Are You Ready For Retirement? It Could be Around the Corner

Posted on February 24, 2010
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Book Review: The 4-Hour Work Week, Expanded and Updated.

Best-selling author Tim Ferriss thinks you’re working too hard and he’s probably right. According to the American Institute of Stress between 75% – 90% of doctor visits each year are related to stress and much of it from our jobs.

Tim Ferriss’ book creates a whole new paradigm for employees and managers alike: What if you could do more in less time and still collect a full-time pay check? Ferriss gives real life examples of how managing your email and calendar can free you up to start living again.

He even shows you how to outsource aspects of your busy life so you can focus on more important time with family and friends. Hey, if corporations can outsource work to India, why shouldn’t you? Now you can hire a virtual assistant to order flowers for Mothers Day or help you research that marketing proposal you promised the board of directors last week.

While most 9 to 5 office workers probably aren’t comfortable letting go of their day to day routines to India, there is another idea proposed by Ferriss that I think will catch on: “Mini Retirements.”

The current mindset is that you work hard your entire life until you’re 65+ and then you stop working to do all the fun traveling and hobbies you didn’t have time for while in the workforce.

Instead, Ferriss encourages workers to carve out time for mini retirements, vacations and shorter work weeks so we can “sharpen our saws” and return to our jobs energized once again. This is good advice that’s easy for busy executives and managers to forget in the deadline-driven world of marketing.

According to a survey by Right Management, sixty-six percent of employees admitted to not taking all their vacation in 2009. That’s due in part to a recession and the fear many employees carry with them on the job. If the office can run without them, then maybe the office just doesn’t need them. However, this mindset leads to a point of diminishing returns. Many studies have proven that regular breaks from the workd-a-day grind can actually make employees more productive, and happier.

Ferriss’ book is inspiring, even though it seems a bit of stretch to believe any of us can really expect to work only 4 hours a week and still keep up with our peers. And bestselling authors like Ferriss know you have put in long hours to be successful author, speaker and blogger. His blog has many useful tools for anybody interested in new ways of working offsite. There’s just no way he’s doing all this working 4 hours a week.

He has one idea that is worth pursuing, and that’s vacations. We should all take mini retirements and the vacations we’ve worked so hard to earn.

So if you notice a co-worker or team member is burning-out, remind her/him that it’s okay to take a vacation day. If we can’t handle mini retirements along the way, how will we ever handle real retirement when we’re older? It takes practice!

Jim Larranaga is President and CEO of Priority Integrated Marketing based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He consults with marketers nationwide on effective communication strategies. Visit http://www.priorityresults.com or follow Jim on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jlarranaga