July 18, 2008
I am having the best week of my life. I am in mini-retirement.
You read that right. I am spending nine days retired. This opportunity came about because “luck favors the prepared”1.
I received a great career opportunity that arrived with some flexibility. I moved on from my prior career with professionalism. While this is occurring I have some financial freedom.
With the change of jobs I had the chance to take a week off from any job for one week. For the last week in my old job, I was joking around and telling people I would be unemployed. Sounds like I just up and quit without a strategic plan. I wasn’t. In fact I am very excited about this career change.
Then I remember a chapter from a great book “The Four Hour Work Week”2. The author writes about taking mini-retirements at multiple points over your working career. He provides numerous recommendations for why and how you should take these mini-retirements. My interpretation is this: the opportunity to control the transition time between stages of a career, relocation, or anything else in your life.
Why wait forty years for something that may not ever get here? Personal finances, health, family obligations, home ownership, business ownership. All of these are barriers to the “retirement years” that have been programmed into the collective mindset of society. I’m not even talking about the fact any of us may not reach age 65. We may not be able to stop working at age 65. Go check the Medicare eligibility rules and ask anyone who just turned 65 years old. It’s an eye opening experience and those of not near Medicare eligibly age are in for a shock.
So for this week, I’ve been doing what I want to do: golf, shopping, nice lunch, catching up on the reading, even yard work. It all feels better knowing it is part of a development plan. When this is all done, I’ll be a better person. I’m feeling that already this week. The difference is so noticeable some people told me I should have taken three or four weeks off.
For my next mini-retirement, I will.
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1 – Edna Mode “The Incredibles” http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Incredibles
2 - http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
