Three Basic Factors
Planning for retirement is quite individualistic, but for all of us three basic factors may well be involved. First, we need to look at our individual personality. The relatively lazy, procrastinating type of person has less difficulty in filling time than does th person who has lived a life of 'hard, time-consuming work. upward mobile individual may find that he or she really has no place to go: The indifferent person may not pay too much attention to prethinking on retirement; whatever will be, will be. The person who could always spend leisure time puttering around may find this trait an advantage in retirement. Second, how well one adjusts to retirement relates to previous life-style. The person who needs stimulation from others for motivational purposes has built a life-style accordingly. The loner has developed a behavior style more in line with self-motivated activities. Some people need to feel out new situation gradually. Here, partial retIrement strung out over a period of time may lessen retirement shock. This is the concept involved in job decompression where one gradually slows down from the pressures of the work environment. An analysis of life-style can help determine those aspects of behavior that will have to change with retirement. Third, our previous habit of riding with change is related to adjustment in retirement. Persons who have thrived on change, who have repeatedly sought out new types of situations to adjust to, have advantage over those. who have strongly resisted change.
