Boomer Men: Is This Your Life After the Office?
Is anyone besides me shocked by this statistic?
You don't have to look hard in finding statistics showing American's displeasure with our current work. We have a major sector of our society as wage earners (yes, you as well salary man) daydreaming about leaving their current work for the work that matters and then we see statistics like these...
Scary when you consider retirement will only be a dream for most Americans.
Poor retirement planning, financially supporting one's parents, and inflation will prevent most people from retirement.
For those of you feeling you are lucky enough to retire--want to know the results of a recent survey reporting how you will be spending over half of your awake time?
Surveyed adults ages 55 to 74 said they spend the greatest percentage of their leisure time doing which of the following?
My thoughts on retirement:
1. Find the work that matters and you will never work another day for the rest of your life.
2. Retirement is a myth for overworked people who feel they earned a break from work that seemed like work and begin to take up the passions and hobbies they wished they would have pursued during their working years.
Matthew Scott
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Reader Comments (4)
Great post, Matthew!
I can't help being haunted by the Thoureau quote;"the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Thanks for being a part of the awakening solution.
Eric,
Thanks.
The "suck the marrow from life" is pretty powerful.
Matthew
I'm a few days behind in my bloglines so I'm just now reading this. This starkly reminded me of the day when I was 25 and my wife and I made the decision to leave our regular jobs and head to Africa (where we ended up spending 10 years). It was a spring day in May when I called my boss of 50+ for a conference. When I told him what I was doing, he actually teared up. As we briefly talked about the decision, I realized quickly the tears were not tears of joy for me. He sheepishly uttered the words "I wish I could do that. I'm 52 and got kids I gotta put through college (the kids were in the pre-teens . . .a long ways away from university life). I'm stuck here. I envy you."
I realize that when I was 25 it WAS a lot easier to walk away from a steady job and all its perks. Alot easier, perhaps, than for a 50+-year old with mortgage/kids/bills . . . but fast forward to last year when I (almost 40 now with 4 kids) launched a new company doing exactly what I've always dreamed of doing!! And my brother (the other Marketing Twin) so envied me that he left his job of 15+years and joined me full-time! We're not rich (yet), but we both absolutely LOVE doing what we get to do. This is our work. This is our job. AND WE LOVE IT because it doesn't feel like either one!!
Randy,
I am so grateful you shared this story with us.
I feel for those in tears who respond with support and excitement for us.
There is many cliche things to say, and all of them would be appropriate.
A Christian missionary by the name of Blackeby describes this point as the "crisis of belief" stage.
In the book by Richard Leider, Purpose, he talks of a study with those in the last stages of life. They respond:
1. I wish I would have been more courageous in my personal and professional decisions.
2. I would have been more reflective.
I think this knowledge is indwelled within us from birth. The problem becomes when we look external (mortgage, kids, etc..) instead of internal to be more courageous during "the crisis of belief."