Focus: Purpose - How To Define Your Purpose In Retirement
Tools, tips and tricks to help you live a purposeful retirement
Change the World or Change Your Grandchild’s Diaper
Finding your purpose in retirement
Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash
A purpose can be a powerful thing in your Third Act. Finding meaning in what you do can help you live a longer, healthier, happier life. But finding your purpose can be a daunting thought if you equate purpose with “the reason the cosmos put you on this planet.” It doesn’t have to be that. It is simply the reason you’re happy to open your eyes in the morning. Sure, your purpose could be to change the world. Your purpose could also be to change your grandchild’s diaper. Both are very valid, very important and very rewarding! So, rejoice in the life you have and remember that there is meaning in whatever you assign meaning to! If you don’t already know what your purpose will be in your Third Act, here are some ideas of how to explore that.
Purpose is all around you
I have wonderful inspiration for finding and living purpose all around me in my fabulous group of friends, and you may, too. One of my friends found purpose in her Third Act as a Hospice volunteer. She tells me that most of her time is just sitting with folks, listening to them recounting their lives and telling her things they need to say as they approach the end of their lives. She finds it very rewarding just to listen to them. Their experiences enrich her life and having someone to share them with enriches the lives of those she is helping. Another friend loved her job, but wanted to travel more and spend time with her family, so she combined all of those into a great retirement plan! She sits on the boards of directors for small start ups and helps them with their information security issues to keep her foot in the industry she loves and help fledgling businesses. At the same time, she has plenty of time to travel the world and spend time with her family, some of whom live in Guam! There’s a great travel destination! The extra money from the board gigs helps fund all of those trips. I also have a friend who is not quite ready to retire, but she’s thinking about her purpose when she does. Her degree is in engineering, but she is thinking of going back to school after she retires to get a degree in sociology. She has plenty of time to get her degree and put it to good use in the 25 - 30 years she’ll have after she retires!
If you’re still stumped and need some direction I have a tool for that!
If you’re like me, you love lists and inspiration tailored for you to help jump start your planning journey. There is a wonderful tool that I found that is based on John Holland’s “career interest theory” but it is targeted toward retirement life planning. It gives suggestions for opportunities for new vocations, volunteer opportunities and other activities based on your career personality. You can find the tool here. It is a quick survey followed by multiple lists of ideas of how to spend your quality time and find meaning in retirement, based on your career personality type. If you need to add a little to the coffers, there are plenty of ideas for part time work, but there are also suggestions for volunteering and just doing the things you love that give your life meaning. I love that it gives you ideas to dabble in some things that might be interesting as well as ways to go all in. For instance, if you determine that your career personality is “Artistic” the suggestions of ways to explore that interest range from taking an art class to becoming a video editor. If you’re more the “Realistic” type, how about learning to ride a horse, building furniture or training a service dog? There’s literally something for everyone in these lists! Give it a try and let me know how it goes in the comments!
How you find meaning in the Third Act is entirely up to you. Unlike your Second Act, nobody is telling you that you have to find a career, get married, buy a house and have 2.4 children. Your path is entirely your own. How fun is that?? Find your thing and get ready to pop out of bed in the morning, raring to take on the day and make a difference in your world!
Habits to Build Confidence
Tiny: Each day write down something you are grateful for. As the list grows, patterns may emerge that can help guide you to your purpose.
Bold: Take the Career Personality assessment and do something from the list of activities that grabs you.
Audacious: Write a mission statement for your Third Act. Start with “I define success in this Third Act as… and I live by these values…” Share it with friends and significant others and begin to live into that mission.
More Reading
Can’t get enough? Here are some more articles and resources to help you plan to live a purposeful life in retirement.
Sometimes, if you start with a mission your purpose flows naturally from there. For some inspiration, here are the mission statements from nine celebrities to get you started.
If you are like my Hospice friend and think volunteering might be the place for you to find meaning, but you’re not sure where to start, try searching through the opportunities at Volunteer Match. They are organized by city, so you can easily find the right opportunity right in your backyard!
Maybe a small income stream would help you find meaning, but still have enough cash for living the good life. If so, Cheapism has a list of 35 gigs that might be just right for you! Uber driver and dog walker are on every gig list, but how about park ranger? I know someone that worked seasonally in retirement at the Grand Canyon National Park. He loved the travel and income and he found meaning in taking care of the outdoors and the environment.
If you still don’t have enough ideas or inspiration to work toward defining your purpose, never fear! The folks over at VeryWell have 7 more ideas of ways to brainstorm what might be meaningful for you. I really like their point at the end that you won’t find your purpose in a day or even a week. Finding purpose may be a lifetime endeavor.
Next Week’s Focus: FUN!
I hope you’ll join me next week for a read about how to plan for your leisure activities in retirement.
Leisure is easy, except that you’ll have an ADDITIONAL HUNDRED THOUSAND HOURS plus to fill in The Third Act that you spent on work and family in the Second. Let’s chat about that, shall we?
If you liked what you read, found something new, have a suggestion or a question, leave a comment!