The Most Important Decision I Ever Made

ON 15 April 2016, I retired from work, NOT FROM LIFE

I LOVED MY JOB... My most recent assignment was with a visionary and inspiring Chairman. He was on 24/7 and is hugely demanding but tempered it with a humble, generous nature and a wicked sense of humour. I was surrounded by colleagues that excite, inspire, touch and frustrate all at the same time. We loved the country and its gracious and warm people. Yes, we were very comfortable.

And so it was very difficult to hand in my resignation at the ripe old age of 57. And it was very tempting to agree with my Chairman when he made a charming pitch about the merits of working to 65.

I LOVE MY LIFE MORE... I chose to retire because what we want today is not what we want then. I want to spend more time with my family and friends, get in better shape, accomplish personal goals I only dreamed about and be accountable only to ourselves - my wife and me (well mostly).

SO HOW IS LIFE AFTER WORK SO FAR? Living a meaningful life after work requires full-time attention. So I stayed clear from work with exception of some advisory roles. Now I have time. So much timeeeeeee. Initially, it was weird and a bit scary and then both. But I stuck to the plan and started working hard on doing things I never did before. And one of these was Linkedin.

Wow, I am learning so much - digital marketing, the future of education, activist investors. But even more appealing were the people of Linkedin - a noble soul who is passionate about the healing power of music in special education, and an ex-colleague who works on eradicating poverty through sustainable funding for Unicef. The other cool thing is I write and mentor in Linkedin - one post had 1.7 million views.

We live our lives differently. My wife decided we should have as many homes as we want and live anywhere we want. So for 1/3 of our time, we'll be in Singapore, the other third in KL and the final third as global nomads, using budget airlines and Airbnb.

We want a quality life - mentally and physically. Who would have thought my best physical years would be after 57? The phrase "No pain, no gain" is especially relevant. You need to set a punishing pace and bear discomfort of intense effort to get the benefits from mental and physical exercises. So doing Sudoku is fine but learning the violin, or taking up a coding class plus a rigorous exercise regime will make the difference.

About 6 months into retirement, I felt something was missing. I could not quite put a name to it until I read an article by a wise friend - Jeff Barnes. That's when I figured out that I was lonely. But recently I reconnected with a dear friend who just returned to Singapore. It has been 15 years since I said goodbye to him. He has changed: a new life, new wife, new kids, new business. But we still laugh at the same jokes, enjoy the same drinks, share the same views on the incompetence of governments and - most importantly - we both have our hair.

Over some 24 months since retirement, we created new experiences- 1. stop 40-year-old habit - smoking 2. swim in island of Flores 3. mentor Linkedin connections 4. discover walking trails in Singapore 5. bring my 84-year-old mom furniture shopping for her new home 6. get 1 million plus LinkedIn views for a single post. 7. help my best friend relocate his business 8. exercise and eat better 9. fumble with Spanish in Barcelona and 10. don't feel bad when doing nothing.

What next? Do the 120 km Carmino walking trail, improve my Spanish, write a book about walking trails in Singapore and speak to undergraduates and MBA students at my alma mater. Will it happen? Don't know but I am gonna all of these my best shot.

LESSONS SO FAR

For some, figuring out the retirement plan is as fun as putting together your last will and testament - so we procrastinate. But unless you are a tenured professor or a business founder, retirement is almost always inevitable. So do the thinking and have the conversations you need with your loved one(s) and go into the next phase of life full of ambitions.

When I was planning my retirement, financials initially took center stage. But no one I know ever starves because they had no money but some became ill because of an empty life. So I started preparing differently. More time to prepare for a life full of ambitions, meaning and good health. This included trading business goals for life goals e.g. help my granddaughter conquer her fear of water.

Someone said that life has many iterations and ask me which version am I in. My response, "I am always a Work in Progress". The older I get, the more dreams I have.