A Gift For Those We Love...

Watch me briefly recap the Four Pillars of Life Planning for Retirement at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abtg4USj4NQ

We all know family members and friends who seem to step into retirement or major later life challenges with apparent zest and excitement.  But, based on my own experience and working with clients, it’s more common to have fears and limiting beliefs about the future.  Life planning is the antidote to simply reacting to life.  Here is some advice to give as a gift to someone you know to help them prepare for their next life stage.

Have a Vision. Close your eyes and imagine it’s ten years from how. What are you doing? How do you feel? What’s made you happy?

Find Out What Excites You. You’ve worked and/or parented a good chunk of your life. You’ve given much. What dream(s) do you have that you really want to do? If you don’t have dreams, how can you find out what they might be?

Question Limiting Beliefs. Our older brains are trained to say “no.” Thoughts like “I’m too old” or “I can’t afford it” stop us from possibility. While not being a big dreamer served you for years, cutting off possibilities now is detrimental to your health!

Find a Purpose. Humans are wired to want to make a difference in some way. It would be with grandkids, an encore career or in volunteering. What way of being is going to bring you life satisfaction and a feeling of fulfillment?

Hire a Life Planning Retirement Coach. Why explore this all on your own when you’ve never done it before? Invest in Reed of What’s Next Coaching has validated assessment tools, and a planning system to help you create your next chapter. Create your initial life plan in just 4 sessions.

Access my free Midlife Planner along with other curated articles and books at What's Next Coaching LLC. Set up a call with me to learn about coaching and its focus on delivering results for your encore life. I am certified to administer a validated retirement tool that helps clients determine their readiness for their next chapter. Visit: www.whats-next.org or email reedconnect@gmail.com.

Are You on the Learner Path?

We all know Robert Frost’s “Two paths diverged in the wood" poem. He takes the one less traveled. For me it’s been more about being intentional about the path I want to take. To put it positively, when I’ve focused on what I want, more opportunities come my way. Marilee Adam's book, Change your Questions, Change Your Life resonates with me. She came up with the "choice map" with the learner path (curiosity, open-minded, growth...) and the Judger Path (Why bother, didn’t work before…) We all carry limiting beliefs at one time or another about what we think isn't possible. Looking at what I call our “auto-assumptions” and being able to question them has been a real gift for me... and my client. As we go through an ever more complicated - and now isolating life - how will I adjust and look for what could be, rather than assume my options are limited? What if there were opportunities in connecting with friends and colleagues that didn’t exist before the pandemic? Dr. Adams has a good article on the Learning/Judger paths that I encourage you to check out.

Access my free Midlife Planner along with other curated articles and books at What's Next Coaching LLC. Set up a call with me to learn about coaching and its focus on delivering results for your encore life. I am certified to administer a validated retirement tool that helps clients determine their readiness for their next chapter. Visit: www.whats-next.org or email reedconnect@gmail.com.