I’m 55. I’m Not Ready to Retire. So What Comes Next?

I realised this week that I have not posted an article here since March.

Six months.

I am not entirely sure where those weeks went.

Actually, that is not true. I know exactly where they went. Into work, travel, conferences, meetings, family, commitments and a diary that seems to refill itself faster than I can empty it.

Which is probably why this particular article has been sitting in my head.

I turned 55 this year, and I have found myself thinking more and more about what the next stage of life looks like.

We keep calling it retirement, but I am not sure I really believe in retirement as a concept.

Martin turns 65 in a few months, so naturally we talk about it. He officially retired on 30th June. When will I retire? Will I work until 60, 65 or 70?

The truth is, I have absolutely no idea.

What I do know is that I cannot imagine simply stopping.

I like working. I like being useful. I enjoy leading, building things, solving problems, mentoring people and taking on interesting challenges.

What I am less sure about is whether I want to keep doing all of that in exactly the same way for another 10 or 15 years.

I was thinking about this recently while sitting on yet another plane, away from my family. My laptop battery had died, so instead of working I was listening to podcasts, playing a game and thinking about all the things I could be doing differently.

Maybe I should write more articles.

Maybe I should finally write the book I keep talking about writing.

Maybe I should create something that earns money while I sleep.

Or perhaps I should just go on more cruises.

All perfectly reasonable options.

The point is that I am starting to think much more deliberately about what the next stage of life looks like.

Earlier this year I wrote about checking whether we are actually spending our time on the things we say matter to us. I had realised how quickly opportunities, commitments and worthwhile work can fill the diary, often before we stop to ask whether they still fit the plan. On Track or Off Course?

I still struggle with that.

For much of my career, saying yes has served me pretty well. Say yes to the challenge. Say yes to the opportunity. Get on the plane. Have the meeting. Start the new project. Work out how to make it happen.

And I am certainly not suggesting I want a life where nothing happens.

But at 55, I am becoming much more conscious that I am no longer trying to build a career. I have one. And I love it.

That changes things.

The question is becoming less about what else I can achieve and more about how I want to use the time, experience and opportunities I have in front of me.

I look at people who continue working well into their 60s and 70s. Some clearly love what they are doing and have made a conscious choice to keep going. Others seem to be doing exactly what they have always done because they have never made a conscious choice to do anything different.

That is what I do not want.

I do not want the second half of my life to be a long wind down to nothing particularly purposeful. But I also do not want to wake up at 70 and realise I have spent another 15 years with the same ridiculous diary, flying around the country and saying yes to everything because that is simply what Michelle does.

I want this stage to have value.

I want to keep contributing and leading. I want to use what I have learnt over more than 30 years of work and leadership. I want to mentor more people, write more, speak where I can genuinely add something and perhaps finally turn some of the things sitting in my head into something other people can use.

That idea of legacy has been part of my thinking for a while. I have written before about the fact that legacy is not something we suddenly think about when we reach the end of a career. It is built through the people we invest in and the contribution we make along the way. Build a Legacy That Lasts

But I am beginning to think there is another part of legacy too.

At some point you have to capture what you know.

There is not much point accumulating decades of experience, mistakes, lessons, stories and hard won wisdom if all of it disappears when you eventually leave the room.

Perhaps that is why I keep coming back to writing.

I have talked about writing a book for years. I have lots of ideas. I have plenty of stories. What I have been less successful at is actually writing the book.

Apparently thinking about writing does not count.

So perhaps part of this next stage is starting smaller. Writing articles. Capturing ideas as they emerge. Turning some of what I have learnt into material that can outlast the meeting, the conference or the particular role I happen to be in today.

I also know I want more space.

More time with Martin and my family. More travel that does not involve a conference agenda. More room to think rather than constantly moving from one commitment to the next.

I wrote at the end of last year about freedom in leadership and the need to decide what we carry forward and what we let go. I admitted then that I am not particularly good at letting go. Nothing much has changed on that front. Freedom to Lead Forward

Perhaps this is the next version of that question.

What do I want to carry into the next 20 years, and what have I done for long enough?

I do not know whether this next stage starts at 60, 65 or 70. I am beginning to think it probably does not start with a birthday at all.

Maybe it has already started.

Maybe at 55 the important thing is simply recognising that there is another stage ahead and being intentional about what I want it to contain.

For me, that will still include work, purpose, contribution and leadership.

But I hope it will also include family, freedom, writing, creating and a great deal more choice about where I spend my time.

And, if I get the balance right, considerably more cruises.

I am not ready to retire.

I am ready to start thinking about what comes next.