Fancy a Mini Retirement?
The notion of “mini retirements” were first introduced by Tim Ferriss’ in his New York Times bestselling book; the 4 Hour Work Week.
This book encourages people to change their paradigm and focus on how to propagate a high “quality of life” in the sense of having both the time and money to enjoy the freedom afforded by wealthy people – without the need to amass great wealth.
One of the core concepts, suggests people should take a mini-retirements at regular intervals throughout their career and explore the world in their twenties, thirties and forties rather than use up the best years of their life working for someone else, feeling exhausted the whole time, sitting in a box office all day!
Not too long ago, the vast majority of people subscribed to something known as the 40×40 Plan, which referred to the fact people would get an education then work for forty hours a week for forty years of their life then retire on 40% of their salary.
It was at this point that people would finally begin to travel and explore the world yet at sixty fives years old people have very different levels of health, fitness and vitality than they did in their twenties – thus people aren’t always able to pursue the activities on their bucket list if they wait until retirement.
There’s also the sobering thought that not everyone makes it to retirement!
What if you spend your whole life working, holding out for the day you retire thinking that tomorrow will provide a much better life – only for tomorrow to never come. You have to live life now. Squeeze the most out of life, whatever that looks like to you, whether it’s taking an online course, traveling the world whilst teaching English as a foreign language, or something much more domestic.
Today, many people are looking for ways to squeeze the most out of their lives, particularly with regard to travel; and one of the best ways to do this is to take regular mini-retirements.
In today’s flourishing digital economy the opportunity to work remotely, from anywhere in the world, providing you have a laptop and a decent internet connection is in abundance. For many people, “living the dream” no longer features a corner office, fancy title, and fast car parked in their garage – it’s more akin to jetting off to an exotic location and working from their laptop on a beach whilst drinking from a fresh coconut.
WHAT IS A MINI RETIREMENT?
A mini-retirement could similarly be termed as a career break, a gap year, or a sabbatical – often involving travel to a cheap country where you engage in the practice of slow travel or even settle down for six months as a local.
Essentially, it’s less about traveling as a tourist and more about getting underneath the surface of a country by integrating with its unique culture.
The concept of a mini-retirement in itself is all about recognizing that life is short, unpredictable and (at times) tedious – which is why it’s so important to spread your wings, take some time out whilst you’re still young, and fully embrace all the world has to offer.
Today, it’s less about making tons of money and acquiring fancy things, it’s more about living a life of balance and squeezing the most from life and what the world has to offer. This is where mini-retirements can offer a great solution to squeezing the most from life.
Providing a daily digital source for motivation and inspiration for the perfect work/life balance.
Responses