For my (new) Throwback Thursday series, I’m linking back to some of the core Retirement Transition How-to’s. Today’s first of the series will look at the OVERALL Retirement Transition Process that helps you design your own unique retirement lifestyle.
Based on the design thinking approach I used while working in product innovation, the Retirement Transition process I created (detailed in my book – link here ) has 5 phases:
- REFLECT: Deep introspection on who you are (values, strengths) and who you want to be (interested, lifestyle) so you can decide what stays, what goes, what’s added to life so you can live and love the new retirement life you are creating. In this phase you work through reflecting on 7 Domains of Life and end with your own retirement lifestyle “vision”.
- IMAGINE: Creating a “Possibilities for Life” list is more than just a task list of honey-do projects or a bucket list of all those places you want to visit (although those things are on it as well). This is about creating a list of all future life possibilities, from passions to dreams to inklings – in work, leisure, volunteering, relationships, lifestyle, etc.
- ASSESS: Comparing top possibilities back to foundational insights and your lifestyle vision to make (initial) choices in creating a Life Action Plan.
- ACTIVATE: Exploring new activities, setting goals, & changing habits. By design or by default, your next stage of life will happen. By making choices, setting goals, and understanding personal barriers, you begin Designing the Life you want to live and the Who you want to be.
- REFINE: Continual renewal to refresh, revise your life vision and/or your plans.
Here are some throwback posts on the overall process, starting with the very first one in 2015(!):
My Process to work through Retirement Transition – 09/09/2015
Looking at the process “beyond the money” 09/24/2017
Method in the Madness – 08/06/2018
Next week’s Throwback will delve into REFLECT.
[And I think below is another link! I’m learning this Throwback approach…. and cannot figure out how to get rid of the duplication. Next week will be cleaner, I hope. :-)]
retirementtransition 
Pat, this is AWESOME!! Thank you so much for sharing your process! I’m currently in the Reflect/Imagine stage so all of this information couldn’t have come at a better time!! ❤ In my 42 years of work, my days have been very structured so I don't want to just 'wander' into retirement next year. I want a thoughtful plan that I can tweak as I go along. Squeeee, I'm so excited for your Throwback Thursday series 🙂
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Thanks so much for the warm reception for this idea! I love that you know to “tweak as I go along” too. As someone who needs structure in my life (not everyone does), this process and the tools I learned along the way have been so helpful in me creating a very fulfilling retirement lifestyle. I hope you can as well.
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