Your Encore Career

A Guiding Exercise

 By Glenn Frank, June 2021

Your "regular career's" (RC) primary motivation is financial. Most people, even if they love their work would not do it without pay. Your "Encore Career's" (EC) primary motivation is not financial - it is personal satisfaction. Your EC starts at some point after you retire from your RC. You might do your EC even without pay.

Will you be happy in your Encore Career? You do not want to go in the wrong direction. You do not want to go in too many directions.

What you enjoy about your current or past work may be the single most important factor that will drive your encore happiness.

The book “Your Encore” is focused on people over 50 trying to figure out their “retirement” - which hopefully can be a “rebirth”.

This exercise can help guide you to make better decisions regarding your Encore Career.

The Exercise

Step 1

Download/open the Joy Matrix Spreadsheet.

You can print a PDF version of the Joy Matrix by clicking on the first button below.

If you want to save paper, you can click on the second button above to use the Google Spreadsheet TMJ has prepared for you. You can make a copy and fill it in on your computer. Keep in mind there are multiple tabs. You should toggle between the three tabs to use the “Work” spreadsheet.

Also, if you haven’t filled out a Joy Matrix before and want to learn more, you can check out this article on The Joy Matrix. Otherwise, click on one of the buttons below depending on whether you want to fill it in by hand or on your computer.

Step 2

Using the Work version of the Joy Matrix spreadsheet, complete for the "Required" squares and the "Your Choice" squares. All of your work activities should find a spot in 1 of the 6 squares.

Try to observe yourself, paying attention to your actual feelings during these activities to make sure you put them in the right square. Be honest with yourself and realize everyone is different. Try not to let the personalities of individuals color your conclusions.

Specifically reflect on the typical drivers and motivators as follows:

• Accomplishments

• Belonging

• Competition

• Experiences

• Making a difference

• Mentoring

• Problem solving

• Recognition

• Structure

These motivators are from Don’t Retire: Rewire by Jerri Sedlar & Rick Miner (2018)

Step 3

Now prioritize. Often 1 or 2 issues are 90% of what is critical to your happiness.

Notes

Presumably if you do not need to be paid your entire "encore" is your choice. If you do need pay, obviously tailoring opportunities to what will most likely keep a smile on your face is crucial. Realize the perfect job may not surface and some thoughtful compromises will need to be made.

Another critical issue is the time constraints you are operating under. Obviously if your new schedule only allows for 20 hours per week and the opportunity is 40 hours, no matter how perfect a fit the opportunity is otherwise, you will not be happy given the related stress. Do not miss out on planned exercise, travel, family time....Encore career burn out happens too!

More often than not, the drivers of encore career happiness are:

• Finding someplace where your personal skills will shine.

• Fulfilling a need to belong someplace. The need to socialize.

• The feeling at night before your head hits the pillow when you made a difference that day.

If you are transitioning from a "for profit" to a more charitably inclined organization, you may find a positive new atmosphere. Working with people for a common purpose that resonates with your personal values is obviously rewarding. Often the competitive nature of "for profits" is replaced by the collegiality of like-minded colleagues.

Conclusion

Know what makes you tick first!

Given sometimes countless possibilities, a focused search for your encore is far better than a time consuming "trial and error" approach!

OK - you know what time it is…time to reward yourself with a smiling starfish!