- Email: [email protected]
From Full Time to My Time
From Full Time to My Time Pamela Austin Thompson, MS, RN, FAAN
A
recently retired nurse leader describes
cussed for a successful and rewarding transition
the planning and execution of her retire-
from working full time to being in control of your
ment. Key considerations are presented and dis-
L
arge numbers of baby boomer nurse leaders are nearing or at retirement age. Transitioning into this next role can be exciting and fulfilling, or confusing and disconcerting. Many individuals are not approaching retirement with the traditional expectations of totally leaving the workplace. www.nurseleader.com
own time.
Images of travel, relaxing, reading, and not doing any health care–related work are being blended with worthwhile contributions to society and purposeful and meaningful activities for personal fulfillment. Nurse leaders may be at the peak of their productivity and knowledge, and want to do more but
Nurse Leader
319
are unsure how to proceed. Can retirement incorporate a reduction in workload and still be a rewarding professional opportunity? I think yes. I retired 2 years ago and am just now feeling that I have successfully moved from full time to my time. Over the 2 years, I have spoken to many nurse leaders, physicians, and other health care leaders who are wrestling with the prospect of retiring. Some of the interesting questions I have been asked include: How did you know it was time to retire? How did you do it? Are you bored with retirement? How do you fill your days? How are you staying productive and using all that you have learned over your career? Did you just wake up one day and say, “Today I will retire”? Of all the inquiries, the comment I was the most troubled by was: “I don’t think that I can retire because I don’t know what else to do with myself besides work.” The purpose of this article is to share what I have learned about retirement as a transition and to pose some important considerations about how one can make it a successful, purposeful, and enjoyable career move. There is no proposed script, but there are helpful insights that can be considered.
PREPLANNING No, I didn’t just wake up one morning and say that I am retiring. I began considering retirement well in advance of declaring it. At least 2 years before I retired, I was making lists and gathering information about what this decision would entail. The aspects and questions that you may want to consider to strategize retirement include: 1. Can you financially afford to retire? Have you looked at what you want to do in your retirement and considered how you will fund it? Have you coordinated your desire to retire with your significant other or family? 2. What do you want to actually do when you retire from full time? Do you want to work part time? Why and for how long? Do you want to consult or be employed in some manner? What hobbies do you have, or better yet, what experiences would you like to explore when you retire? For example, I wanted to raise honeybees. I had no experience in being a beekeeper. To become competent in this new activity, I needed to take a beekeeper class that would require 6 months of preparation before I could begin. I also wanted to take a pottery class, and I could start that right away. Not everything starts the moment you retire, and it is fun to let it evolve.You can talk to others who have retired and hear what they have done as well. One caution: don’t rush to fill up the calendar. Take your time. 3. If you want to travel, where do you want to go? Begin creating your list of travel goals so you can think of scheduling trips and building your retirement budget. Also, consider your future health in planning travel.You will want to have the physical stamina to match your travel destinations in the future. 4. Are there activities/projects that you are involved in now that you want to continue post retirement? How feasible will it be to continue them? I belonged to a
320
Nurse Leader
nursing learning community in which I wanted to maintain my membership. I have been able to do that, and it remains a very important part of my professional development. These may go to the top of your retirement list because they are important to you. Retirement doesn’t mean that you stop learning and participating in your profession.
SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS Your age at retirement will impact your Social Security benefits. Be sure to study the options so you can make the best choice to meet your financial requirements. For example, you can retire, but not take your Social Security benefit until you are 70, thus receiving the maximum dollar allocation. Review all the options and consequences to coordinate with other retirement benefits. You must register for Medicare at age 65, but you can delay the full payment of the benefits if you work past 65 and receive health coverage from your employer. Again, you will need to contact Medicare to see what works best for your circumstances. Although Medicare offers significant coverage, you will want to consider supplemental insurance to cover expenses that Medicare doesn’t cover, especially pharmacy benefits.You might be surprised at what you will need to pay out of pocket for Medicare, supplemental insurance, and pharmacy benefits. Everyone has different retirement benefits from their employer. Consult with your human resources representative in advance when planning the exact date of your retirement and the impact on your employer-related benefits such as 401K, defined benefit, and health insurance. All may change on retirement depending on your final day of work. Consider using a professional financial planner to assist in coordinating all your retirement considerations to maximize your benefits.
WHAT MAY SURPRISE YOU Most roles in nursing leadership require you to interact with people on a consistent basis.You may spend as much time with colleagues as you do with family and friends. Daily contact is reduced once you retire. So, although it may be nice to leave the heavy workload behind, you might miss close colleagues. Think about how you can stay in touch— phone calls, e-mail, lunches, and professional meetings will be important links to your networking community. Staying in touch becomes more important when you don’t have the routine times to interact with colleagues as you had when you were full time. If you have had administrative support for calendar management, travel arrangements, and document preparation, you may find that you are now your own administrative support. You might want to learn those new skills before you retire. Also, your resources for delegating tasks may significantly diminish. It will be new workload to manage. Your daily “routines” will change. The good news is you will be more in control of what you are doing, but you will
October 2018
most likely have to structure a new routine if that is important to you. One of my surprises was the increased interactions with community individuals who weren’t involved in health care, such as the book club, pottery class, and my beekeeper association. I had not realized how much of my personal identity was tied to being a nurse leader. It was not uncommon that, when meeting new people, they would ask what I did. My response was “I am retired,” and they responded, “That’s nice,” and the conversation continued. Few people wanted to know what I did before I retired and just wanted to get to know who I am now. It made me realize that I had a broader description of who I am. I shall always be a nurse at heart, but that was not the primary lens that new acquaintances used.
THE FIRST 6 MONTHS A wise colleague told me not to commit to any health care– related work for at least 6 months. It was excellent advice. Another colleague told me to rediscover and indulge in simple pleasures. My simple pleasures started with my morning routine: waking up without an alarm clock, 2 cups of coffee, reading the entire newspaper and not just the headlines, and finishing the crossword puzzle. It gave me peace in the morning and helped me reset my overall routine. It was an important first step of living life differently. Taking the 6 months’ break also provided unexpected dividends. I wasn’t rushing about from one activity to another, and I discovered that I had a time to just think. I experienced greater creativity with the decrease pace of decision making. It surprised me how accustomed I had become to working fast and focused. Stepping away from that approach reconnected me to a more thoughtful side of myself. Slowing down my thinking produced clearer thoughts and deeper reflection. It was like welcoming home a long-lost friend—myself. The protected 6 months also gave me more time with my spouse. If you have a partner or significant other, you may find that you will be resetting that relationship as well. The relationship that is built during our career-focused years is shaped by factors that may be altered in retirement. For example, I traveled extensively the last 15 years of working. My spouse had to get used to having me around all the time. We enjoyed this, but it did require some adjusting. A good sense of humor is invaluable. The 6 months provided ample time to consider what I wanted to do next. I had a long list of potential ideas that I had generated before I retired. Reviewing that list in the calm of my quiet time caused me to re-evaluate priorities. What fit best with my newfound simple pleasures discipline? What really would make me feel productive and engaged? I confirmed that I wanted to stay involved with health care. The desire to give back became an overarching goal and criteria for considering next steps. I am very committed to leadership development, especially for early careerists. This provided a path for combining my desire to give back, to mentor, and to do work that I enjoyed. I made a list of what other things I could do well, but then prioritized all the ideas according to what would also bring me joy. www.nurseleader.com
At the end of 6 months, opportunities suddenly began to present themselves. I was able to evaluate them using a new set of criteria.Yes, I can do this, but do I want to do it? Does it meet my new goals? Deciding “yes” or “no” was much easier. Learning to say “no” was much harder. I tell my story as an example. The 6-month hiatus can offer time for self-reflection and re-evaluation.You are in control in a way you may not have experienced in your fulltime career. It is your time to restructure how and if you want to work in this next phase of your life. It can be very interesting to see what opportunities show up when you aren’t searching. Although you may have a list, how the list gets fulfilled may surprise you.You get a phone call from someone who has you in mind for something. It might not be what you were thinking about doing. How will it mesh with your plan for retirement now that you may have defined your goals more clearly? That can become the excitement of having the unexpected present itself. At the end of 2 years of retirement, you might have a calendar judiciously peppered with what you value and enjoy.
TWO YEARS OUT I have been retired 2 years. I am enjoying the non-health care activities that I have previously mentioned. Regarding health care, I am now on the board of trustees for a regional health system and the academic medical center that is the system’s flagship. I have joined 2 advisory boards for health care–related businesses. Each board offers a different experience in governance. It has been enlightening to see how my nursing experience applies to different business focuses. I have also volunteered to serve on an advisory panel for a nursing alliance focused on academic progression. I have been a consultant to a school of nursing, 2 nursing associations, and a hospital for strategic planning and leadership development. I would encourage all nurses to explore board participation, but especially retired nurse leaders. Health care boards benefit from the experience and perspectives of nurse leaders. Corporate boards also present opportunities to participate in product development, policy development, and improvement of health care services. A nurse brings a multitude of insights about patient and family care, delivery systems, hospital operations, health care priorities, quality and safety, management, and leadership. Participation means you must understand governance issues related to fiduciary responsibility and strategic thinking. It is an exciting new skill set to learn. Am I busy? Yes, as busy as I want to be. Am I bored? I am not. Do I feel like I am giving back to my profession and society? Absolutely yes. Do I love retirement? Most certainly. It seems like each day, I discover new things that I can do and learn.
SETTLING INTO A NEW LIFE Life in retirement, “preferment,” “untethering,” or whatever moniker you want to give your new adventure, will be different. However, the goal should be that it is rewarding and pleasurable.You have an opportunity to rediscover who you are, what is important to you, what gives your life purpose at
Nurse Leader
321
this juncture in your working career.You can be as busy as you want doing what you enjoy.Your priorities are yours to set. They can include keeping your body, mind, and soul healthy, giving back to your profession, volunteering for causes you value, or discovering that you have a totally new focus. What did you put off for years because you “didn’t have time”? Might you discover a hidden talent in the arts that fulfills you? Do you want to try a different career? The choices are limitless. The key is to approach this new period in life thoughtfully and to plan for it. Don’t wait until you retire to plan. This can be an exciting journey as you move from full-time nurse leader to life that is built around your time. NL Recommended Reading
Braun Levin S. Inventing the Rest of Our Lives:Women in Second Adulthood. London, UK:Viking Penguin; 2005. Jelinski E. How to Retire Happy,Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get From Your Financial Advisor. Edmonton, AB, Canada:Visions International Publishing; 2015. Malloch K, Porter-O’Grady T. The Career Handoff: A Healthcare Leader’s Guide to Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer Across Generations. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International; 2016. Sedlar J, Miners R. Don’t Retire, Rewire. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books; 2003. The Transition Network, Rentsch G. Smart Women Don’t Retire-They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time. New York, NY: Springboard Press; 2008.
Pamela Austin Thompson, MS, RN, FAAN, is CEO Emeritus of AONE in Manassas, Virginia. She can be reached at [email protected]. 1541-4612/2018/ $ See front matter Copyright 2018 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2018.07.006
322
Nurse Leader
October 2018
A
recently retired nurse leader describes
cussed for a successful and rewarding transition
the planning and execution of her retire-
from working full time to being in control of your
ment. Key considerations are presented and dis-
L
arge numbers of baby boomer nurse leaders are nearing or at retirement age. Transitioning into this next role can be exciting and fulfilling, or confusing and disconcerting. Many individuals are not approaching retirement with the traditional expectations of totally leaving the workplace. www.nurseleader.com
own time.
Images of travel, relaxing, reading, and not doing any health care–related work are being blended with worthwhile contributions to society and purposeful and meaningful activities for personal fulfillment. Nurse leaders may be at the peak of their productivity and knowledge, and want to do more but
Nurse Leader
319
are unsure how to proceed. Can retirement incorporate a reduction in workload and still be a rewarding professional opportunity? I think yes. I retired 2 years ago and am just now feeling that I have successfully moved from full time to my time. Over the 2 years, I have spoken to many nurse leaders, physicians, and other health care leaders who are wrestling with the prospect of retiring. Some of the interesting questions I have been asked include: How did you know it was time to retire? How did you do it? Are you bored with retirement? How do you fill your days? How are you staying productive and using all that you have learned over your career? Did you just wake up one day and say, “Today I will retire”? Of all the inquiries, the comment I was the most troubled by was: “I don’t think that I can retire because I don’t know what else to do with myself besides work.” The purpose of this article is to share what I have learned about retirement as a transition and to pose some important considerations about how one can make it a successful, purposeful, and enjoyable career move. There is no proposed script, but there are helpful insights that can be considered.
PREPLANNING No, I didn’t just wake up one morning and say that I am retiring. I began considering retirement well in advance of declaring it. At least 2 years before I retired, I was making lists and gathering information about what this decision would entail. The aspects and questions that you may want to consider to strategize retirement include: 1. Can you financially afford to retire? Have you looked at what you want to do in your retirement and considered how you will fund it? Have you coordinated your desire to retire with your significant other or family? 2. What do you want to actually do when you retire from full time? Do you want to work part time? Why and for how long? Do you want to consult or be employed in some manner? What hobbies do you have, or better yet, what experiences would you like to explore when you retire? For example, I wanted to raise honeybees. I had no experience in being a beekeeper. To become competent in this new activity, I needed to take a beekeeper class that would require 6 months of preparation before I could begin. I also wanted to take a pottery class, and I could start that right away. Not everything starts the moment you retire, and it is fun to let it evolve.You can talk to others who have retired and hear what they have done as well. One caution: don’t rush to fill up the calendar. Take your time. 3. If you want to travel, where do you want to go? Begin creating your list of travel goals so you can think of scheduling trips and building your retirement budget. Also, consider your future health in planning travel.You will want to have the physical stamina to match your travel destinations in the future. 4. Are there activities/projects that you are involved in now that you want to continue post retirement? How feasible will it be to continue them? I belonged to a
320
Nurse Leader
nursing learning community in which I wanted to maintain my membership. I have been able to do that, and it remains a very important part of my professional development. These may go to the top of your retirement list because they are important to you. Retirement doesn’t mean that you stop learning and participating in your profession.
SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS Your age at retirement will impact your Social Security benefits. Be sure to study the options so you can make the best choice to meet your financial requirements. For example, you can retire, but not take your Social Security benefit until you are 70, thus receiving the maximum dollar allocation. Review all the options and consequences to coordinate with other retirement benefits. You must register for Medicare at age 65, but you can delay the full payment of the benefits if you work past 65 and receive health coverage from your employer. Again, you will need to contact Medicare to see what works best for your circumstances. Although Medicare offers significant coverage, you will want to consider supplemental insurance to cover expenses that Medicare doesn’t cover, especially pharmacy benefits.You might be surprised at what you will need to pay out of pocket for Medicare, supplemental insurance, and pharmacy benefits. Everyone has different retirement benefits from their employer. Consult with your human resources representative in advance when planning the exact date of your retirement and the impact on your employer-related benefits such as 401K, defined benefit, and health insurance. All may change on retirement depending on your final day of work. Consider using a professional financial planner to assist in coordinating all your retirement considerations to maximize your benefits.
WHAT MAY SURPRISE YOU Most roles in nursing leadership require you to interact with people on a consistent basis.You may spend as much time with colleagues as you do with family and friends. Daily contact is reduced once you retire. So, although it may be nice to leave the heavy workload behind, you might miss close colleagues. Think about how you can stay in touch— phone calls, e-mail, lunches, and professional meetings will be important links to your networking community. Staying in touch becomes more important when you don’t have the routine times to interact with colleagues as you had when you were full time. If you have had administrative support for calendar management, travel arrangements, and document preparation, you may find that you are now your own administrative support. You might want to learn those new skills before you retire. Also, your resources for delegating tasks may significantly diminish. It will be new workload to manage. Your daily “routines” will change. The good news is you will be more in control of what you are doing, but you will
October 2018
most likely have to structure a new routine if that is important to you. One of my surprises was the increased interactions with community individuals who weren’t involved in health care, such as the book club, pottery class, and my beekeeper association. I had not realized how much of my personal identity was tied to being a nurse leader. It was not uncommon that, when meeting new people, they would ask what I did. My response was “I am retired,” and they responded, “That’s nice,” and the conversation continued. Few people wanted to know what I did before I retired and just wanted to get to know who I am now. It made me realize that I had a broader description of who I am. I shall always be a nurse at heart, but that was not the primary lens that new acquaintances used.
THE FIRST 6 MONTHS A wise colleague told me not to commit to any health care– related work for at least 6 months. It was excellent advice. Another colleague told me to rediscover and indulge in simple pleasures. My simple pleasures started with my morning routine: waking up without an alarm clock, 2 cups of coffee, reading the entire newspaper and not just the headlines, and finishing the crossword puzzle. It gave me peace in the morning and helped me reset my overall routine. It was an important first step of living life differently. Taking the 6 months’ break also provided unexpected dividends. I wasn’t rushing about from one activity to another, and I discovered that I had a time to just think. I experienced greater creativity with the decrease pace of decision making. It surprised me how accustomed I had become to working fast and focused. Stepping away from that approach reconnected me to a more thoughtful side of myself. Slowing down my thinking produced clearer thoughts and deeper reflection. It was like welcoming home a long-lost friend—myself. The protected 6 months also gave me more time with my spouse. If you have a partner or significant other, you may find that you will be resetting that relationship as well. The relationship that is built during our career-focused years is shaped by factors that may be altered in retirement. For example, I traveled extensively the last 15 years of working. My spouse had to get used to having me around all the time. We enjoyed this, but it did require some adjusting. A good sense of humor is invaluable. The 6 months provided ample time to consider what I wanted to do next. I had a long list of potential ideas that I had generated before I retired. Reviewing that list in the calm of my quiet time caused me to re-evaluate priorities. What fit best with my newfound simple pleasures discipline? What really would make me feel productive and engaged? I confirmed that I wanted to stay involved with health care. The desire to give back became an overarching goal and criteria for considering next steps. I am very committed to leadership development, especially for early careerists. This provided a path for combining my desire to give back, to mentor, and to do work that I enjoyed. I made a list of what other things I could do well, but then prioritized all the ideas according to what would also bring me joy. www.nurseleader.com
At the end of 6 months, opportunities suddenly began to present themselves. I was able to evaluate them using a new set of criteria.Yes, I can do this, but do I want to do it? Does it meet my new goals? Deciding “yes” or “no” was much easier. Learning to say “no” was much harder. I tell my story as an example. The 6-month hiatus can offer time for self-reflection and re-evaluation.You are in control in a way you may not have experienced in your fulltime career. It is your time to restructure how and if you want to work in this next phase of your life. It can be very interesting to see what opportunities show up when you aren’t searching. Although you may have a list, how the list gets fulfilled may surprise you.You get a phone call from someone who has you in mind for something. It might not be what you were thinking about doing. How will it mesh with your plan for retirement now that you may have defined your goals more clearly? That can become the excitement of having the unexpected present itself. At the end of 2 years of retirement, you might have a calendar judiciously peppered with what you value and enjoy.
TWO YEARS OUT I have been retired 2 years. I am enjoying the non-health care activities that I have previously mentioned. Regarding health care, I am now on the board of trustees for a regional health system and the academic medical center that is the system’s flagship. I have joined 2 advisory boards for health care–related businesses. Each board offers a different experience in governance. It has been enlightening to see how my nursing experience applies to different business focuses. I have also volunteered to serve on an advisory panel for a nursing alliance focused on academic progression. I have been a consultant to a school of nursing, 2 nursing associations, and a hospital for strategic planning and leadership development. I would encourage all nurses to explore board participation, but especially retired nurse leaders. Health care boards benefit from the experience and perspectives of nurse leaders. Corporate boards also present opportunities to participate in product development, policy development, and improvement of health care services. A nurse brings a multitude of insights about patient and family care, delivery systems, hospital operations, health care priorities, quality and safety, management, and leadership. Participation means you must understand governance issues related to fiduciary responsibility and strategic thinking. It is an exciting new skill set to learn. Am I busy? Yes, as busy as I want to be. Am I bored? I am not. Do I feel like I am giving back to my profession and society? Absolutely yes. Do I love retirement? Most certainly. It seems like each day, I discover new things that I can do and learn.
SETTLING INTO A NEW LIFE Life in retirement, “preferment,” “untethering,” or whatever moniker you want to give your new adventure, will be different. However, the goal should be that it is rewarding and pleasurable.You have an opportunity to rediscover who you are, what is important to you, what gives your life purpose at
Nurse Leader
321
this juncture in your working career.You can be as busy as you want doing what you enjoy.Your priorities are yours to set. They can include keeping your body, mind, and soul healthy, giving back to your profession, volunteering for causes you value, or discovering that you have a totally new focus. What did you put off for years because you “didn’t have time”? Might you discover a hidden talent in the arts that fulfills you? Do you want to try a different career? The choices are limitless. The key is to approach this new period in life thoughtfully and to plan for it. Don’t wait until you retire to plan. This can be an exciting journey as you move from full-time nurse leader to life that is built around your time. NL Recommended Reading
Braun Levin S. Inventing the Rest of Our Lives:Women in Second Adulthood. London, UK:Viking Penguin; 2005. Jelinski E. How to Retire Happy,Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get From Your Financial Advisor. Edmonton, AB, Canada:Visions International Publishing; 2015. Malloch K, Porter-O’Grady T. The Career Handoff: A Healthcare Leader’s Guide to Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer Across Generations. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International; 2016. Sedlar J, Miners R. Don’t Retire, Rewire. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books; 2003. The Transition Network, Rentsch G. Smart Women Don’t Retire-They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time. New York, NY: Springboard Press; 2008.
Pamela Austin Thompson, MS, RN, FAAN, is CEO Emeritus of AONE in Manassas, Virginia. She can be reached at [email protected]. 1541-4612/2018/ $ See front matter Copyright 2018 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2018.07.006
322
Nurse Leader
October 2018