Snippet: Bupa Global’s Executive Wellbeing Index reveals that 94% of global executives are planning a major overhaul of their work-life balance.
Over half do not plan to return to the same fast pace of life; one in three intends to work from home permanently, and one in five will even work from their holiday home. While over a quarter (26%) will stop all business travel for 12 months.
Snippet: For white-collar workers, so much of work life in the past six months has gone virtual. We Zoom and Slack our way through interactions that used to happen in conference rooms and in cubicle huddles. But there is no online substitution for the essential function of the business lunch, which is to put humans in face-to-face contact in a relaxed, neutral setting.
Business lunches will no doubt become less frequent as more people work from home, but they may take on more importance.
There are some kinds of tasks, projects and periods of time where in-person collaboration is optimal. Organizations are going to be much more deliberate to create face time for them. Some business lunches will be in that category. People will reserve a special place for them.
Snippet: Be honest, you miss your co-workers even though working from home (WFH) has its benefits. Working remotely can feel too remote, almost like being stranded on a deserted island.
Particularly in Western culture, our professions are synonymous with how we identify ourselves. Even with this outsized importance placed on only one aspect of our lives, we still fail to recognize just how important those other people in our profession are to our mental and emotional wellbeing. Love them or hate them, your co-workers do you a great service in helping you meet one of your basic human needs: social interaction.
Snippet: Sometimes making a good career move does not always equate to moving upward. In some circumstances, the best move you can make is a lateral move.
We live in a society where we feel like if we are not moving up or moving forward constantly, that is a bad thing. Some call it being stuck in a rut or being in a funk, but it is not always a bad thing to find positions that are similar to your current title.
Snippet: Those who focus their lives on accumulating wealth are more likely to end up lonely — as they sacrifice social time with loved ones in order to work — a study has found. Experts from the US explored why basing one’s self-esteem around financial success — the so-called ‘Financial Contingency of Self-Worth’ — can have drawbacks.
According to the team, pursuit of money in itself is not inherently problematic, but the impact such has on much-needed social connections can be. ‘When people base their self-worth on financial success, they experience feelings of pressure and a lack of autonomy,’ said paper author and psychologist Lora Park of the University of Buffalo.
The findings, they added, emphasise the importance of maintaining social networks and personal relationships — alongside other goals — for one’s mental health.
Retirement freedom can also be a trap if one is not prepared. It can be a trap into cages called regrets, catch ups, make ups and getting worked up.
It’s easy to get so engrossed in the pressures of daily worklife that at age 50, it’s not unusual to still be asking the question, what is life in retirement all about? As a very dedicated worker, you give your all to work. But it is possible for you to realize late at retirement, that you have been left behind in other critical areas of life.
No highly valued golden chain – job security, benefits or rewards – is worth the suffering and laboring at a great or mediocre work life, if the end game is another chain trap – top regrets of retirees. We can be chained to a routine worklife that has killed dreams, though it gives most of what we seemingly want from life, now.
Someone’s entire worklife can be very fulfilling, and it should be. But retirement is a time to experience a different type of fulfillment in life. A time to experience many enjoyable and rewarding activities. It does not mean a time of no work. How we all define work is very relative.
Retirement freedom and financial independence can come very early
For a few, retirement and financial independence can come very early in life. Some made their best move retiring early, and some others have regrets retiring early. However, the reality is that, for most people, retirement will come with ‘old’ age. Just like when we stepped into pre-school, college, then our working life, retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is different if we enter into it at old age because it can send us back to pre-school.
Unlike pre-school, we do not have the benefits or disadvantages of life varied experiences, successes and failures. It is nevertheless a chance for us to redesign our life into something new, different, and maybe vibrant. Most life commitments done away with, and free from the shackles of ‘forced’ worklife.
More than half of retirees have retirement regrets. It is a painful part of your existence to wish you can go back in time and start all over again. To have a second opportunity to correct mistakes, love and express it, forgive before it is asked for or avoid devastating decisions. Ever wondered what you would say to your younger self at retirement?
Retirement offers a unique freedom that can only be maximized if you are prepared. When should retirement planning start? How should you prepare for retirement?
Send me an email and let us evaluate your personal circumstances.
“Don’t get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life”
–@Dollyparton
“Anyone with a pension or retirement is an investor in the stock market” – Brad Katsuyama
(via BrainyQuote.com)
“It’s nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.” — Gene Perret
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