Trafford Publishing: Create Your Retirement: 55 Ways to Empower the Rest of Your Life

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Create Your Retirement: 55 Ways to Empower the Rest of Your Life

by Barbara M. Walker

161 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0627; ISBN 1-55369-814-2; US$24.00, C$29.95, EUR19.50, £13.51

Create Your Retirement: 55 Valuable Ways to Empower the Rest of Your Life Imagine fulfilling your life in retirement! You will not fritter away your time. Nor will you just fill up your days with interesting things to do. You will find out what it is you want to do with the rest of your life - and through self-coaching what gives life real meaning. Set off to follow your passion. Your life will be valuable. Exciting! Worthwhile! You will discover: How valuable your life is. Why you need to realize your expectations and dreams. Where to look for meaning in your life.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book

    Why this book? Most books on Retirement are really about Financial Planning or Estate Planning. Not this book!
    This book is about creating a fulfilling life in retirement; it is a crossover book between self-help and retirement.
    Create Your Retirement: 55 Valuable Ways to Empower the Rest of Your Life entices people to set out their hidden dreams, to reveal their lost hopes and to admit their secret desires, and then to plan a life to include them!
    This book encourages risk taking, honesty, and trusting yourself and others to make a fulfilling life in retirement.
    This book is aimed at those already retired, and it entices the Baby Boomers who are now retiring in ever increasing numbers. These Baby Boomers have had everything, done everything and will continue to be a driving force in their retirement.
    They also have a deep hunger to be fulfilled. Many of them have led fast, hectic, shallow lives and they have never explored their souls or their dreams. This book invites them to do both!
    Create Your Retirement: 55 Valuable Ways to Empower the Rest of Your Life encompasses my own experience. I have retired twice AND I am having the time of my life doing the things I've always wanted to do - following my dreams!
    I know that retirement can be the most fulfilling time of life. My coaching clients have left their stereotypical thinking behind, thrown off their insecurities and fears to do great things!
    They have become computer literate, published authors, public speakers and lay preachers. Some have traveled to places they had always dreamed about, others have stepped into roles with family and friends in important new ways that have given them a sense of self-worth and deep feelings of fulfillment.
    Retirement is a time of living and doing exciting things; it is a time of loving and helping others, and it is about finding the 'real you' within and manifesting that in all its glory!

For more information about the book please visit www.bmwalker.com

TESTIMONIALS

I love the way you lead the reader through the book with powerful questions and real-life examples.
Rich Fettke, MCC, Past-President of the Professional and Personal Coaches Association and Author of Extreme Success.

Barbara's book gave me an entirely new, exciting, positive perspective on retirement. That alone made it worth the investment of money and time.
Irene Leonard, Professional Development Coach and Lawyer. Author of Creating the Practice You Want: A Law Practice Development Work-book.

We do such a disservice in our culture to our retirees. They are a valuable resource to be cherished and appreciated. Barbara's book shows us all how important and possible it is to remain fully active and vibrant in our latter years. A must read for all, not just retirees. For with age comes great wisdom!
Rick Tamlyn Co-active Coach, Trainer, Founder, It's All Made Up, Inc.

The Internet resources are very helpful all listed close together. Great job and every wish for success!
E.W. Truant, Published Poet.

I think the concept is excellent; it is a very exciting project.
L.R. Neaman, Entrepreneur.

This book offers valuable information not only about 'how' but 'why' to create a fulfilling lifestyle in retirement.
Talane Miedaner, Author of Coach Yourself To Success: 101 Tips from a Personal Coach for Reaching Your Goals at Work and in Life.

Retirement offers choice and challenges. You can travel, pursue a new career, write a book or do all three. You will discover how to create the (rest of your) life you want.
Dan Poynter, The Self- Publishing Manual, http://ParaPub.com.

Create Your Retirement is the perfect solution for people approaching retirement and wondering what they'll do next, and for those already retired and asking if this is all there is. Unlike other books on retiring that focus on financial planning, Barbara Walker has written a book for the 'new retirees,' the baby boomers still young at heart, who are seeking fulfillment, value and purpose in their retirement years. Barbara's practical exercises and enthusiastic style encourage readers to expand their traditional thinking about retirement to discover a new path, implement changes, and create a plan for the rest of their lives.
C.J. Hayden, MCC, Author of Get Clients Now!

To read a review of this book please visit: www.bookpleasures.com

About the Author

    Barbara M. Walker is a well-known educator in both the independent and the public school systems of British Columbia. Following the completion of a five-year term as Head of Crofton House School in Vancouver, The Fraser Institute presented Ms. Walker with the Outstanding Principal Award in the category of Academic Excellence. Prior to that, Ms. Walker was principal of David Thompson Secondary School in Vancouver from 1990 to 1995. She served as an elementary and secondary teacher, secondary administrator and district consultant for the Vancouver School Board, and taught for the Department of Defense in Lahr, Germany. Ms. Walker is also an Honorary Member of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools. This honor is in recognition of her service as the Head of a CAIS school and for her contribution to the Association and to education in Canada.
    Ms. Walker's educational qualifications include two Master of Education degrees - one in Reading and the other in School Administration, and a Master of Business Administration in International Business Management. She holds a Bachelor of Education and is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. She grew up in the Okanagan Valley and graduated from Vernon Senior High School. Currently Ms. Walker lives in Vancouver with her husband, Dr. John Secter. Her consulting firm is engaged in coaching and executive development.
    Ms. Walker is a certified Professional Co-Active Coach trained by the Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, California. She is a member of the ICF (International Coach Federation), the Vancouver Chapter of the ICF, and a member of Coachville.
Barbara M. Walker can be reached at:

Barbara M. Walker Inc.
Executive Coaching
Telephone: (604) 803-1337 / Fax: (604) 737-2193
Email: barbara@bmwalker.com

Excerpts

FOREWORD

    In this fast moving world, two rapidly evolving concepts are retirement and life coaching. Retirement is becoming a new LIFESTYLE-leaving traditions and stereotypes in its wake. Life coaching is having a huge impact on people who want to find balance and fulfillment in their lives.
    Barbara Walker is definitely at the forefront of both of these areas. As a certified coach, she works with clients who are making significant change in their lives. As a retired person who has already retired twice, Barbara is an example of a person who is finding ways to express her own long-forgotten dreams!
    Now, Barbara has written a unique book-combining the power of coaching and applying it to the lives of those who have retired or are about to retire. The need for people to find fulfillment in their lives in their retirement years has never been greater. Barbara has merged the worlds of retirement and self-help; retirement will never be the same!
    Rich Fettke, MCC, Past-President of the Professional and Personal Coaches Association and Author of Extreme Success.

INTRODUCTION

    The current press urges people to save for retirement, and many do. Popular books suggest that there is no enjoyment in retirement unless you are well prepared financially, and that is partly true.
    But the BIG NEWS about retirement is not about financial planning or just keeping busy and enjoying your life, it is about the huge impending change in the nature of retirement itself in the decades ahead!
    The people retiring now are redefining retirement. The first of the baby boomers turn 55 years old in 2002. Over the next 30 years, millions of boomers will retire. On their journey through life, the boomers have transformed every stage they have passed through. They will now lead the world in transforming the retirement stage.
    At age 55 some of them will be eligible for early retirement. They will join the many who have opted for early retirement over the past decade. While this trend may slow, there will be many more people who are ready and waiting to embrace the new retirement lifestyle.
    Who are these retirees? Many are public sector employees who have accumulated pension benefits over many years of service. People employed in public utilities, government services and public school educators are the most likely to retire early.
    People whom have worked long years in stressful jobs like teaching, nursing and firefighting want to retire as soon as they can. For many reasons, more women than men retire early. People with university degrees who have earned higher incomes are more likely to retire early.
What about those who have already retired?
    Many were offered retirement as a way of downsizing corporations in the 1990's. Many of these people are disillusioned with the traditional expectations and parameters of retirement. They are tired of playing golf every day. They do not like the idea of 'riding off into the sunset,' and they are certainly not finding fulfillment sitting in rocking chairs on their front porches!
    We are talking about the first generation of urban dwellers to retire. They are more likely to live near a university; they are demanding and discerning, and want all the modern conveniences from coffee shops to local libraries.     They are part of the wave of people who form a phenomenon known as global aging. In the next 30 years the population of the world's senior citizens is expected to double. These better-educated seniors are, for the most part, retiring earlier and living longer.
    While this trend will tax services in many areas, it will offer one of the most profound opportunities in the world today.
    What will retirement become? It is uncharted territory. It will certainly be more than being financially prepared. It will be much more than just enjoying oneself and keeping busy.
    Retirement will be a personal challenge. It will be a time of working for enjoyment and it will be a time for people to fulfill those dreams they have had all their lives.
    The world of work will continue to change. Employers will offer incentives to entice older workers back into the work force. Included in the incentives will be flexible part-time contract work that will allow people to create a plan that provides both monetary support and personal fulfillment in their lives.
    Many retirees will start their own businesses, and using their skills, do contract work for their former companies.
    It will be a time to learn new skills and to share with people in new and satisfying ways. It will be a time when people immerse themselves deeply in the community and culture in which they live. For many people it will be a time of realizing why they are on this planet. And it will be a time to live beyond intention, to embrace passion and to find and submerge oneself in a life mission.
    It will be a big, important evolution in the world of retirement. People will reach out in unprecedented ways and make significant contributions to the welfare of their families, neighbors, their cities and the welfare of the world at large. It is also going to be LIFESTYLE RETIREMENT. Rather than a time to retreat and withdraw, it will be a time for people to reach out to the many possibilities that are there and to find value, purpose and fulfillment in the rest of their lives.
    If you are ready to explore a fulfilling lifestyle in retirement, you have come to the right place. Create Your Retirement suggests 55 ways to empower the rest of your life, and each section includes exercises that will make an effective plan for your fulfilling retirement. I encourage you to think and write about your new life and to discuss the many ides with family members and friends.
    Throughout the book runs a theme that embraces the ideas of virtual and virtually. The word "virtual" is used to refer to the newly evolving world of the Internet and the limitless possibilities there, and the word "virtually," in addition to meaning almost, used to mean literally, absolutely and totally. There is a compelling parallel between the opportunities in the virtual world and the ones available in the new lifestyle in retirement. It is here that you will find the opportunities to empower the rest of your life.

Look At What You Have To Offer-
Virtually A Life!
"Imagination creates reality." (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner
Today you are retired. Congratulations! Well done! You deserve it!

Of course you do, but why does it seem so empty all of a sudden?

You have worked hard all your life. You have been a steady and reliable worker. You have paid your bills and raised your family. You have supported other members of the family, and you have played an active role in your community, and everything is just fine, or is it?

1. Release your position and status

Do you miss your work? Are you wondering what the purpose is in your life? You know you still have those skills you brought to work each day, but somehow you don't know what to do with them. Everything seems so trivial. Nothing you do seems to make a difference any longer.

Your children are grown and on their own and while you love and cherish them, they do not need you the kind of day-to-day help and guidance they once did. You still help out in the community, but something seems to be missing. What is it?

You were once an executive, an airline pilot, or a surgical nurse. You loved your role, or you hated your role, but at least you had a role. You knew what to do each day; you knew what to expect from others and they knew what to expect from you.

You were part of a team that shared the excitement and immediacy of your work. You were an expert and had skills - you knew that about yourself and others knew that about you.

And now? You have lost your sense of control; you are afraid on a very deep level. There is no team; you don't belong to a skilled group. You are not at the center of action and there is no sense of excitement or immediacy about today, or tomorrow, or next week. Everything seems so trivial! This is a confusing feeling.

You are experiencing a "crisis of relevance."

Think about some of the ways you can look at your life at the present moment.

ASK YOURSELF

Are you missing your work? Yes/No

Do you wonder what your purpose in life is now? Yes/No

Do you miss the status you enjoyed? Yes/No

If yes, you are missing the established routine and stability that your working life provided. Take time to explore your feelings by writing or working with a life coach. Express your feelings of loss and confusion, and talk about what is missing in your life. You are experiencing a "crisis of relevance."

Catalogue Information