Those who plan for retirement get more out of it. Tips from Gaby Hamm-Brink, trainer and business coach at pme Familienservice.
Retirement at last! Many people long for a time without deadlines, guidelines and rules. In everyday life, it is often not so easy to deal with this radical change. A vacuum can arise. Meaningful tasks and structures fill this vacuum and are balm for the heart and soul. That's why we should think about the concrete organization of our retirement early on.
We all hope for a little of this when we retire: nice long-distance trips, more free time, more freedom, tranquil gardening with no time limit, a never-ending parental leave with our grandchildren without having to bring them up ourselves. And above all: finally not having to do anything. No longer being determined by others, being able to say "no" whenever we want. To have the privilege of being out of competition, day after day.
But be careful! If you start with a mental flight of fancy, you have the potential to land with minor injuries. After all, there are a few things to bear in mind when planning your retirement.
If the goals we associate with retirement are not specific, concrete and somehow measurable, we run the risk of the "infinite expanse" of everyday life pulling us into a vortex of structurelessness. With so many possibilities, we can no longer take action.
We are in the best starting position if we start thinking about our post-working life at an early stage - ideally from the age of forty. Even at 60, it's not too late. Why so early? Interests don't develop on their own, we have to lay the foundations before we retire. "Practicing" retirees agree on this.
After all, anyone who already cultivates interests and passions alongside their job will continue to develop these in retirement - after all, there is already a framework and structure for this. However, those who routinely sit in front of the TV after work will probably develop this habit in retirement and find it much more difficult to find viable alternatives.
Managers in particular run the risk of experiencing a slump in self-esteem without recognition at work. They are therefore well advised to take a look at their personal treasure chest before they retire. It contains their strengths, their networks and their dreams. Those who give these aspects a lot of thought will gain the power to decide on their post-professional course and remain the shapers of their own lives.
Take a sheet of paper and a pencil. Draw your "life curve" up to the present day and mark the most important transitions and milestones in your life. Now enter the people in the curve who were particularly important to you in the individual phases. In the next step, add the structures that have carried you through the various phases. And finally - this is the best part - write down what made you strong in each phase, what you received recognition for from others or what you gave yourself.
You are now finished and have a vivid picture of your life to date. Now turn your attention to the future and answer the following questions: What exactly could give me structure after the professional phase, what structures from my life trajectory can I fall back on? What do I need to initiate today? Who do I enjoy spending time with? Can I maintain these contacts after my career or do I need new people and new networks? Who and what should give me recognition in the future? Can I find starting points in my life trajectory that I can develop further?
And now get to work. Explore possible fields of action that suit your needs. Take a look around. Get active. Maybe you join a choir because you have loved singing since childhood, maybe you become a contemporary witness in a political project. Pretend you are already retired, experiment. And at some point, make a commitment.
But you may also make a surprising discovery when you look around: that you don't actually want to stop working completely, but just want to work less because you get so many positive things out of your job. Then it's time to have conversations and explore your options. In the end, you will give yourself the reward of knowing that you are doing exactly what you really want to do. So dealing with the issues of recognition, belonging and structure at an early stage is your personal "INVEST IN FUTURE".