What a wonder of buzz-speak is ‘vision’.  While in the workforce we hear about company vision, leader’s vision, departmental vision, group vision, and even more.  With all of those visions, it is easy for one to think they must be hallucinating.

Why then, did I title this post ‘Retirement Vision’?

In this case, I think that Vision is a more than appropriate place to start talking about preparing for retirement.  How often have you pictured what your retirement is going to be like, even if only in the back of you mind while daydreaming?  For most of us, it isn’t the sound or smell of retirement that we start with.  It is with the sights.

I want you to take a ten minute mental exercise.   Work through an entire typical day in retirement in your mind.  Start with the sights, but try to include all of your senses as you imagine that day.  Include the smell and taste of breakfast, the feel of your muscles as you move around.  Listen for the sounds that will surround you.  Don’t forget family and friends that you will share this with.  Picture this level of detail for everything that will happen for the entire day.

Go ahead and give it a try.  Thirty seconds isn’t long enough.   You want to craft this as a memory that you can bring up quickly and easily in the future.  Its OK to change you idea of a typical day as you go on.  Just repeat this exercise until your new ‘typical’ day is the easiest one to envision.

You may have to repeat the exercise several times until it you can get immediate recall of all your senses.  Enjoy the exercise.  This is going to be important from now until you get to retirement.

Why?  Simple, this vision is going to be your guiding light for retirement.  All of the saving, sacrifice, planning and effort that you are putting in to getting to and preparing for retirement is so that you can achieve this Vision.  Having a crystal clear Retirement Vision is going to help you meet your retirement goals.

Each time you think about doing something that will disrupt your path to retirement, this Retirement Vision will help you balance the current temptation against your future.  Every time that you are able to take a step closer to your Retirement Vision, the clear goal will become that much more real for you.   Instead of saving and sacrificing becoming a rote activity that carries no joy or positive emotion for you, turning your vision into reality will make the effort a positive experience.

As some of you may have guessed, this method can be used to help you save for any goal that you really believe in.  I chose retirement to start because it is a very long term goal for most of us, and having a regular way to positively reinforce what is happening is important.  I do not want to get to retirement and find out I did not spend enough time planning and saving for it.  Working at a J.O.B. until I am 80 is not in my Vision.

What is in yours?

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