As I captured the moment of this bee approaching a giant thistle flower, I noticed the largest of the two flowers had a bee nestled in, filling up on nectar. If you are beyond your middle years and have been thinking about “retirement”, consider re-engaging instead. What will be your new opportunity to approach and dive in? How will you immerse yourself into new sources of fulfillment that will be your life’s nectar?
Over the past decade of leading retirement seminars and providing one-on-one coaching for this major work/life transition, I have observed numerous limiting beliefs acting as barriers in the minds of many pre-retirees. These have been identified and addressed in live seminars across the country and currently in webinars (info included on this at the end of this blog).
Understanding the Impact of Your Occupational Culture on You, Over Time
One of the most subtle, yet significant, among these inner limitations is formed from the impact of the occupational culture one has worked in most, often across decades. This short story gets the point across. In a coaching session with a retiring client who had worked in highly responsible leadership positions for over 3 decades in the banking industry, ideas of entrepreneurship were explored. In his personal life, this client had also maintained a specific life-long passion and skill set that could be channelled into the prospect of starting a business.
Reflecting on my questions while we explored this vision, he suddenly identified one of the barriers in the way: an extreme aversion to risk he had developed in his workplace role. He knew this aversion was holding him back from really tapping the possibility of a business because every new enterprise includes a degree of risk-taking. Along with this fresh insight and awareness, this client also realized he could re-engage his strong leadership skills to lead himself into a serious exploration of the viability of the business he so desired, deep down.
Thinking of other examples of how one’s occupational culture affects personal identity over time, I recall several instances of accountants in previous live seminars expressing aversion for anything creative, except art as exhibited in galleries. “Creative accounting”, for instance, would be something frowned upon for it implied something equivalent to “cooking the books” or engaging in a similar unethical practice. Similarly, some accountants have said they were not creative because they were accountants. To this, I have responded by saying that I refrain from believing in stereotypes, while pointing out that, for the most part, their work is typically engaging other faculties in their brain. However, I have also heard a few accountants saying that they were yearning for creative endeavors as something totally different to re-balance the use of all their precious brain faculties and neural pathways. Some have talked about wanting to learn a musical instrument, or wood-working, watercolours, landscaping and gardening, and creative writing, to name a few.
What about you? Can you see upon reflections that, if you have worked in mostly one profession for a long time, your personal identity has likely been influenced, not only by your occupational culture but also by the culture of your organization which comprises of its own core values, ideals and even biases.
If you would like to better understand this influence as you disentangle your personal identity from your professional one, on the threshold of “retirement”, consider attending my next planned webinar through CPA Ontario. It’s called Beyond the Numbers: A Closer Look at Retirement Options, and here is the link to the webpage for more info and possibly to register.
We will explore a wealth of retirement essential topics including identifying what could hold you back, and what will accelerate your progress towards your heart’s re-engagement desires. You are invited; why not dive into this unique and comprehensive webinar opportunity that will yield much food for thought and clues to the essence of your life’s nectar, the purpose in which you will happily re-engage rather than merely retire. For more info you may also contact me: isabelle@inspiredmomentum.com
