A few years ago, I met someone at a dinner party who asked me if I was retired. Since I was still writing and coaching, but also taking a lot of time off, I replied that, I was “semi-retired”.
My wife, who was with me, gave me a very quizzical look. And later we had some discussion about my response. Seems that I had never shared that with her. And she was surprised—even a little concerned.
I guess that I hadn’t even acknowledged it to myself. It wasn’t all that conscious of a decision on my part. It’s just that I used to work 50-60-hour weeks and after moving to Florida I found myself playing tennis 4-5 times a week and working relatively shorter days. Not to mention that most of my work doesn’t feel like work.
Was I semi-retired? It seemed that I was. I didn’t have the drive and ambition that I used to have. And I found myself less motivated. I was taking it easy and I felt I deserved it—and I did.
But last fall, after returning from a trip to Spain, I did some real soul searching about what I wanted to do with the rest of my “Golden Years”. And I realized I wasn’t ready to join many of my neighbors who are fully retired. Not even close.
After 24 years running SuccessNet, I still wanted to keep going. Maybe not as ambitiously as before, but I wanted to recommit to the mission and the vision of SuccessNet: To inform and inspire and empower people to be their best—personally and professionally.
A big part of this clarity came from a list of life commitments that I found which I had written many years ago. One of the items on the list was a commitment to positively impact over a million people before I die. As I thought about that, I wondered if I HAD positively touched a million people. I couldn’t come up with evidence to prove it. And even if I had, why not another million?
I thought a lot about how to best do that. I’d already published several books, but the last one had a 2012 copyright. Could it have been that long? Yes, it had.
And that’s why I’ve undertaken the Your Best Life book series. The first was The Secret to Being Fully Focused and the next (later this month) is How to Create a Vital Vision for Your Life. Each one is meant to be a short, sharply-focused book on ways to live your Best Life.
My plan is to write and publish at least four more this year.
Does that sound like semi-retirement? Well it is. Writing comes easily to me. I like doing it. It keeps me thinking. And I believe I really CAN reach a million people—with ideas, encouragement, advice, challenges, stories, questions, resources and more.
I hope you’ll like what I’m doing and help me spread the word.
Richard Back wrote, “Here’s a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you´re alive it isn’t.”
What about you? What are you wanting to do with the rest of your life? Will you retire? What’s going to make it more meaningful? What will you change? What will you continue to do? Who will you become? What’s the legacy you wish to leave?
All of my books (over a dozen) on living your best life are available via Amazon at www.successnet.org/go/amz-author
This article was originally published on SuccessNet.org in April of 2019.
