The secret to untangling complex retirement problems
Some folk enter my Retirement Coaching Asylum because they’re not sure if they should retire or not. They have good reasons to retire (like moving into their next phase of life, pursuing other passions, and if not now then when?). But they have good reasons not to retire too (like making more money, not closing the door on work, and wondering if retired life will be less satisfying than life now).
It’s a complex retirement problem. It’s messy, complicated, and confusing. For every factor that says do this, there’s another factor that says, no, do the opposite.
The trick is to find simplicity within this complexity.
But how?
Well, here’s how we do it in my Asylum: We cut through the complexity and bottom line the specific problem by asking, What is all this really about?
For instance, is it about the uncertainty of making the right decision? Perhaps. Or lacking clarity about how to make the right decision? Perhaps. Or about unstated fears or needs surrounding the decision to retire? Perhaps. Perhaps it’s none of that. Perhaps it’s something else altogether.
Whatever it is, we pick something, and start. That’s the secret. To start.
For example, let’s say you pick the uncertainty of making the right decision as your bottom line issue. And if that’s not right, we’ll know soon enough. It’s an iterative process, after all. We jump back and forth… going wide on the problem… before focusing in on specific issues and pain points… then rinsing and repeating.
In other words, it’s not linear and sequential. We can’t chat for 30 minutes, then wrap your retirement plans into a cute little bow.
That’s not how life works.
And why questions are necessary to probe for more understanding. Questions like:
How will ending your uncertainty help?
What’ll happen if you make the right decision?
Or the wrong decision?
How can you know what’s right and wrong?
How will your decision affect the people you love?
What’ll happen if you make no decision at all?
And so on, and so forth.
From your answers, new insights and understanding emerges For example, you may realise:
I don’t want to make decisions about retiring alone. It’s too much pressure. But I don’t know how to involve the people I love in my decision.
Or I feel obligated to do XYZ. But I really want to do ABC. As a result, I feel both guilty and resentful.
Or I know my life must change. But it scares me stupid.
Or you may reaslise a million other things only you can ever know. After all, there’s only one expert in your life.
Just remember the secret… to start.
And that’s what we do in my Asylum. We start.
Click here to start too: