A PLEASANT SURPRISE, AFTERALL • “In a work-centred environment, it is more realistic to view life as a grand tour of three stages… Thus in this book we talk of the three stages or ages or phases or even chapters of life: the learning and development phase, the work or productive phase, and the retirement phase… It is not rocket science: you can also turn the third phase of your life into a period of celebration, not a withdrawal from life.” THE OPEN SECRET • The open secret is that retirement, as originally handed down to us – a period defined predominantly by leisure than by work – has long since fallen out of use. The world has long since abandoned, or at least, strongly reformed, the artificial separation between full-time work and retirement • Traditional retirement is out of fashion. You were made to last for 120 years! THINK UNRETIREMENT • “Many have successfully navigated the third phase of their lives and left us with valuable lessons to give us a headstart on this journey. The key lesson is that these did not retire; they rewired their lives with their passions… For all you know, the third phase of your life may just be the thing to give greater meaning and purpose to your life. It could even turn out to be the most productive part of your life.” • Jimmy Carter and Colonel Saunders THE BUILDING BLOCKS • “What goes into a successful third phase of life or retirement, if you want to call it by the traditional name? From where I sit, five key things: acceptable financial comfort, a healthy body, happiness and fulfilment, spirituality and some work (paid for or not, full-time or part-time, it makes no difference). Consider the first three as the primary building blocks… There is of course the preliminary matter of the vision you have for your third age.” • Of making cakes … THE MONEY SIDE OF RETIREMENT • ON THE RIGHT WEALTH MINDSET • “Never mind how difficult the world seems. You can create your own land of milk and honey – if only you are willing to carry along your own cattle and bees. Virtually, everything we see around us can be converted into wealth. It is actually not resources, but resourcefulness that generates wealth. For all you know, it may be your own personality, and not scarcity, that is working against your accumulation of wealth.” • The Secret – the Little by little Principle BUILDING AN ‘UNRETIREMENT’ BODY • “Going on retirement with a body riddled with avoidable diseases and ailments is a tough call. Your happiness is likely to be challenged no end by a battered body that has to be dragged along. And worse still a body that is in very bad shape can take away your physical independence and sometimes your self-esteem as well, when matters degenerate too early to the point where others have to prematurely take care of you. And yet many engage in what I term ‘the false exchange’”. • Sometimes, it is about six natural colours SOME WORK IS FOR ALL OF LIFE • “We are all wired in such a way as to trigger off positive feelings when we are engaged in activities related to our talents, gifts, and treasures. So, we ought to reflect on what we enjoy doing. What activity so consumes you that you tend to lose all sense of time when you are engaged in it? And what comes to you so naturally that you would consider pursuing it all the days of your remaining life were money not an issue? What unfulfilled needs seem to get your attention easily?” • You can be paid for hobbies SPIRITUALITY: THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE • “You are not a human being seeking a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being going through a human experience. You were made for eternity. You will only discover true meaning and purpose to your life when you connect to your Creator, not outside him… really your life is not just about the third phase, nor even the first and second phases, or even all the phases put together. It is about eternity.” HAPPINESS AND FULFILMENT • “The relative neglect of happiness and fulfilment stems from many seeing them as airy-fairy notions; to be talked of and wished for, but too elusive to pin down or worked out. So why bother? … they therefore resign themselves to the occasional excitement that comes from pleasurable moments… however, we know a little more about happiness than our grandfathers did. We can therefore make reasonable efforts to manufacture a wee bit of it for our lives from the choices and the activities we engage in.” • Success is … knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others OF MATTERS ARISING AND BLACK HOLES • “Life, as we have come to know it, is far from a predictable straight line. As we navigate our way through its changing scenes, it throws curves at us – some pleasant, some not so pleasant. A loss of a job, a marriage, the death of a loved one, or some other major shift in life could cause us to rethink our vision for the future. This being the nature of the beast of life, we have to prepare our minds to reinvent our work lives multiple times, even in the third phase… You can even retire from retirement.” WRAP UP • The film ‘Pretty Woman’ closes with the Happy Man saying as he walked across, “Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? … Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreaming.”