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Anytime Retirement & Reinvention

Career, Contribution and Vocation, Reinvention | 0 comments

Anytime Retirement & Reinvention: Going For Something Bigger

Athletes “retire from the game” at different ages and stages, and with varying degrees of health and wealth. Like any successful person in business or professional life, they focused their physical, emotional and financial resources – not to mention time – in one direction. Then they reach a point when it’s time for a new one. Lessons from the athletic world show how what’s next can be even better.

A recent article in TheSportster.com, a Canadian online magazine caught my attention. Entitled “NFL Players Who Gave Up The Game For Good,” it highlighted stories of several professional football players and how they reinvented their lives.

Considering some inspiring examples can help you see what a successful transition looks like. It’s one way to start getting support for your next moves rather than doing it on your own. Knowing what to consider to comprehensively explore all your possibilities, and then how to discover your preferences and best decide among them, is not necessarily part of your skill set. Working with someone who has them can speed the process along.

So while getting where you want to go next will take some effort, having help will make it easier – and more likely to actually happen.

Time To Stop Beating Yourself Up?

Getting to a place of success takes a lot of hard work. It may be a labor of love, whether in sports, business or professional practice, but it is still work. There are a lot of sacrifices. Other interests, relationship and activities get set aside. There may other things that cause you to stop and reconsider what is really important to you in your one wild and precious life – even injuries or illness to overcome.

In weighing risks and rewards, sometimes the repercussions of the toll current work is taking, can be the reason for a reinvention.

In his early thirties after 9 seasons, the Detroit Lions all-time leading receiver Calvin Johnson, Jr. decided to retire with $67.7 million remaining on his deal. Why? He was just ready to leave the daily grind of playing football. As reported in the sbnation.com article entitled “Calvin Johnson says he retired because he’s ‘fed up’ with football,” he is quoted as saying: “It was just body. I was just tired of it, fed up. Just had enough.” Nine years of intense physical activity was taking its toll. After leaving the game, Johnson initially plowed his physical prowess into a stint on television’s Dancing With The Stars, and reports the best thing he’s done since leaving football was getting married.

Rediscovering Personal Identity, Passion And Purpose

Since then, it’s been an exploration. Who am I, what am I to do? During the transition it’s a focus on how to choose related activities and involvements… and why.

Being sought out for his knowledge and experience, Johnson set aside going back to school and initially got engaged as a private football consultant working with high school kids vying for college scholarships, college players preparing for the professional draft and even former NFL colleagues. He also works on the foundation he started to impact the lives of at-risk youth to help them “rise out of seemingly difficult situations and mature into productive members of society.”

In an article entitled “In Retirement” published by ThePlayersTribune.com, he put it this way:

“For most of my life, I’ve been identified as a football player. But I am so many other things.
And that list has expanded since leaving the game. I’m a husband and a father, a friend, a coach, a mentor and an entrepreneur. I’m a skier. A surfer (kinda). Hell, I was even a dancer there for a minute. And school is still in the forecast, too. So I’ll be a student again soon.
I guess what I’m saying is … if you see me in an airport somewhere near you, let me save you some trouble.
No, I’m not coming back. I appreciate all the love. I really do.
But football was my passion.
It is not my purpose.”

Aim For Your Something Bigger

What’s next may not be fame or money related, even if continuing to build your finances is a part of it. Certainly your own growth and development will continue to be involved. That may include a lot more than you think – if you take the time to imagine your passions, identify a new purpose and pursue the possibilities.

Even though he was only 36, former NFL wide receiver Anquan Boldin retired after 14 NFL seasons and a Super Bowl Championship. That took some time and focus. Afterward, he turned that focus to activism, just as the 2017 neo-nazi protests in Charlottesville, VA were happening. In a radio interview with Sirius XM, he said “I think, for me, there’s something bigger than football at this point.”

So fill in your own blank: “For me, there’s something bigger than ______________.”

That’s a good place to start, as you aim for something more satisfying and fulfilling, and just maybe to live a little more well-rounded life. But knowing you’re ready to leave and even knowing where you want to go is only a start. There is still a big gap to actually getting there.

Ready To Take A First Step?

If you’re starting to think about something new, take my New Directions Quiz. In less than 5 minutes, it can help you consider where you are on your journey – and where you might prefer to focus. Access it here, no optin needed: http://newdirectionsquiz.com/ and I’ll send you your results!

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