What Do You Envision For Yourself When You Think About Retirement?

There have been a lot of articles written about retirement in recent years. In the main media most of this attention has been towards money issues regarding pensions and the quality of life. To be honest with you a lot of the attention makes grim reading as it soon starts to surface that in a lot of the developed nations the rise in an elderly population means that there are fewer people in work to support their pensions.
In the days gone by retirement used to mean that a person had reached a pre determined age where they could stop working as a necessity and live from a sum of money set aside over their working years for their retirement. That's the basic dry facts about retirement that are discussed in some form in most issues about retirement and pensions. What I would like to do though is ask you a question.
What does retirement mean for you? A common problem with retirement is that it is something that seems so far away when you are working, that you don't really think about it too seriously until the last five years before you retire. That's why I am asking you today, to envision for yourself how you would like your retirement to be like if you had all the resources you needed.
Retirement is so much more than just about stopping regular employment and collecting your pension. You are still you when you retire. You still have hopes and desires. A lot of people forget this when they think about their retirement. Suddenly everything seems to be out of their control and they find themselves at the mercy of their pensions and how much the government is will to give them to live on. Retirement is a personal choice. In many western countries it is no longer compulsory to retire at a particular age. As long as you have the physical and mental capabilities to carry on working, theoretically there is nothing to stop you from carrying on with your job as long as you are in good health and sound of mind.
So the questions now become a little different. If you are still physically healthy and mentally sound like so many of the retirement aged people of today, what things could you still be doing when you retire? Making a list of the things you would most like to do when you are retired is a good place to start when thinking about your future and what you would like it to contain.
Another common mistake people make about retirement is that they don't have to plan anything. Now, for most of your life you have been used to making plans and setting deadlines for accomplishing certain things. Why should it be any different with retirement? Having a plan of how you would like to live when you retire keeps structure in your everyday life. It is this structure that keeps the sense of purpose flowing through your life as you start your retirement.
The most important thing about retirement is that it is not the end. It's not only something that happens when people become less able to do their jobs and therefore less useful to society in general. There are so many talents that you still possess. You use these talents daily in your jobs right now and probably have a tendency to take them for granted now that you have become familiar with those talents.
It is so easy to transfer your core talents that you use in your everyday job to something useful when you retire. I.e. if you know someone who is a teacher, what common everyday skills could they take from their jobs and still use during their retirement? For me, I think of their communication skills, their ability to transfer knowledge into useful learning experiences for other people. Could you think of some skills that you have right now that you could still use when you retire?
It's hard when you are on your own, to try and figure these things out.
There is so much possibility.
You are not on your own.
You have your friends and family who could help you when it comes to putting together a plan for retirement.
Even if you are twenty five, what you do now could determine how you will live out your retirement. Hiring a personal life coach now to help you work through the complexities of life changing situations is the most valuable way to get your life on track to success. Developing the habit to believe in your personal power builds on your personality.
A life coach specialising in personal performance can help you to understand yourself better and see all the opportunities that you have in your life.



This article has been prepared by Dr. Richard Zzizinga, Personal Performance Coach.
Call (+44)07855277960 to book yourself a free consultation or visit http://www.coaching-is.com for more information on life coaching and personal development.