Retirement Success (not about money): Believe you can and just do it.

Do you still believe that money is the path to retirement success? Let’s shift our perspective. Retirement is not just about financial security; it’s about the freedom to pursue your passions and interests. If money is your only concern, you can find thousands of articles on the web giving you tips on how to chase the money. But let’s explore a more fulfilling approach to retirement.

With this somewhat dramatic start, let’s once and for all kill the myth that money will be the route to your retirement success. Money should never be a goal but a result of something else.

When Steve Jobs was creating what would become Apple, did he think about money? Well, he was because he needed money to take the necessary steps to realize his dream. So, he was looking for collaborators willing to invest in his project. Money became a tool and not a goal.

The same issue also applies to Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and many other famous and successful entrepreneurs.

“Aaah, but they were young and full of energy,” might be your objection.

What about Colonel Harland Sanders, who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) at the age of 62? Did Ariana Huffington, who launched The Huffington Post at the age of 55, go for the money? Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, at the age of 50, was money the driver for his adventure?

All these people indeed became rich, not because of money but because of something else: a shared dream.

What Are the Drivers For Retirement Success?

Tools for retirement success — Image by Anna Shvets on Pexels

There are many excuses not to go after the retirement success you really want.

On the other hand, many new opportunities appear when you retire.

Based on my own experience, there are six drivers to consider for retirement success. Let’s take them one by one.

Staying healthy matters

Let’s face it: Your body undergoes a biological change when you get older. Muscles naturally start to lose mass. Your bones become more brittle, and your balance decreases.

What to do a bout it?

Keep up with daily training. It’s not about becoming an athlete; it’s about having a daily routine. If you like to jog, go out for a run. I have a daily routine that I never fail to fulfill. Using the app on my iPhone, I take at least 10,000 steps per day. If I feel like running, I do it, but 10,000 steps will never be ignored. In addition, consider incorporating other forms of exercise, such as yoga or swimming, into your routine.

Three times a week, I do some muscle training. You don’t need sophisticated equipment. Just use anything that provides sufficient resistance so you feel your muscles working harder.

Finally, stay on one leg, close your eyes, and try to keep your balance as long as you can. Switch to the other leg and repeat. This continuous balance training will improve your balance, believe me.

Eat healthy food. Avoid red meat and cut back on fat and sugar. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. It’s not a question of becoming a tormentor but keeping an eye on what you put in your mouth.

These simple tips will help you stay healthy, and good health is the foundation for a good retirement.

Social connections

Throughout your years of work, you have built a natural network: job-related, private, and a mix of both. When retiring, something curious happens. Among your job-related network, many whom you considered friends disappear. It’s a reality! Keep your real friends. They are worth gold!

When stepping into retirement, you also have to connect to a new network. It could be other retirees in a situation more or less like yours, neighbors you never had time to socialise with before, clubs or associations you belong to.

People I refuse to connect with are those who love to talk about their diseases all day long. Many in this age group indeed start to suffer from different sorts of illnesses. Still, you don’t need to follow their demotivating talks, because, at the end of the day, it’s mainly about how much they suffer.

Once, I experimented by listening to two older people discuss for hours what kinds of medicine they were taking. No one had any medical expertise, and it was remarkable listening to their discussion. It all ended up in the most negative conclusion I have ever heard.

Avoid this kind of network!

Your retirement requires a clear sense of purpose

In an earlier article, we discussed in depth different ways to find purpose in retirement.

Why is this part so important?

It’s easy to fall into a routine lifestyle when retiring. Waking up, turn on the coffee, breakfast, read the daily news, visit the grocery store, prepare lunch, take an afternoon nap, watch the news on TV, perhaps a Netflix movie, and time for sleep. Can you relate to this?

Just as you were hired for a specific job during your years in the corporate world, your retirement success needs the same clear direction in your day. You need to find a sense of purpose that goes beyond the daily routines.

It can be an old hobby you reignite, or a new hobby you’ve always wanted to do but never had time to pursue while working. Now it’s a perfect moment to take action.

Another way to handle the purpose topic could be to pick something you are really good at and enjoy working with in the corporate world. Why not make a business of it?

During my time as an employee, I loved everything related to sales techniques, marketing, and writing manuals on the topic for dedicated training sessions.

After tinkering with it for a while, I started my blog, Life Race, which, to date, has almost 700 published articles. The feedback was my motivation and pushed me to start my YouTube channel, now with more than 350 videos.

My journey is just one example of how to step out of your comfort zone and turn your passion into a reality.

Never stop learning

As retirees, we “suffer” from a syndrome that is not valid anymore. You go to school and learn a lot. Then you choose a profession and start working. Hopefully, you climb the career ladder, and then it’s time for the famous gold watch and retirement.

During all those years, you had many opportunities to learn new things, especially as digital development began to accelerate. The demand to stay updated accelerated substantially, and, to be honest, many lost their jobs because they weren’t competitive enough.

The day you accept that the learning process is a never-ending process, believe me, you’re taking a huge step forward. In today’s digital world, courses are just a click away.

Learn a new language on Duolingo if languages belong to your passions. Start blogging if it interests you. Create a YouTube channel to share your knowledge, journeys, or whatever you may be passionate about. By the way, YouTube is the fastest-growing social media platform for us retirees. It will soon be more important than Facebook.

I started a special course on YouTube for retirees, about how to start a YouTube channel without any experience or technical skills.

My blog has become a full-fledged online business, where I mainly use affiliate links to grow. If you would like to figure out more about the platform I use, check it out here.

Whatever you decide to do, never stop learning new things. It will help you open up entirely new horizons in your life as a retiree.

Train your brain to be optimistic

As we touched on earlier, it’s easy to fall into the trap of negativism when retiring. The job is gone, friends are disappearing, hurting knees, well, you name it. Commit to a positive, optimistic mindset. Enjoy family life, play with your grandchildren, and take advantage of all the free time you have as a retiree.

Learn new things by pushing your passions one step further. Success in retirement is actually about filling up your time with activities that motivate you every single day. One day we have to leave this earth, but don’t act as if that day will be tomorrow.

“Plan your life like you will live forever, and live your life like you will die the next day.”

This quote — I don’t know who wrote it — tells you all you need to know. No matter your age, cultivating an optimistic mindset is the foundation for whatever you are up to.

Why gratitude is important

According to experts, four types of activities fill our lives: work, self-care, leisure, and rest. These activities can, of course, be divided into many different sub-groups, but let’s focus on these main categories.

It starts with work, but as a retiree, you are probably no longer working. So, this “work” category must be replaced with something worth working for, like my online business, just as an example. Then you have self-care. Running, walking, preparing, and eating healthy food could be included in this part. Leisure can vary a lot. It can be an 18-hole golf day with your friends, or just coming together with friends over a drink or dinner. Don’t underestimate rest. You need and deserve good rest, whether it is a daily afternoon nap or a good night’s sleep.

Use these four categories and keep a journal of what you have to be grateful for. A simple “thank you” to someone who helped you with something, or giving to needy people, are just two ways to show gratitude.

If you keep a daily gratitude journal, it’s easier not to forget these intangible yet critical daily activities. The person to whom you show gratitude will feel good, and you will become more satisfied with yourself.

Retirement Success in 6 Simple Steps

Retirement is a new phase in your life if you approach it the right way. Before retiring, I figured out the formula.

Watch the video, and learn the way I did it.

This is the link to the page mentioned in the video: https://thegoldenagelifestyle.com/Retirement-Success-Free-Training

“Retirement, a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked.”

Catherine Pulsifer

Wrapping Up

Retirement isn’t the beginning of the end, but the start of a new phase where you are the boss and decide what to do every single day. Your retirement success depends entirely on your choice. Follow these steps, and you will be on the right track: