Retirement Redesigned

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Saturday, February 8, 2025

Retirement Redesigned

HomeLearningContinued Growth in Retirement

Continued Growth in Retirement

The pleasing prospect of continued growth in retirement

A note from Johann

The stereotypes of life in retirement suggest that it is a time to kick up your feet and take it easy. You deserve it after a life of full-time work. Many look forward to this stage and relish the idea of giving up the responsibilities of working life. Rightly so. We think of prolonged holiday style living in an idyllic location. Though this idea is appealing for a time, retirement has become a multi-decade life phase not benefited by boundless periods of languorous living. A life of indolence is suddenly less attractive, as many retirees feel in the prime of life with vigour and vitality to match their appetite for new experiences and adventurous activities.

Continued growth is not so much about striving as it is about enriching our experience. As people now approach their retirement, there is a greater realisation of the need to have something meaningful to do in the twenty or thirty years that the experts with the backing of research believe healthy people will enjoy in retirement. Rather than idling away the years, which ultimately saps our energy, retirement is an opportunity to spend our time differently. We can satisfy our curiosity, deepen our knowledge, try new things and even learn new skills. These pursuits benefit us by building new neural pathways and keeping us engaged. This ultimately enhances our quality of life.

In this first newsletter of the new year, I’d like to wish each of you a year of continued growth in pursuit of a thriving retirement.
Johann


This week, our spotlight is on growth mindsets. This mindset helps us stay productive by cultivating mental, emotional, physical and spiritual skills that help us age more successfully.

Top Articles This Week:

The Importance of Self-Improvement No Matter How Old You Are

Image of a hand pointing towards an arrow moving upward to symbolise growth.

Our take:
Continued growth can also refer to continued self-development. After all, improved self-awareness can lead to improvement in all other areas of life too. This article by @lifehack is a good guide to tackling self-improvement at any age and lists some of the benefits like improved decision-making and better relationships.

Article excerpt:
Just the way learning should never stop, the same applies for self-improvement. The idea should be to focus on continuous self-development at every stage in our life and become better versions of ourselves.

Here are (some of the reasons) why self-improvement is important irrespective of your age:

• Increase Self-Awareness
The first step of self-improvement requires you to become more self-aware and get to know yourself better.

• Step out of Comfort Zone
It lets you face your fears, try new things, take risks and challenge yourself.

• Improve Mental Health
When you work on yourself, you get to know yourself better which lets you deal with your thoughts and emotions more effectively.

• Heal Relationships
When you work on improving yourself, you automatically improve your relations with those around you.

• Better Decision Making
Good decision making skills come from a place of clarity, self-awareness and confidence which is a direct result of self-improvement.

• Sense of Purpose
Deciding to walk the path of self-improvement and personal development gives your life purpose and meaning.

• Cultivate Self-love
Last but not the least, self-improvement cultivates self-love and compassion. By seeing yourself grow with every passing day, you build on your confidence and self-esteem.
Click here to read the full article on Lifehack.org


What is Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal development. While there is no standardized definition of lifelong learning, it has generally been taken to refer to the learning that occurs outside of a formal educational institute, such as a school, university or corporate training.

An image of graduation caps to symbolise lifelong learning.

Our take:
Lifelong learning refers to personal development based on self-directed education. It isn’t necessarily about formal schooling but rather refers to our approach to growth and development. This article covers the importance of lifelong learning, its benefits, some examples, and how you can adopt lifelong learning.

Article excerpt:
What is Lifelong Learning?
Lifelong learning does not necessarily have to restrict itself to informal learning, however. It is best described as being voluntary with the purpose of achieving personal fulfillment. The means to achieve this could result in informal or formal education.

Importance of lifelong learning
Whether pursuing personal interests and passions or chasing professional ambitions, lifelong learning can help us to achieve personal fulfillment and satisfaction.

It recognizes that humans have a natural drive to explore, learn and grow and encourages us to improve our own quality of life and sense of self-worth by paying attention to the ideas and goals that inspire us.

Examples of lifelong learning
• Developing a new skill – eg. sewing, cooking, programming, public speaking, etc.
• Self-taught study – eg. learning a new language, researching a topic of interest, subscribing to a podcast, etc.
• Learning a new sport or activity – eg. Joining martial arts, learning to ski, learning to exercise, etc.
• Learning to use a new technology – smart devices, new software applications, etc.
• Acquiring new knowledge – taking a self-interest course via online education or classroom-based course

Benefits of lifelong learning

  1. Renewed self-motivation
  2. Recognition of personal interests and goals
  3. Improvement in other personal and professional skills
  4. Improved self-confidence
    Click here to read the full article post on Valamis

The Beginner’s Guide to Continuous Self-Improvement

An image of a man looking out over a mountain to symbolise continued growth and self-improvement.

Our take:
James Clear is our favourite go-to expert when it comes to habits. And we think that an attitude of continued growth is a habit that can be cultivated. This article on self-improvement is a great springboard if you’re looking to propel yourself toward continued growth.

Article excerpt:
What is Self-Improvement?
Let’s define self-improvement. The definition of self-improvement is pretty self-explanatory: Self-improvement is the improvement of one’s knowledge, status, or character by one’s own efforts. It’s the quest to make ourselves better in any and every facet of life.

This post by James Clear links to all relevant articles he’s written on the topic of self-improvement. If you’re looking for an exhaustive list of resources this is a great place to start.
Click here to access the full article with resources on his blog


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An image of a mature elderly woman depicting that she is thriving in retirement.

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Other highlights for the week:

Most Popular Daily Thought

You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love. – Julia Child
Julia Child is one of our favourite examples of a late bloomer. She only started cooking in her 50s and decided to use French cuisine as her inspiration for learning. She is credited for making French-style cooking accessible to the American public and was a pioneer in televised cooking programs. The important element in this story is that she followed her interest to deepen her knowledge skills and understanding. If you do more of what you enjoy you are likely to want to delve deeper and deeper into the topic and grow your knowledge.
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Quote by Julia Child with an image of a mature elderly woman cooking.

Lastly……

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Johann
Johannhttp://www.resetretirement.com
Johann is the founding partner of Reset Retirement where we focus on assisting people with planning for the non-financial aspects of their lives after full-time work. He had a long career in executive search and leadership as the founding partner and chairman of Heidrick & Struggles in South Africa where he was the head of the company’s board practice.

DAILY THOUGHT