What are you working for?
Many dread retirement for all the wrong reasons. They work because it’s all they know. Their identity and social circle orbit the workplace and they’re terrified of severing the ties. Work becomes who they are not what they do. Despite being financially comfortable they can’t let go.
Some are mesmerized by the Forever Business Myth. The illusion of being indispensable permeates through every pore. The truth is nothing lasts forever.
Take a look at the original Fortune 500 from 1955. Fewer than 60 companies are still around. Blue Chip giants like Kodak, Blockbuster, and Sears exist only in the ashbins of history.
Entropy is the default state. Nothing is immune. This includes companies, industries and relevance. Fighting physics isn’t the hill to die upon. The universe couldn’t care less about ego.
It’s frightening for founders who devoted their whole life to building a business to comprehend their pride and joy can be relegated to irrelevance, disrupted, or acquired within a decade.
One of the biggest reason’s people don’t retire is accolade addiction. The withdrawal from applause is too painful to ponder. Often the accolades were directed toward the position not the person making this another cruel irony.
Last week, truth emerged from all the above.
For the first time in months it was warm and hardcore gardening commenced. I spent hours alone outside in the fresh air and the sun. I noticed remarkable changes in my physical heath. I have used a wearable for about a year. Last week’s numbers were off the charts. My resting heart rate hit an all time low though I was immersed in physical labor. My HRV (Measurement of of low stress and strong recovery) did the reverse
Then it hit me. The Oak Trees in my yard will outlive every company in the S&P 500. No board of directors, or conference calls, they just grow.
200 year old trees are the norm. The average company in the S&P 500 has a lifespan of twenty years. In fact California Bristlecone pines can live for 4,000 years. No accolades, no myths of being around forever, it just grows quietly. Clout need not apply.
The cruel truth is no CEO will admit a tree planted from a simple acorn will outlast their empire by a wide margin.
The garden is the antithesis of ego-driven permanence. It’s not about positional power. Physical presence brings fulfillment. Your body doesn’t care about titles. It thrives on movement, breathing and being connected to something that really matters. It doesn’t concern itself with your LinkedIn profile or how many followers you have.
The moral of the story is people need to find their own version of a garden. Plant something that will outlast you and let go of everything else.
Everyone’s different, people drain me while nature has the reverse effect. Know yourself.
Working for all the wrong reasons isn’t the answer. Accolade addiction is just another drug. Ponder things you would do if nobody was watching and had no possibility of applause. That’s a start but the rest is up to you.
By all means keep working if it’s your life’s passion and you’re not doing it to please others and escape demons.
Don’t allow silence, lack of deference, and loss of status to feel like deprivation.
It’s just the opposite.
Letting go takes courage but it’s the only method if you want to be the last tree standing.
