Retirement is about reinvention - Klay S. Williams explains

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you retired wondering what am I going to do now?
Or maybe you're thinking about retirement soon. Some ideas for
you coming from the creator of Just Beginning, which helps
Americans reframe retirement. Clay Williams is here. Clay walkme in,
Thanks for being.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Here, good morning, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
You know, everybody asks me, oh j two, Well yeah,
in your mid sixties, are you ever going to retire?
What are you thinking? I'm thinking I like what I do.
I don't think I'm going to retire. Everybody I talked
to the retires says, oh, I got to get busy.
I gotta do something, you know. So and by the way,
retirement is an issue of finance and not necessarily age.
I'm finding out more and more so I'll probably die

(00:36):
behind a microphone. So what do you do when you
reinvent retirement for people that are thinking about this and
make it worthwhile and fun?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Absolutely so. Forty six percent of people who are about
inter retirement have not thought about what they want to
do to bring them happiness and fulfillment. And what the
Just Beginning project does is walk them through supports to
help us figure out not only who they are, the
recuit point in time, but also what can bring them
much more purposeful passion and unlock their creativity to bring

(01:07):
their all these decades of their lived experiences into a
brand new opportunity for themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So what seems to be the biggest issue when you
talk with some of the jumping in with just beginning
the organization you're in charge of, when they come in
and you talk with somebody the first time, is there
a common denominator of what's on their mind and what
they're thinking and process.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely, the number one thing is thinking that retirement was
going to be one thing and it ended up being
something else. To your exact point, a lot of people
felt like, Okay, I'm going to go in and retire and
just relax and just you know, maybe just travel, maybe
spend time with their grandkids. And they realized a year
in that this was not what they actually envisioned for

(01:49):
their retirements because they're not doing exactly where you're talking about,
having expanded purpose and utilizing creativity to do something that's
fulfilling for them on their own terms. Thought that once
they ended they're nine to five, their you know, serial career,
that they would just want to relax and life doesn't
end up being that for them, now I do.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You're right. I think everybody's got a purpose, you know,
in their life and things that they have a passion for.
And just because you retire and you know it, doesn't
mean you lose your passion and purpose. So I would
think that most people may want to do what they love,
but just do it on their own time and clock.
Does that seem to be the route to go.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, that's an exact route to go. But what's really
interesting about that is one in three older adults in
retirement steel isolated and lonely because they have not thought
about that. They have not been able to have that
level of connection, that level of community, or being able
to reinvent themselves. I think maybe for you and me
and other folks who have maybe like that similar kind

(02:52):
of drive, it may be a little bit more easier,
But for a lot of folks this is sort of
their lived experience because they're not doing the things that
we're just talking about.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
All right, So what do you do when somebody walks
in and they exemplify that, say, Wow, I just really
am not really sure what I can do or what
I want to do. Where do you start them, are
you step one, two, three? What do you do?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Absolutely? Step one is looking at your identity and we
call it the identity reshuffle exercise. People in they're about
to retire retire, we all have forms of identity. We
start with your professional identity. What were those identity factors
that defined you? Your personal identity, societal identity, and then generational.
That generational aspect is really important because society will tell

(03:33):
you at this particular age, no, you shouldn't go back
to school at this particular age, No you shouldn't write
this book, you are too old. We want to look
at what are those identity factors and help people determine
what are the new identity structures that you want for yourself.
It's hard to know where you're going if you don't
realize where you're headed and why those pitfalls can be there. Now,

(03:55):
we support people closing the gap between their past and
their present to figure out if there's anything they need
to work through from an emotional well being standpoint. So
once those three factors are together, we're now on our
pathway to defining what that chapter is for you. We
actually created a film at just beginning that info that
walks literally your listeners or viewers even through the process.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
That is really great insight. Clay Williams, thank you so much, buddy.
I appreciate you being here, creator of Just Beginning. If
you're getting ready to retire,