So as I explained last time with my brilliant exposition of my grasp of first year, first month algebra, the transitioning process is not one of giving up all work but one of re-balancing the elements of ones life in a new fashion...less of work but more of the work you really love...more time to do things slower and a more leisurely paced manner to recognize reduction in energy...more time for travel...and so on.
With this breakthrough, I did a thorough analysis of my work and business and got real clarity of what I wanted to be doing and not be doing. As always the law of unintended consequences was invoked and I discovered that my entire marketing, selling, and service delivery system was based upon how I was working before and wasn't going to operate the way I want to work going forward. This has led to a rather busy period reinventing how I do things. A bit stressful in the short run but necessary to get the transition I want.
Enter unintended consequence number two. As I have been trying to tell people, business colleagues, what I'm doing, I keep getting these quizzical responses. "So you're retiring?" "When are you retiring?" "So I heard you're stopping?" This isn't what I want. I struggled with this for a little while until I realized it is the manifestation of a behavior pattern I've seen many times in my career. People mostly think and perceive in very limited preconceived thought patterns. Transition is an unknown concept to most people. So when in doubt they plug me into a concept they understand - retirement, stopping working. Unfortunately when people do that they are basically discounting you and thinking, "he's out of the game." Not what I want.
So I've had to rethink how to explain what I'm doing. Now I just explain in terms that to focus on my exit/succession business, I've had to restructure my service delivery system. Sort business mumbo jumbo but effective. And I've gone from dressing more relaxed to dressing up with full coat and tie, kind of a symbol of "I'm serious about business."
We'll see how it goes.
2 comments:
Ah the tie now makes more sense!
I think there are few people like you who enjoy what they do and don't picture a day when they "get to" just stop doing it. So it makes sense that most don't understand your view of this transition. Sounds like you're figuring things out and making it work to your advantage though.
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