A blogger I follow recently shared the following paragraph from the book The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance:

“Scientists who study human motivation have lately learned that after basic survival needs have been met, the combination of autonomy (the desire to direct your own life), mastery (the desire to learn, explore, and be creative), and purpose (the desire to matter, to contribute to the world) are our most powerful intrinsic drivers—the three things that motivate us most.”

In other words, once you have a roof over your head and food in the fridge, you want to take a step or two up Maslow’s Hierarchy and focus on things that bring happiness and fulfillment. Retirement is the ideal time to make that a reality.  Financial independence means that the money is covered, so you’re free to pursue the things that bring meaning.  Both are important.  The money will help you sleep at night.  The meaning will give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  With that in mind, here are 3 simple rules for retirement that will help you find meaning and purpose.

Rule #1: Control your time.  We all want to feel like we are in control of our life and directing its course.  The good news is, no matter how old you are or how much money you have, you control part of our life right now.  Congrats! You’re (sort of) retired!  Maybe you control 10 percent.  Maybe 50 percent.  No matter the amount, make the most out of it.  Be motivated, intentional, creative, thoughtful, curious, introspective, willing to take risks, healthy and active. Be disciplined with whatever time you control now because the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. It’s tough to flip a switch at retirement and go from decades of deferring your dreams to really living.  Be a good steward when you control 10-20 percent of your time and that will help you when financial independence allows you to control 80-90 percent.

Why is controlling your time so important?  Because, to paraphrase Annie Dillard, how you spend your days is how you spend your life. If you spend your time doing the things that are important to you, then you’ll look back on life as time well spent. If not, you’ll have plenty of regrets. In fact, the number 1 regret of the dying, according to the aptly titled book The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, is this: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

We should learn from that. The author interviewed hundreds of people who are where we will one day be.  They had lived their entire life.  They got out of bed thousands of days in a row and with each new day they had the freedom and opportunity to do what they wanted.  And yet, when they reached the end, their top regret was, “Man, did I make the wrong choice most days.  I didn’t really live the kind of life I wanted.  I didn’t do the things that were important to me.”  So if you want a remarkable retirement, control your time.  Know what you want out of life and take those plans very seriously.

Rule #2: Be a lifelong learner.  We saw earlier that it’s human nature to want to learn, explore and be creative.  Show me someone who loves to learn new things and I’ll show you someone who will most likely have an interesting, rewarding retirement.  Why is that?  Learning comes with a host of benefits.  It keeps your mind sharp.  It keeps you engaged with advances in society.  It helps you to know yourself and discover new things.  It gives you new people to interact with.  It gives you something fun to do with your spouse or significant other.  It provides personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.

And when I talk about learning, I’m not talking about learning in the traditional, sometimes boring sense of the word (e.g. What year did the Spanish-American War start?), but in the fun, practical, interesting sense of the word (e.g. How do you scuba dive?).  In other words, pursuing knowledge and experiences that enrich your life.

One of the great things about our world today is that self-learning (also known as Autodidactism) is easier than ever.  Gone are the days when you need an expensive education or lengthy apprenticeship just to learn more about something that you find interesting.  Now you can just sit down on your own time and access a plethora of resources, tools, apps, books, and videos on just about any topic that interests you.  Take advantage of that.  Be a lifelong learner.

Rule #3: Make a difference to someone or something.  One of the most popular posts I’ve written at Intentional Retirement is 15 Practical Ways to Live a Purposeful Life. One of the most popular books in recent memory is The Purpose Driven Life. Neurologist, psychiatrist and holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said that striving to find meaning in one’s life is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans.

In other words, we’re hard wired to want purpose and meaning. That need doesn’t somehow vanish when you enter retirement. If anything, it gets stronger. When I talk to clients that have been retired for a while, the desire to find purpose and to leave some sort of legacy that outlasts them is important.

Your bucket list doesn’t need to consist entirely of bungee jumping and exotic travel.  As Shakespeare once said: “Leisure is a beautiful garment for a day, but a horrible choice for permanent attire.”  Don’t get me wrong. You should absolutely do fun and interesting things. Splurge on yourself. Be a little selfish. Those things are great, but don’t forget to add items to your list like giving, serving and volunteering as well. Maybe that means doing something like my retired friend Dan who spent three months volunteering on Mercy Ships in the Congo. Maybe that’s building houses for Habitat for Humanity like my client Bill. Maybe it means volunteering in your church or running for town council. Whatever it is, be thinking of ways to use your time, treasure and talents during retirement that will have a positive impact on others and will bring meaning and purpose to you.

~ Joe