Why Having a Purpose Is the Most Crucial Element During Retirement!

When you go to college, your main aspirations is to work hard, perform well, and hopefully land your dream job.

Indeed, while in the process of chasing your career, you might decide to meet your significant other and start a family with a couple of kids coming your way. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself expending plenty of your time and energy to ensure you have enough money to live comfortably for the remainder of your life.

That being said, regardless of one’s age, you can take a minute of your time to imagine how the first day of retirement will be. Perhaps it will be one fine Monday morning. Normally, you would be up by 6.am. and by 7, in traffic to make it to the office by 9.

Interestingly, you now have the time to do all the things that you’ve ever wanted to do! Wanted to retreat to a getaway with all the most amazing sceneries around the world? You now can!

When retiring, ensure you have a purpose in doing what you love!

Embracing the Lifestyle of Ikagai

In the Japanese culture, there is the concept of Ikagai, which in simple terms means a ‘reason for living.’ The concept first started in Okinawa, has contributed to the highest world population of centenarians.

Indeed, Ikagai is a lifestyle that emphasizes the following concepts of life:

Your passion (what do you love to do?)

Your mission (how can you contribute to the world?)

Your gifts (what is one thing that you were naturally born with as a talent?)

Your profession (what is it that you do that you are paid for?)

That being said, now picture waking up on your first day of retirement, having a full day to do whatever you desire to do, it being what you love, and in the process also assisting others. No doubt it’s easy to stay committed and focused in such a situation.

Discovering What You Truly Love

Despite it being nearly 8 years since he passed away, Steve Jobs left us with profound wisdom. He reiterated that for one to be truly satisfied with their lives, they had to focus on doing great work.

Indeed, the only way to perform great work is to do what you are madly in love with. If one hasn’t discovered it yet, then they have to keep searching for it and never settle for less. In fact, as with all matters tied to the heart, it will be crystal clear when you will be able to find it.

Since the answer can be unique for every individual, one has to do some serious soul searching in order to discover what their purpose is.

One of the ways in which we can do this is to pay attention to some of the subtle cues that can give us a heads up.

Explore the things that you missed out on in life and see whether you can achieve them during retirement

Discover Your Mission

The biggest problem that most people face in their path to self-discovery during retirement can also be the one that holds the most opportunities.

In fact, identifying your problems can be pathways which you can access to potential success. You can start by seeing the things that trouble you the most, especially ones that have a global outlook. After identifying them, you can work towards finding a solution for a better world.

Your mission during retirement can make it that much sweeter!

Determining Your Gifts and Talents

When you do something you love, or something that you are talented in, it’s so easy to get engulfed with it that you easily lose track of time. That being said, the problem for many people is that they are yet to discover the talents they were given to fulfill their life mission.

Indeed, you have to invest time in finding out what you love and working towards the talents that will make you excel in your vision.

As the sages say, age is nothing but a number.

As long as you make the sacrifice to ensure your goal becomes a reality, your gifts will naturally lead you to the path of success. Moreover, ensure that you have the necessary tools to strengthen your gifts. Perhaps you always wanted to be a painter, but never had the time due to your busy work schedule.

During retirement, you can invest to purchase some of the essentials of starting your own art studio for leisure, entertainment, or even commercial purposes.