A Letter to The Retirees of 2074

Recently I had the privilege – and a privilege it always is – to speak to first year accounting students at the University of Melbourne’s School of Accounting.

Over the last five years or so I have been asked to come in and explain where the subject that many feel like they are enduring fits within the broader onion that is called the business world.

On this particular day I explained the importance of accounting and how it sings to the willing listener as to how an organisation, an industry, an economy moves and heaves.

As I spoke to the 200 attentive minds (I tell them that if I catch them looking at their social media I will ask them a question – it works flawlessly every time!) I was asked what was the wisdom of someone that was earning a wage before they were born could impart.

We started talking about that if – God or no God willing – they are healthy they can expect to be retiring in the late 2060s or the early 2070s.

I pointed out that that their employment horizon is to them what 2019 is to the first year university students of 1964.

As I left the palace of further education and was driving home I was struck – as in the way one is when you think of a great joke five minutes after the moment has passed – of what I would say to those that are just about to embark on that meandering, frustrating, illuminating, rewarding, stressful path called a career.

And so this is my letter to the retirees of 2074.

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To Whom It May Concern,

Standing before you was a person that is 30 years into a career that is – mind blowing as it sounds – likely to be just past the half way point.

By this station in one’s odyssey we all have stories that we can share that told well could fill the pages of a tome perhaps still that only the author would care to read.

So I will not bore you with the details of who said what when and why.

Rather may I gift you with my sonnets of insight so that it may benefit you on your journey.

Firstly – work in a job that you enjoy.

This is not to suggest that there will not be days where you will completely and utterly despise everything that your job has delivered to your desk but if that emotion of dread and misgiving is the overriding impression that years of toil have left you then – at least in the eyes of this soul – you have thrown a large part of your being to the wind.

There are too many people that one meets along the way that project disappointment and despair because they are doing a role where they haven’t taken the time to consider what else is out there.

Don’t be that person.

Be the person that searches and continues to search for that moment that pushes you to a boundary that now seems unachievable.

Be that person that on the last day of your work in 2074 can say to the most important audience of all – yourself – that each day you learnt something new.

Secondly – never confuse what you do for who you are.

The mistress of career temptation can seduce you into believing that your role defines you.

It doesn’t.

Never confuse your salary with your worth.

Never believe that your title makes you a better person – a title is but the imprints on a resume.

Never be so engrossed in what it is that you are doing to forget that one day the music will stop.

It always does.

Thirdly – seek love.

Not love in the sense of a life partner but bless you if you are so lucky.

Instead it is the love shone brightly when you help the person that can offer nothing in return.

It is the love that is a timeless legacy passed through the generations when you mentor someone that craves guidance.

It is the love for one’s self that comes when you remain faithful to a goal despite the ravages of time and misdirection.

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Be brave my friend for we are on this mortal earth but once.

And may you live by the mantra of the greatest President of all time – Abraham Lincoln:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it”

Warm Regards

A Retiree from the Late 2040s