My Future's So Bright... I Gotta Wear Shades: A practical workbook including 18 fun but life changing exercises, a signature Goal Setting tool, Planning checklists and Bucket List ideas designed for those seeking reason and meaning in Retirement.

By Andrew Rutter

This is a practical workbook including 18 fun but life changing exercises, a signature Goal Setting tool, Planning checklists and Bucket List ideas designed and built for those seeking to live their best life in Retirement.
Some of the learnings you can expect to get from this book are as follows:
• Frameworks to help you define your Purpose.
• Concepts to assist your Self-Belief.
• How to develop a Roadmap to achieve your dreams.
• Powerful Goal setting frameworks.
• Alternate ways of defining Retirement.
• Your relationship with Money.
• How to build a Bucket List.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Feb 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685832698

Book preview

Introduction                           

I’ve never written a book but admire people who have.

I’ve read many of the classics, love crime thrillers (hello Lee Child & Harlan Coben) and devour Australian fiction writers such as Tim Winton & Jane Harper. My love of reading came from my mother and to this day we swap books with each other on a regular basis. 

The thought of one day writing a book has always been in the back of my mind but not a driving motivation, until now.

Why now? Well, lately I’ve been contemplating winding back from the workforce into part or full-time retirement (not a term I like by the way - more on that later) and have been researching the concept of finding a purpose in retirement. What will I do in retirement? What is on my bucket list that I now have more time? How will I fill in my weeks? Not just with hobbies, travel and socialising but also with things that are meaningful and motivating?

I’ve read plenty of books, articles and online posts on the topic and I’ve kept a workbook of ideas, notes, diagrams, and ideas. It was whilst I was working through all this information that the lightbulb moment of writing a book dawned on me. 

How many others out there are trying to figure this stuff out? It can't be just me. 

So, I reasoned that whilst I'm on my own journey of self-discovery, sharing what I am learning could help others who are also seeking to define how they want to live this next phase of their life.

Then it also dawned on me that I have no idea how to write a book. Just because you read them doesn’t mean you know how to write them!

So, that's been a bit of a challenge. But hopefully I have managed to package together a range of ideas and wisdom (only some of it mine!) in a logical way. I’ve tried to put the information together in a workbook format for you to keep a record of your thoughts, reactions and plans as you sift through the various chapters. In this way, it becomes your book, your journal, your plan of attack as you tackle this new chapter of your life.

I promise you that I’m no self-help guru. I’m not directing you to my website to sign up to my new 10-part course, there’s no religious angle convincing you to find meaning by joining my cult and there is no up-selling, cross-selling, or selling of any kind. Which probably makes me a terrible salesman, but that’s not my motivation. My motivation is to provide you with a framework to help you develop a compelling future for yourself.

The Serious Bit…

There are too many stories of people who struggle to find a new purpose in their post-working life. They often have a lot of ego and self-importance wrapped up in their job and have wide networks of associates (and perhaps some friends) built up over an entire career. That's hard to leave behind. Especially hard if you don’t have something to replace it with.

We all have casual connections with people on a day-to-day basis, both in and outside the workplace. It's amazing how quickly you are forgotten at work when these casual connections cease. So, you need to replace the work connections and new connections based around your non-work passions and projects.

You need to replace your work purpose with something. You can’t define yourself as the ex-CEO of Acme Co. forever, and equally you can’t get around defining yourself as Retired - whatever that means. Living in the past and not having any purposeful activities or anything new to motivate you does nothing to stimulate your brain and could lead to mental health issues down the track. You know the old adage – Use it or lose it – well that applies to your brain as well as your body.

I have personal experience of my friend's father who had the big corporate job, the international travel, the large number of staff who looked to him for leadership and whose ego and sense of self-importance never recovered once he retired. His job was such a big part of who he was. It was his reason for getting up every day. When he retired he was lost. He missed his past life and had no concrete plans for his new life. If you think about it, you will know someone in the same boat.

Similarly, a friends father-in-law was retrenched from his role at 58 years of age and couldn't find work again. He was so miserable that people who met him would say ‘Crikey, I’m never going to retire if I turn into someone like him!". Not finding work was difficult, but if he had other passions and another purpose his demeanour would have been far more positive.

In many ways, it feels natural to see a person’s profession as an important detail of who they are. It can be a clue into their values, interests, or background (or simply help two strangers pass time at an awkward cocktail party!). But if you define yourself by your occupation alone, you are ignoring other important areas of your life, such as your family, your friends, your hobbies and interests, your passions, and your contribution to society.

A good friend and contributor to this book, business coach and mentor Richard Jones, has done a great deal of research into this area of retirement transition. He has worked with professional sportspeople and businesspeople on how they define themselves and how they re-define themselves once they have moved on from their occupation. He has a great quote for this transition. 

You need to design a better life than you are currently leading, in order to retire. 

Hopefully, the content in this book will help you do just that. 

So why the book?

Firstly, it's my hope that the information in this book will help people to,

Define their purpose in this next phase of their life,

Have sufficient self-belief to design this next phase, and

Build a roadmap to achieve their dreams and goals.

If can help others along their journey of self-discovery to find reason and meaning in retirement, to find their purpose and the motivation to chase that purpose, then I would consider this book a success. 

Secondly, there is not enough focus on the Mindset of people as they enter this phase of their life. It is normally only about the Maths - do I have enough money to retire?

The Maths is only one part of the picture. The Mindset is something that is not given enough consideration. It's normal to look forward to spending this next phase of life in leisurely pursuit of the things that you enjoy. Clearly that is one of the key motivations for phasing out work to pursue those passions. But is it enough? What else is possible? You have this time to learn new things, create new memories, contribute to society, and leave a legacy for the next generation. Have you thought about that? This book will hopefully allow you to reflect on some of these concepts.

Lastly, I don’t want to be the bloke who has no plans for his post-work life. I intend to fill it with enjoyable stuff. I'm on the same journey as you are - to define my purpose for the next 20-30 years, to design how I intend to live my life and to ensure I have a strong roadmap to get there. 

I'm using the book as my own self-help guide as well. So, it had better be good or I'm toast!

So, that’s my Why.

I hope the content in this workbook helps you find yours.

Enjoy your journey.

Let's Get Started…

Before we dive into the first chapter, I should give you a heads-up on what to expect from this book.

First, it's a workbook for you to make notes as you go along. I will ask you some thought-provoking questions, provide some exercises for you to complete and provide some content for self-reflection. These are voluntary but to get full value from the workbook I would encourage you to attempt these exercises.

Second, you will need some tools before you start on this workbook.

An open mind on how bright your future can be.

If you are using a print version of the workbook, make sure you have a highlighter to mark any sections that resonate and a pen to complete the tasks at the end of each section, so this becomes your personal workbook.

If reading an E-book, grab yourself a notebook or journal to capture thoughts, jot down notes and complete the tasks in each section.

Third, some of the personal insights you can expect to get from this book are as follows.

Frameworks to help you define your Purpose.

Concepts to assist your Self-Belief.

How to develop a Roadmap to achieve your dreams.

Powerful Goal setting frameworks.

Alternate ways of defining retirement.

Your relationship with money.

How to build a Bucket List.

Music Warning: I love music so you will find some random song lyrics scattered throughout this workbook. So, if the content is boring at least you might be prompted to listen to some songs. That will brighten up your day!

I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

Chapter one we didn't really get along

Chapter two I think I fell in love with you

You said you'd stand by me in the middle of chapter three

But you were up to your old tricks in chapters four, five and six

The way you walk

The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh

In four or five paragraphs

All your compliments and your cutting remarks

Are captured here in my quotation marks

Don't tell me you don't know the difference

Between a lover and a fighter

With my pen and my electric typewriter

Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal

I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel

Everyday I Write the Book – Elvis Costello

Artwork by Andrew Rutter

Chapter 1: Have you done your Maths?

Maths + Mindset + My Health = My Compelling Future

(Ma + Mi + Mh = MCF) to get all mathematical on you!

This is not a financial planning book. This book assumes you have developed a financial plan that ensures you have sufficient funds to retire. If not, there are plenty of books dedicated to the topic of retirement financial planning. Better still, retain the services of a professional financial adviser to coach you towards your desired financial outcomes. 

This is also not a book about your health. I might touch on some areas to do with mental health and tools to lower stress, but I don't stray into physical health issues. These are personal. Plus, I'm not a qualified medical practitioner. But what I will say is that you can develop some brilliant motivating goals for how you want to live your life in retirement, but if your health lets you down you won't achieve them. So do the basics. You know, eat as well as you can, don't smoke, moderate your alcohol consumption (my personal great challenge!), get some regular exercise in whatever form makes you happy, be social, laugh a lot, be mindful of your mental health and visit your doctor regularly to stay on top of any issues. Just the basics.

This book concentrates on the psychological aspects of retirement - the Mindset. What you want to do in retirement. Finding new reason and meaning. Finding a new purpose and setting goals. Finding new ways of mattering to those in your orbit. Finding your North star. 

It's full of practical exercises, tips, and suggestions to assist you in creating your compelling future in retirement.

The above formula is important though. You need to have the maths sorted, the mindset sorted, and any health issues sorted in order to fully enjoy the transition into your post-retirement phase.

Maths

There are some basic concepts you should have a grasp on;

Assets less Liabilities = Net Assets

Income less Expenses = Net Income

Do I have sufficient Net Assets to generate my desired retirement Net Income?

If you don’t understand the above concepts, then you definitely need to have a chat with someone. It's important to have certainty about your financial situation heading into a phase in which you are reliant more on passive income from investments not income from salaries or business dividends. It's important to know that you have enough.

To help you more with the Maths side of things I have included three conceptual case studies to assist your thinking.

1. The basic 20 times rule

The first basic concept to get your head around is how much money you need to live on each year – then multiply that number by 20. This is a