Boomer Women: Are You Rethinking Your Retirement Date?

If so, you are certainly not alone. Also, women are more apt to extend this date then men. Women earning $75,000.00 or more have a six out of ten chance of delaying retirement.

Those are high numbers and now there is even a term for this. If you are one of the six, you are part of the Threshold Generation, a term coined by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project.

Are you one of the women on the ‘threshold’ of retirement? If you are working longer than you had intended due to a financial drop in your nest egg, then yes, you are part of this group.

Then the question that begs to be asked is “Do you love the work that you do?” Let’s hope the answer is a resounding YES! If so, then working beyond what you had planned may be alright.

If not, how will you proceed? Are there some tweaks that you can do to make your job more desirable? Sometimes making small changes can make a big difference.
There are 3 types of work experiences or orientations: • A job
• A career
• A calling

A job is simply a means to an end. You get a pay check, period. Your interests and passions are fulfilled outside of your workplace.
A career is where you work for rewards beyond a paycheck. You may feel higher self-esteem, higher prestige and all around deeper investment than if it was simply a job.

A calling is something to strive for! You do the work because of the fulfillment it brings you. The work is an end in itself and you feel a passionate commitment for the work you do. Your work makes the world a better place and it contributes to the greater good.

With a calling, you are using your signature strengths (don’t you know what yours are? Go to: http://www.authentichappiness.org and take the VIA and find out!)

If you have a calling, you most likely have a stronger and more rewarding relationship with your work. It brings you a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Do you have a calling orientation? If you seek out work that fulfills your need for meaning and a sense of passion, then you do! You are proactive in seeking out and shaping your work so that it adds meaning and significance in your life. If a job or career doesn’t fit this, you keep looking.

Here’s a thought for you. YOU are the one who defines whether the work that you do contributes to making the world a better place. It is your own individual perception. It’s an inside job.

You can take the same job in the same organization and each individual gets to decide how to make meaning out of the work they are doing.

If you aren’t head over heels in love with your job, and you know you are going to be working longer than you had originally planned, you have a few choices. You can stay there and be miserable or you can go get yourself a new job.

Or, option 3. If you are great at what you do consider ‘job crafting,’ you change the way you approach your work or your tasks. What do you do now, that is for the greater good in the world, no matter how small? And don’t forget the relationships at your workplace. How can you nurture those relationships and find the best that people have to offer?

Sometimes it’s the little things that can make the biggest changes. What can you do now to turn your job or career into your ‘calling?’