Today is the first day of the rest of my life. No, that is not a trite simile. I am now retired. Yesterday was tough – all the final goodbyes, the packing up of my laptop and phone, and finally, looking at my now-bare desk. Bittersweet. This six month journey was filled with experiences – some wonderful, and some challenging. I have some final comments on my work transition before this blog really becomes about retirement.
Category Archive: Work Transition
I have 4 work weeks left until I retire. There is something special about that number. It’s real, and it’s coming soon. I am strangely serene about this whole Outgoing process, and anyone who knows me realizes just how unusual this is.
Nor should it. That’s the mantra I’ve been saying to myself over and over the last several weeks during my extended work transition. After two months, I’ve learned quite a bit about what transition really is. In keeping with my last post, here is a list of what I’ve learned so far.
Today was my last day of full time work. My last day of checking email while still in bed. Last day of putting in 12 hours of working with clients, composing emails and working on powerpoints. Time to celebrate with my family, right? ….. Hah.
I’m in my last three weeks of full time work, and I find myself struggling a bit. I need to keep myself going by focusing on what I can do, what I need to delegate, and what I just can’t do at all. It’s called Letting Go, and it’s a lot harder than I thought. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
I’ve always joked that I only look at my company’s job postings to make sure my job isn’t in it. Usually good for a chuckle. Today, there it was – a job posting for my replacement.
I can’t believe I am writing these words. Yes, I had The Conversation with my boss. It went very well. Here’s why.
After a lot of thought, and discussion within the family, I decided I would offer my boss an arrangement where I could work part time on contract for a while, use that time to help hire and then train my replacement, continue to offer global PR consulting to the company’s clients, and pass on some more knowledge to my stellar team.
The User's Guide to Retirement 