You’re Not Who You Think You Are

Also, don’t forget to try out the items on your list now to find what you want to do on the other side.

There May Not Be An Emptiness!

When I “retired” after selling my first blog, I felt empty because I tied my identity to my work. You may not!

When I sold my blog, it was after a few short months of negotiations. You, on the other hand, may have had your eye on retirement for several years and already prepared for it, both mentally and physically. Your ‘ideas list’ might be thirty feet long!

When you have questions, and you will have questions, the answer will always lie within. When you feel lost, you may be tempted to look externally, but the way home will be right there, on the inside. You just need to know where to look.

I know it sounds a bit zen, but it’s all about finding a new place in the world where the 9-5 is no longer your default, your identity.

Athletes Go Through This Often

If you listen to Olympians, or national champions, or Chess Grandmasters, anyone who has worked towards a single goal for a very long time, they all experience this.

For example, in a Tim Ferriss podcast with Maurice Ashley, Tim asked Maurice what it was like when he finally became a Grandmaster. Maurice said it was horrible!

To give you a bit of context, it takes many years of grinding for someone to become a Grandmaster, much like working an entire career. The end happens much faster than you think.

The problem with reaching the top of a mountain is that you’re at the top. There’s nowhere to go but down. What you need is another challenge, another mountain to climb, something you can set your sights on.

When you retire from work, there is no “next job” or “next promotion” or “next project” waiting around the corner – it’s over. It’s like the end of the Olympics or the final buzzer of the national championship game – you have to do something else.

Projects Progress Are Absolutely Crucial

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal https://loansolution.com/title-loans-wa/ worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.

Our bodies do this naturally. If you start lifting weights, your body will react and start building muscle. The moment you stop lifting weights, your body reduces its muscle mass. We do this because muscle is calorically expensive, and our body doesn’t want to carry around weight if it’s not required.

I believe the same happens with our minds. If you aren’t challenging yourself, working towards something, and growing – you’re going to lose it.

After I sold my business, I started a few other businesses that did OK but nothing stellar. I started a marketing company with two friends. Another marketing company eventually acquired it. I cofounded a meal planning business with an absolute rockstar (and friend) that still operates today ($5 Meal Plan). Then there’s this blog.

For now, I will continue to scale my “next mountains,” but there will come a time when I’ve ascended the top of my final mountain, and I will once again have to make that transition.

This one sounds strange but bear with me – I was chatting on Twitter with Chris Mamula from Can I Retire Yet?, and he mentioned something really interesting about his retirement: