How Does A 4 Hour Work Week Sound? Part 10

January 27, 2011

As you age the only thing that makes you less useful in any sense is your value to an employer.  This is all because of retirement pensions and employers having to pay them to retired employees.  The closer you are to retirement age, the less working years an employer can get out of you, and so the less value you are to an employer.

So anyone that says “the clock is ticking” regarding the number of working years you have left is simply speaking from the perspective of having been an employee facing eventual obsolescence, and is not at all considering your actual ability and usefulness in the business marketplace, now or in the future.

The biggest problem with conventional retirement is people losing their own sense of purpose.  Many people who have always dreamed of having a certain job are therefore defined by their job.  With time any job that isn’t just a rote “do as you’re told” job comes to define that person.  It structures what they do with their time to a large extent, most of the people they know and associate with (both professionally and personally) and how they use their own abilities to do the job.  So a job really defines many people, giving them a personal sense of purpose, structure, discipline and social belonging.

When retirement takes that job away from them it also takes away a huge part of what made life meaningful for them.  Suddenly there is a big vacuum in many a newly retired person’s life: much time and little to do.  Many people don’t really know what to do with freedom, even when they have it in spades!  Further, when employers deem you obsolete, many retiring people take it personally.  It’s a major blow to their self esteem, and they truly believe they have nothing more to contribute work-wise to society.  I think this definitely invites ill health at a time when people are already in their declining years.

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: 4 Hour Work Week, 80-20 Rule, 90-10 Rule, Ferriss, Four Hour Body, Four Hour Work Week, New Rich, Nouveau Riche, Pareto Principle, real estate, real estate agent, realtor, Tim Timothy, virtual assistant