:
Larry Jacobson podcasts on Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/tag/larry-jacobson/
Occupational Wellness podcasts: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/occupational-wellness/

Learn more:
Larry's Sail Into Retirement training course: https://buoytraining.com/sail-into-retirement/

You can reach Larry Jacobson via his website at https://larryjacobson.com/

Answers for Elders is part of the SeniorResource Network: https://www.seniorresource.com/
Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/

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