UNRETIREMENT: Successfully Managing

the Third Phase of Your Life

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.”