You'd think that, by the time you retire, you no longer have to do all the things you did when you were working — be responsible, pay attention to detail and respond to other people's demands. While it's true you may no longer employ your technical skills in retirement — whether they're in construction, health care or administration — you do need other skills that are critical in charting your way through a successful retirement. Here are four important ones.
- The capacity to be independent and self-directed. You no longer have a work schedule or a place to commute to every morning. You do not have any goals or objectives that are set by your boss. Instead, you have to make up your own schedule and find your own reason for getting out of bed in the morning. You are now your own boss, possibly for the first time in your life. Can you set your own goals and find your own meaningful activities? I recently played golf with a man who retired at age 56. He reported that he was bored silly for the first year. He had to find something to do. So he invested in a couple of race horses, and he spent the next ten years of his life at the track and the horse farm. That solution may not be for everyone, but it worked for him.
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