The UnRetiring Journey... What is Work?

There's no going back. There's only going forward

The phrase “going back to work” gets used so casually that most people don’t notice what it implies… a return to something. Maybe the same hours, the same structures, the same relationship with work that defined thirty or forty years of adult life.

That’s not what most people who’ve thought about it really want, and in most cases, not what’s available.

What is Work?

Work doesn’t necessarily mean a job or career. Work can also mean anything that one is committed to, is personally fulfilling and, in it’s best form, provides value to others.

The landscape of work has changed. So have the people who are considering returning to it.

What exists today may look little like the career, or job they left, and with some thoughtful planning, much more like something they might actually want to do.

Some Options Worth Naming

Consulting - is the most obvious and the most misunderstood. The assumption is that you hang out your shingle and clients appear, grateful for your decades of experience. The reality is more complicated.

Consulting works when you have specific, demonstrable expertise and a network that knows you have it. It doesn’t typically work as a vague offer to be generally useful. The people who do it well are ruthlessly specific about what they do and who they do it for.

Part-time and project work - is underrated and underutilized. The gig economy gets talked about as a young person’s game. It isn’t.

Experienced people with portable skills are increasingly well-positioned for project-based work that uses what they know without demanding everything they have. The trick is finding platforms and relationships that connect that supply to actual demand.

Staying in place… differently - deserves mention. Some people don’t need to find something new. They need to renegotiate what they already have.

Fewer hours, different responsibilities, a role that uses their experience without the parts that were wearing them down. More employers are open to this conversation than people expect, particularly when the alternative is losing someone irreplaceable.

Something Completely Different

Creating something new - is the option that surprises people the most, including the people who choose it.

This doesn’t have to be an extension of your previous career. It can be something completely different… a newsletter, a podcast, a small business, a course built around hard-won knowledge or a lifelong passion that never had room to grow.

The tools available now to build and reach an audience are unprecedented. For the right person with the right story to tell, this may be the best option on the list.

Or perhaps it’s a not-profit or volunteer role for a cause you find important and could benefit from your experience and perspective.

Some combination of all of the above - may be the most used option of all.

A little consulting, a little creating, a little of something new. Most people who navigate this well don’t pick a single lane. They build something that fits their life rather than fitting their life around a single choice.

It’s worth naming because the pressure to decide on a specific path forward can be as paralyzing as the decision itself. And a combination offers the opportunity to sample the path going forward before making a commitment.

No “One Right Answer”

These are are just few few of the UnRetiring options that people are navigating right now, with varying degrees of success… and almost no shared roadmap.

The generation entering this territory is capable, experienced, often financially stable enough to be selective… and they are pretty much making it up as they go.

Yes, there are retirement planners, life coaches, and LinkedIn posts that talk about life choices or encore careers, but many of those have a narrow point of view, or something they want to sell you.

What’s missing is open, honest conversation about what actually works, what doesn’t, and what it feels like to figure this out in real time.

That’s not going back. That’s going forward with a better understanding of what’s ahead.

That’s the conversation we’re building here. Please join the conversation.