Take More Time for Yourself!

We know that “70% of people hate their stupid job,” according to a 2013 survey by the Gallup Poll. Often, these same people are reluctant to change careers due to fear, high compensation, or a lack of an idea of what to do next.

On the other hand, 30% of people are lucky to love their jobs, yet they too will need a plan for what to do when they are promoted to their level of unhappiness, or to their level of incompetence. Let’s face it, a job loved can change for any number of reasons.

Either way, if you love or hate your job you need a plan for the rest of your life. You need a clear understanding of what you want from life and what you are passionate about. Whether or not you are mid-career or facing retirement, you need a plan.

Unfortunately, many people don't know where or how to start. So they dig in and wait for something they hope will be better, often something called retirement. So what is retirement? For many, the old retirement plan is to do what their parents did. Work like a dog to save enough money. Along the way they might ruin their health in a job filled with stress so they can leap off the retirement cliff into...WHAT?

• One day they're working - life is structured.
• The next day they're retired - life has no structure.

Under this old retirement plan, often retirees have a constrained budget and hope they've saved enough money to allow for some of those luxuries they've dreamed about. Whatever money they have, is what they have to live on for the rest of their lives!

It doesn't have to be like that. There is a New Retirement Paradigm™. In this New Retirement Paradigm™ people take control of their lives and create a game plan to fulfill their dreams. In this plan, they are not restricted to living within the resources they have at that moment of retirement. They design the work life they want. They design the play life they want. And they create the resources that will support this dream life.

In The New Retirement Paradigm™, work can be the wild card that makes the impossible, possible. But work doesn't have to be that same old job. The job can be modified to require a reduced time commitment or it can be an encore career. The trick is to find the balance between work/play/money.

How much time do you spend thinking about yourself and what you want your life to be? If you're like most people the answer is little or none. School administrators are particularly vulnerable to this problem. Time is a premium. There is always someone who wants a piece of your time, whether at work or at home.

Doesn't everyone deserve the chance at a life they enjoy? Isn't your enjoyment of life worth an investment of time? Don’t put off your planning so long that you cannot enjoy it.

Why can't you continue to work well into the future, but at a job that doesn't feel like work, yet provides an income - not to fund necessities, but to fund those luxuries you want in your life? In The New Retirement Paradigm™ there is no cliff, just a continuum that starts today and gradually transitions into that thing most people call retirement.

Ray Loewe, The Luckiest Guy in the World, identified this New Retirement Paradigm™ almost 20 years ago while participating in an entrepreneurial coaching program. Over time, through trial and error, he redesigned his life and became the self-professed Luckiest Guy in the World. Now he has created a process for others to do the same.

This process is a self-paced, 8-hour series of lessons online that allow future Luckiest Guys and Gals to expand their vision and create a plan for themselves. It’s easy, it’s private, and it can be completed on one’s own schedule. Taking the time for oneself is truly time well spent.

My husband retired from a successful job as a sales manager last year with no specific plans for what to do with his time. I shared what I learned from the workshops offered by The Luckiest Guy in the World, and he realized that he had been promoted from a job he loved to a job that was his level of unhappiness. Now he is back doing what he loves without the paperwork and reports of management. And he was elated to recently cash his first new commission check!

I am not ready to retire, but I have been inspired to take more time for myself. I am expanding my imagination. While my spouse and I have taken time to travel, I realize now that dreaming and planning in advance can really expand and enhance our future trips.

If you would like to learn more about The New Retirement Paradigm™ and how you can redesign your life, visit www.theluckiestguyintheworld.com.