By LUCINDA JACKSON
Seven years ago, I wore a black suit and pearls and rushed off to my hectic, demanding job in corporate America. I relished the contributions I felt I was making around the world as an environmental scientist—and life was good—but I was ready for a change.
I’ve never liked Webster’s definition of “retire”—retreat, recede, or my least favorite, go to bed. I knew I didn’t want to do any of that! Instead, I adopted the term “next act” since it had the ring of unlimited options, action, and third, fourth, fifth, and many next acts to come.
As a scientist, I’ve always been methodical. To help me plan my remarkable next act, I turned to a Project Management Approach with five phases:
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IDENTIFY a personal vision and core values
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SELECT alternatives that match core values
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DEVELOP a plan for the preferred alternative
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EXECUTE the plan
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OPERATE & EVALUATE and cycle back to Phase 1 if needed
I rushed through Phases 1 and 2 and selected the Peace Corps as my Phase 3 preferred alternative for my next act. Filled with idealism in high school, I’d wanted to join the Peace Corps since watching President Kennedy announce it on our black-and-white TV. Now, my noble purpose still aflame, I discovered there was a Senior Peace Corps for the older set with one-year professional positions. Within nine days of leaving my corporate job, with Phase 4 full steam ahead, I found myself in Palau, Micronesia, with my somewhat reluctant husband.
Months passed and it wasn’t going well. The Peace Corps had underestimated our financial needs in a developed country like Palau. We hovered in the lowest rung of society, with a lack of respect, and hardships and ostracism that go along with poverty in a wealthy country. Setting up a scorecard in Phase 5 to evaluate my next act, it flashed yellow (in trouble) and red (failed) against my core values as the criteria. Accepting defeat, we resigned and headed home.
Though disheartened and depressed, the great thing about my Project Management approach is that it’s a cycle, with the chance to start over. This time I labored over my vision statement and altered several of my core values, reminding myself that corporations spend years developing these.
I dug deep to find a long-lasting and overarching personal vision statement. I used the word “create” in my vision to emphasize devoted intention—that whatever happened in this phase of life was up to me and would involve continuous thought and improvement. Moving on to core values, I defined them as what we believe in, need, and rely on as guiding principles for our lives. To make them rich and honest, even at times when it wasn’t pretty, I asked myself not what I wanted to do in my next act, but who did I want to be? My husband weighed in much more this round, ensuring a better outcome as a team. This was an opportunity to regrow our relationship, love, and support for each other.
The result:
VISION: Create a Remarkable Next Act
CORE VALUES: Noble Purpose, Authentic Self, Freedom/Adventure, Valued, Romance
With this update, again using my core values as criteria, the data pointed to a new alternative: Teach science in schools in Mexico. When we’d worked through the phases and evaluated, our scorecard came up all green (success)!
This was not the final act for me. After Mexico, I pursued other alternatives, always with my vision and core values leading me to the best choice. I’ve started a business, become a public speaker, and certified career and retirement counselor, written two books, and made time for adventure and romance with my spouse.
A Project Management approach works for me, going on multiple years now. I might crash, but I’m ready to try again. My next act is not just one activity that solves everything but a series of explorations—an ever-changing and dynamic journey.
From my experience, I recommend that we develop our personal vision, find our core values, include key stakeholders (your partner, kids, friends) in our decisions, and take some risks in testing alternative ventures. We can use our core values, continually improving them, to define what “a remarkable next act” means to each of us. Let’s treat this period of life as an adventure in exceptional learning and personal growth that we might not have had since childhood.
Lucinda Jackson, a PhD scientist and global corporate executive, is the founder of LJ Ventures. She is also the author of two memoirs: Just a Girl: Growing Up Female and Ambitious About Succeeding in Tough Work Settings and Project Escape: Lessons for an Unscripted Life, A Story of the Challenging Transition from Career to Retirement. More at: www.lucindajackson.com
Need retirement inspiration? Read more “My Third Act” essays below:
My Third Act—Resilience in the Face of Loss Leads to a Happy Life