“Serenity Now!”(1) and “Peace, be still”(2), might be mantras we vocalise or silent pleas for help as we navigate through our busy days, but long term are not real solutions to coping with modern life. 
 

What we are trying to do in that moment, as we reach for a calmer train of thought, is to pause the relentless urgency that undermines our thoughtful deliberation, creativity, engagement of those around us and our ability just to get things done.  And whilst possibly effective in that very moment, the ability to balance all that we have going on in our daily lives, requires long term changes in our behaviour.
 

The challenge of changing behaviour
 

Creating new positive habits can make significant differences in your life and give you the skills to turn the impossible into the possible. But how easy is it to change our behaviour? A few statistics from Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project,(3) reveal change, unfortunately, is not that easy…
• 25 per cent of people abandon their New Years’ resolution(s) after just one week
• 95 per cent of people who lose weight on a diet regain it
• Most alarming is that after surviving a heart attack only 1 in 7 people make any enduring life changes around eating or exercise. 
 

We are indeed creatures of habit.  Some behaviors become so ingrained, such as smoking or biting our nails that we can’t stop even if we want to.  In fact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology research has identified two regions in the brain that are responsible for crystallising habits so it’s no wonder we find it so hard to break them.
 

So how then can we break these habits? Researchers are looking at ways to treat and break habits using deep brain electrical stimulation (think of it as a pacemaker for the brain), to suppress our unwanted habits – a little extreme perhaps? Before we line up to get rewired, there are some choices we can make to start our own patterns of change.
 

Making choices to embrace the best within
 

Chris Gardner (the man on whom the film ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was based), in his retelling of his battle to come out of poverty and homelessness, offers advice to embrace the best within us(2):
1) Make a choice to let go of judgment and accept who you are at your best
2) Choose to break generational cycles
3) Choose to accept that you are allowed to be happy and have abundance
4) Choose to learn from the past
 

Now, it isn’t easy to act on this advice, apply these choices and make time for what’s important when daily life stresses get in the way. 
 

Take John for example. I’m sure we could all relate to him…
 

John is a small business owner married to Kate a teacher and they have two children 13 and 10.  John is trying to: Run the business; be a good husband; be a good father, keep a handle on the finances, keep fit, maintain his friendships, mentor his staff, fit in a family holiday at some point and maintain the condition of his home…..Something has got to give!!
 

With his energy focused on so many activities, where would John find the time to make better choices and start making changes to his lifestyle?
 

Today we call it outsourcing, the Babylonians(4) called it “…one of the cures for a lean purse”, but the message is clear – outsource the things that you are no good at or not qualified to do so that you can have more time to focus on what’s important to you and what adds value to your life. 
 

So for John it meant joining a small business peer group, hiring a trainer for his staff, seeing a financial adviser and matching exercise with his friendship group. By doing this he freed up time for what was really important to him – being a good husband and father. 
 

Six tips to create new habits
 

John was able to free up his time to focus on making change and you can too. But it’s important to remember that change takes time and there will be some resistance along the way. Try these six tips to help you on your journey:
1) Don’t change everything at once: One or two things at a time
2) It takes about a month to lock in a new behavior
3) Be precise about what you want to change
4) Focus on a positive outcome rather than the negatives
5) Expect resistance (especially from yourself)
6) Enlist the support of others
 

Talk to a professional
 

Whether it’s your finances in 2014 that are a priority, the estate plan, those insurances that you need but don’t like talking about or even if it’s the no sugar diet (and that’s a tough one, I know from personal experience), you need to talk to an expert to understand how they can help. 
 

By enlisting the help of others you can then free up your time to make better choices and to start the journey towards creating new positive habits. 
 

Speak with our award winning planners today to see how you might benefit from the help of a professional.
 

1) “Seinfeld”, NBC, 1989 to 1998.
2) “The Pursuit of Happiness” Chris Gardner 2006
3) “The Energy Project” www.theenergyproject.com
4) “The Richest Man in Babylon” George S. Clason 1926.
 

Source: Zurich, January 2014
 

Disclaimer

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Living the good life, retiring happy, wealthy and wise

Retirement is a little like Clark Kent taking off the Superman suit. It’s peeling off an identity – from an industry, a company, or a personal work history – and entering an entirely new life stage.

There’s freedom and excitement, the time to do all the things we’ve been waiting for, but there’s also some fairly key life changes and adjustments to make, some of which may be totally unexpected.

Although retirement is one of life’s most mentally challenging milestones, retirement advice usually focuses on finance rather than feelings. Planning for both can make a tremendous difference.

The bright side & the down side

So, what are the changes we face when we step into the retirement phase?

Time stretches luxuriously in front of us, something many of us have craved our entire working lives. Time to travel, read the books we’ve always wanted to read, take up a new interest or spend hours doing what we love. Some of these activities require money; many just need a good attitude and a mind that loves a challenge. However they all hinge on what retirement offers: time, and a lot of it.

But retirement can carry a downside. As Dr. Robert Delamontagne writes in The Retiring Mind: How to Make the Psychological Transition to Retirement, “For the first time in my life, I had no answers. I had fallen into a black hole where there were no guideposts for me to follow. What had happened to me? I built a successful company and lived a very active and dynamic life…yet I had no clue what to do next. For the first time in twenty-five years, I did not have a company to manage, nothing that urgently needed to be done, and, most troubling, no one who needed me to make a decision or contribute to a discussion. I did not play golf, nor belong to any clubs, and had little interest in doing either.

I wish that I had though, because brother, was I stuffed.” 1 The challenges of retirement can be numerous – from dealing with a change in identity and filling the hours previously spent working, to being labelled ‘retired’ or feeling unneeded. With no job, industry, company or colleagues to confirm who we are and where we fit, it’s easy to forget our own sense of purpose.

Charting a new course

Whether retirement is a goal or an unexpected curve ball, planning for retirement mentally as well as financially is key. Some people take a hybrid approach and continue working – either part time, in a consultancy role, or in a new industry with reduced pressure (and salary).

Many choose to get involved as a volunteer, evidenced by the 34% of the adult population of Australia who volunteer at least one hour every week with community organisations.2 Others take on a new project, sign up for courses, or help family raise young children.

Charting a new course for retirement means we need to think about our values – and act on them. What we do with retirement will give us satisfaction if it lines up with what we truly value. It’s wonderful to take care of the grandkids, for example, but extremely important to decide upfront how much time you’re happy to give. And buying that beach house is only a good idea if you love relaxing, which some people actually don’t.

Feeling good about retirement is an important goal, but it may not come as naturally as we think. It’s important not to underestimate the psychological impact and that’s where planning can help. Sorting out real values from perceived values will help us transition into retirement – and live the good life we’ve been waiting for.

1 Delamontagne, Dr Robert P. The Retiring Mind: How to Make the Psychological Transition to Retirement, Synergy Books, 2010, pp.1 – 2.
2 Volunteering Australia FAQs. www.volunteeringaustralia.org

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