Third Act Challenges We All Face
Does This Feel Familiar?
Smart, successful professionals often struggle with the transition from the career mindset to a happy, satisfied version of their post-career selves. Solving for a rewarding retirement is very different than the decisions you make at the office.
Without the right planning and forethought, retirement can feel like an extended timeout in the penalty box rather than a fun-filled trip to Paradise Island. Who are you when your identity, sense of purpose, and social networks are no longer defined by your career?
For the last third of your life, are you comfortable meandering along with the currents, following the path of least resistance? Or would you prefer a well-designed game plan that includes your favorite people and most satisfying activities?
The Secret Sauce
The secret sauce of the Third Act is not figuring out how you’ll spend your money – it’s how you will spend your time. How can you make room for the broad range of activities that instill a sense of purpose and fully express all that you are?
How will you maintain the relationships you care about most and foster important new connections?
- What activities will keep you active and energized?
- How will you engage your intellect in productive pursuits – work on your terms?
In what way will you balance time spent pursuing individual interests with time shared with your spouse and other family members?
- How will you chase after things you always wanted to do but never made the time?
A master third act coach inspires others to imagine and manifest the life they truly desire.
The Stormy Passage from Second Act to Third Act
With advances in life expectancy and economic conditions that increasingly enable people to stop working earlier than ever before, many arrive at the third act with decades left to live.
Sadly, there is often not a realistic blueprint for how to enjoy this time. You’ve worked hard and been successful, and now that you’re at the stage where you have both money and time, what are you supposed to do and how are you supposed to do it?
Regardless of how capable one has been in the second act (career and family), transitioning to the third act (life’s next chapter) includes significant challenges and can be overwhelming. The desired experiences – peace, joy and satisfaction, are sometimes easier to imagine than to create. The experiences that reflect your wide range of interests and desires can be illusive.
Even if you have a clear conception of what you’d like to be doing when the work bells no longer ring, it can be difficult to organize and incorporate those activities into daily living.
A View From Retirementville
I used to be a financial advisor in Sarasota. I worked with many clients who retired there from other parts of the country to enjoy the sun and fun. For a while, these clients would be in full-on leisure mode: playing lots of golf, boating, visiting the grandkids, traveling, enjoying the beach and working on an award-winning tan. But at a certain point, usually at the one- to two-year mark, they hit a wall – hard. They would tell me (with much agitation), “If I don’t find something to do, I’m going to go nuts!”
Similarly, studies show that one year after selling their business, a full 70% of business owners regret having done so. The principal reason: they failed to plan for what comes next.
Preparing for the Third Act of Your Life
It’s noteworthy that 10,000 people turn 65 every day. So right now, in the runup to that last day in the office, a great number of people are wrestling with common pre-retirement questions:
- Am I ready to retire now or would I be more comfortable waiting?
- What will I do with all my free time?
- Who will I become when my identity is no longer defined by my job and professional connections?
- With whom will I socialize and where will we live?
- What happens when my spouse and I are together 24/7?
Most will grapple with these transition questions privately, just as many current retirees secretly struggle to find meaning and motivation within the abundance of free time they now have. Do you know people like this? Having yearned for freedom and unstructured living for years or even decades, they now struggle to use this liberty in a way that satisfies. A master coach helps people turn from despair to delight.
Your Next Chapter: The Greatest Story Ever Told?
The prudent among us appreciate the value of a specialist. Just as many people embrace financial advisors, attorneys, personal trainers, life coaches and business coaches, some will also turn to a professional who can guide them triumphantly from the second act into the third.
On average, we are living 34 years longer than our grandparents. Given this sizable chunk of time, failing to plan for meaningful activity and alignment with your spouse on key topics such as where you will live, travel frequency and destinations, amount of time spent together and separately, and the cadence of family visits, can only breed discontent. Rather than embracing the opportunity for authenticity that this next stage offers, apathy and despondency may predominate.
The reinvented retirement is a golden opportunity to harvest economic and temporal freedom – or said much less pretentiously, you’ve now got both the money and the time to do the things you really want to do. But how will you use these resources? Rather than resorting to current habits and default behaviors, this is the occasion to reboot your approach to life, with meaning and purpose as central themes.
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The best years of your life may be in front of you. Reach out and share your story with us. Let’s work together to create a Third Act that joyfully expresses all that you are!
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