Decisions That Shape Your Life Post Career

West Fork, Carson River – 2013

California

Empowered Choices Create a Life of Freedom

The time to transition from your career is drawing near.

Your vision for the next phase of life is coming into focus.

Your are growing more confident that the dreams born of your imagination will become a reality. 

Your smile reflects joy of anticipation. 

You take a deep, deep breath that seems to emphasize the satisfaction you feel for what you have accomplished in life.

You feel deeply the conviction that you have earned the life that your aspire to live.

I say to you: Well earned, well deserved!

A Time for You and New Perspectives

This is your time for dreaming, planning, executing and experiencing the emerging reality of it all. Amidst the excitement, it is also the time to apply the skills and wisdom you have developed over the course of your career to this very special time of your life.

You will probably experience a variety of profound feelings that coexist. 

A prominent example is about what is ending. You may be experiencing relief and joy for what will soon be in your personal rear view mirror. Or, you may be feeling a real sense of loss and the grief that accompanies it. For most of you, it is usually not one or the other. More commonly, these new feelings are a blend of both.

A very different experience is about what you will feel as you look forward in time. For most, there is an element of joyful anticipation. Others feel a sense of anxiety and even dread of the unknown. It is natural and common to feel a combination of these.

“To Thine Own Self Be True”

So, how can you best deal with this and more?

In the course of your long career you have developed a variety of skills, experience and wisdom. These have enormous practical value as you apply them to the many choices you will need to make.

Trust and be yourself.

The choices are many and sometimes may seem unrelated. But, for the most part, the choices you make and their consequences will commonly converge, like a funnel, to affect one experience of this major phase of your life.

That experience is your sense of freedom. 

More importantly, it is about your understanding and believing the degree to which you are now empowered to experience that freedom. To be more specific, your sense of how that freedom manifests itself in your life and that of your loved ones.

As you consider the many choices you will make, it’s critical to have a clear understanding of Who you are, your character. In a previous article, I discussed how this sense of Who you are is very different from What your career has been. 

It is also essential to have a clear conviction of your purpose in life and how it manifested itself in the past and will in your future.

Clarity and conviction about this will greatly empower you as you make important decisions.

This will have a direct, beneficial impact on your personal fulfillment, happiness and well-being.

The fullness of your life will directly impact the quality of life that your loved ones experience.

You will continue to be relevant to yourself and to others near and far as your successful example becomes a part of what they will someday model.

Your Freedom is Influenced by Your Choices

A prominent feature of your new freedom is the ability to choose how to use your time. It is inevitable that the opportunities you will have are legion, as are the requests people will make of you.

It will be very beneficial, indeed essential, for you to be consistent in considering the following as you make your daily decisions, both major and minor: 

It is as important to consider the impact of what to do as well as what not to do. 

Please remember that the cumulative impact of many minor decisions is, indeed, major. 

I encourage you to review my previous articles about these personal topics. They discuss matters that are critical to ensure your personal, ongoing success.

Updated: November 8, 2024

PS: Would you like to learn more about how to transition successfully from your career? I would like to guide you. I provide services to physicians, non-medical professionals, corporate executives, businessmen and entrepreneurs that are tailored to their specific needs. Click here to request an introductory conversation.

Splendorous Aspens & The Teton Range – 2008

Grand Teton National Park, WY