Forging a Great Retirement
Issue 2 | August 2025
When I retired a few years ago, I became acutely aware that I was stepping in to the great unknown of an unknown future, as well as an unknown lifespan. I was also acutely aware that I had the responsibility to decide how I wanted to live my life. This could sound gloomy and grim, but I wanted my life to be about thriving, not just surviving.
Retirement and ageing are transitions. Transitions are scary and exciting. There is grief and trauma (post-traumatic stress). There is excitement and opportunity (post-traumatic growth). The truth is, what you focus on you amplify, and, where attention goes, energy flows.
Generally, people have one of three philosophies in how they change and live their life;
Some wait for chance occurrences, i.e., for miracles to occur (this can have some success),
Others make decisions only when chaos happens, i.e., they change when pain or a problemoccurs (this too can have some success),
Truly successful, happy, healthy people exercise choice/control, i.e., they develop a plan and execute it.
What’s your philosophy?
The people who know it is their responsibility to reinvent themselves when they retire and manage ageing successfully, do a range of specific things deliberately, or unconsciously. Unconsciously because it seems like it has become part of their DNA, as they’ve been doing it automatically for many years. Remember, for things to change, you need to change, and that leads to the world changing. My hunch is that if you were successful at work, you would have pivoted and reinvented yourself time and again. If you want success in retirement and as you age, you need to continue to pivot and reinvent yourself.
We have two lives, and the second begins when we realise we only have one. (Confucius)
What do successful people do? It seems like a mystery, or secret, to many.
Here’s the not-so-secret formula in my Top 10 Tips;
Have a positive vision of what life should look/feel/sound like (pain is a great motivator because if you fear it, you want to avoid it),
Deeply understand the need to reinvent yourself (growth mindset),
Manage your thinking and feelings well (emotional intelligence),
Set grandiose goals for the future based on our core human needs (certainty, novelty, significance, belonging, contribution, growth), and not get bogged down in the problems and failures of the past,
Develop a skill set, take consistent action (daily, weekly, monthly), and manage the inevitable interruptions/distractions,
Measure progress and outcomes, celebrate successive approximations, then modify your systems to achieve goals (expertise/excellence),
Develop several networks and supports (no one is self-made),
Volunteer to help others, the community, and the world (positive psychology),
Follow through with resilience, don’t back down, and bounce back when problems unavoidably occur,
Start each day with commitment and gratitude (Today is the first day of the rest of your life, therefore, daily reinvention can be personified).
Article by Dr John Barletta
(Maleny Men’s Shed)
Health and Wellbeing Specialist
Queensland Men’s Shed Association
Johnb@qmsa.org.au
Published 2025
