Good morning! It’s 5:30 a.m. on Monday. Today—and the rest of your life—will be different, starting now. Last Friday, you hung up your tool belt (or turned in your computer, iPad and cellphone). Your company email was frozen, and you no longer have access to the emails you got last week.

Perhaps there was a party or happy hour with your work friends celebrating the fact that you are now retired.

For the past 35 some odd years, you have been building buildings, maintaining facilities, estimating, managing projects, running a business or serving as a business manager for a local union. The arc of your career has demanded productivity every day. You’ve been driven to do more each day you were on the job.

So … what now?

For most of us, our work life fulfilled our need to succeed and feel accomplished. Each week, we looked forward to Friday and the weekend to refresh. Now every day is Saturday, each day a holiday. This takes some adjusting—and more importantly, preparation.

For sure, a certain percentage of the older electrical contracting workforce continues to work and find a great deal of fulfillment on that path. The shortage of skilled workers provides ample opportunity for this. However, most of us look forward to the day we don’t have to go to the job site or office anymore.

The focus of our industry is—and has been for a long time—to facilitate employee growth through various educational avenues and training processes. We advance in our careers so we can better our position in life. Fortunately, the opportunities are endless.

That said, it appears we do very little to prepare the workforce for the imminent wind-down. It’s a personal decision (most of the time) to bring our careers to a close. This happens without much, if any, training or coaching on how to go about moving into the next phase of our lives.

Are you prepared for this?

Navigating the transition

As chairman of the NECA Safety Task Force, I led a discussion on the effects of the decision to retire with our group of safety professionals. This discussion led to more research, and while I found financial advice, there is not much information on the emotional parts of retirement.

We put a lot of energy into being productive, problem-solving and creating new processes to streamline work duties. Suddenly, in retirement, that is not as important. This can create an empty feeling. The transition from needing to be productive each day to understanding it is fine to slow things down and relax can be a taxing emotional change.

The importance of mental health

Mental health is an alarming issue throughout the construction business. That doesn’t go away when we stop working. Indeed, the fact that we woke up today without a plan could bring on depression, disorientation and a loss of direction. The euphoria of not heading to work will wear off relatively soon.

The first day after quitting for good was still a shock even though I did have a plan. There were no emails or phone calls asking me to solve problems—no emails or calls at all, in fact. I felt like exclaiming, “Jiminy Crickets! Last week I was somebody, and now I’m nobody!”

Create an outline for your future

Prior to stepping down as CEO four years ago, there were seven major items I contemplated and used as an outline for my plan. I realized that I had (and still have) rituals as we all do, whether we’re conscious of it or not. It is important to recognize them. Some may be discarded, but you should continue the ones that make you feel most comfortable, at least for a while, to create a structure for your days. Without structure we can flounder, and that may lead to stress, depression and anxiety. These past four years have given me enough time to see that the plan worked.

Here is a possible outline to follow.

1. Financial planning

Search retirement planning online and you’ll find most results will bring you to some helpful financial advice, which is super necessary to have as the basis for your plan. Frankly, you should have started this in your 30s. Without a solid financial plan, leaving the everyday working routine will be infinitely more complicated for the simple reason that daily expenses don’t stop, even though the steady paycheck does. Do your homework—it’s critically important.

2. Develop a long, gradual glide path

I was able to transition from CEO to a reduced role as a project manager on a couple of projects. It was relatively easy and fun. Rather than just walking away, it gave me time to adjust my ego, begin pursuing some of my personal interests and lightened the load of decision-making. For some, it may not be with the same firm or even in the same industry. The point is to slow the pace of things without going cold turkey.

3. Discuss the transition with your partner

My wife and I had a fairly traditional way of life. After she retired from nursing, she pretty much took on the responsibility of what we call the Executive Director of Clark Enterprises—essentially managing the financial assets, taking care of the house and garden, planning holidays and vacations, being available for the kids and grandkids, making sure we made our regular appointments, etc. I, on the other hand, took care of the house and vehicle maintenance, but was mostly absent from the day-to-day activities on the home front, since I was busy with work.

That whole dynamic changed abruptly when I was home every day. Fortunately, talked a lot about what this transition would look like. No doubt it was still an adjustment, but planning for it and discussing how it would look and feel made it much easier. 

My father told me to make sure my wife and I include time away from each other in our retirement plan. Pursuing your own interests separately at least a couple times a week will make your relationship a lot more interesting and abundant. While I looked forward to spending more time with her, I didn’t want to drive her crazy with my hovering presence.

Have plenty of discussions with your spouse about what adjustments might be needed over the first few months until you settle into the new routine.

4. Maintain your health

Plenty of folks don’t see a doctor regularly. There’s no avoiding the fact that, as we get older, health issues that we never planned for will come up. Two years into my glide path and just prior to the pandemic, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and needed surgery. If I hadn’t gone for my physical every year for 10 years leading up to that moment, my doctor would not have had the data to make that diagnosis. Find a doctor you can trust and develop a relationship with them.

Beyond your primary care physician, you may need a variety of medical professionals to keep you on track, such as an ophthalmologist, dentist, dermatologist and physical therapist.

And this leads to exercise. The earlier you create a habit of exercise, the better. Face it—as we age, we deteriorate. Vigorous exercise a few times a week will set you up to ward off and slow down the deterioration. Remember, motion is lotion!

Having a strong exercise routine once you retire is also extremely helpful for filling those first quiet mornings when you feel you should be heading off to the job site. I work out at home, but if you have a favorite gym, start a routine. It’s also a great place to meet people and make some new friends. And speaking of friends ...

5. Friendships are crucial

Throughout our work life, we meet plenty of folks, and some of them become good friends. I can speak for men—I’m not sure it’s the same for women—but keeping up with and maintaining friendships is harder than it should be. 

Once we leave the everyday work routine, it’s easy to lose connections, and even harder to find and create new friendships. For us introverts, this can feel like a chore at times. What’s really rewarding is working on friendships with your spouse so you both can enjoy dinners, travel and other outings together with your friends.

When I say it’s crucial, I really mean it. Being alone and not having a couple of peers to discuss life’s ups and downs, or to have fun going out for a walk or playing pickleball with can have a huge impact on our mental well-being. One thing that helped me with this years ago was developing a relationship with a business coach. He quickly became a friend that I can proudly say I’ve known for more 20 years. Having a business or life coach is an incredible asset in planning out your future.

6. Nourish ourselves

As we go through our life, we concentrate on many things from career advancement to our kids’ soccer games, Little League or gymnastics meets. The fact is, we don’t pay enough attention to our relationship with our spouses, and we sure don’t take time for ourselves. The adage “Love thyself” applies here. If we can create a habit of nourishing ourselves early in life, adapting to retirement when we have the time to do the things we enjoy will come naturally.

7. Pursue interests and hobbies

Taking part in pastimes such as volunteering, participating in associations, learning a new language or musical instrument, pursuing art and reading are all ways to activate our minds and bodies. 

Beyond spending much more time with my family, I’ve always found solace in the outdoors, mountaineering, skiing, fly fishing, spending time on my horse, ice climbing and sailing. These activities force me to remain at a decent level of fitness and also provide mental and physical challenges. This is key. We didn’t even learn how to sail until two years ago! We can pursue a variety of interests that make life much more enjoyable, which will help with your frame of mind. 

The emotional stages of retirement

1. Imagination (5–15 years before retirement): We start dreaming of what it will be like to not head into work every day.
2. Anticipation (Up to 5 years before retirement): We begin to think more about being retired than what we’re working on at times.
3. Liberation (The first day and the first year): The euphoria during the first days and weeks is a wonderful feeling—but it fades if we don’t have a solid plan.
4. Reorientation (1–3 years into retirement): if we didn’t have a plan in place, we may regret our decision. Without having a new daily structure in place, strong connections with friends and pastime pursuits, depression and disorientation may be the prevailing sense of self. It is necessary to reevaluate and put a new plan into action to enjoy our remaining time on earth.
5. Reconciliation (3+ years into retirement): We finally come to realize that this is what life in the present and future will be. This is why it is so important to put the plan into action before we retire.

If you work hard to get ready for this next wonderful phase of life, your so-called golden years will be truly golden.