I\u2019ve spent years thinking and writing about how we work \u2014 about culture, purpose, and how to build kinder places. Now, as I approach my own retirement in March 2026, I\u2019m learning something more personal: how to build a kinder rhythm for my own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t have this figured out. What follows isn\u2019t a lesson \u2014 it\u2019s an experiment I\u2019m living into, one uncertain step at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning to Retire To Something<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For most of my life, I\u2019ve been wired to build, lead, and plan. Retirement felt like stepping out of a story I\u2019ve been writing for decades \u2014 an ending, a withdrawal. But lately I\u2019ve realized: you don\u2019t retire from something. You retire to something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is: to what?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00c5se Lill and I asked a facilitator (yes, ChatGPT) to help us slow down and ask better questions. Over a few hours, we each answered prompts \u2014 first alone, then together \u2014 and created a shared document. It became a working draft of a new work title, a position description for ourselves, not retirees but what we now call Connoisseurs of Leisure<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Questions That Guided Us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you want more of in this next season? What are you each afraid of losing? What does freedom look like? Somewhere in those differences we found our balance. She wanted visibility and calm. I wanted evolution and flow. We both wanted anchored time together \u2014 time that wasn\u2019t owned by obligation or urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building the Scaffolding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We decided to treat this transition with intention \u2014 not because life needs to be managed, but because good things deserve structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We registered the domain retired.email <\/em>and set up new addresses: robert@retired.email<\/em> and ase@retired.email<\/em>. You can now contact us there! We created a shared Google Workspace and a \u201cConnoisseurs calendar”. Started a shared backlog of interests, hobbies, and dreams as a living roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every quarter, we\u2019ll sit down as product owners of our own leisure \u2014 maybe over coffee or during a sunset walk \u2014 and check in: What gave us joy this season? What felt heavy or forced? What might we change or pause?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal isn\u2019t productivity. It\u2019s presence. Space without pressure. Rhythm without rigidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What We\u2019re Pausing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Together we hosted one Norway retreat this year<\/a> \u2014 a beautiful, life-giving experiment. For 2026, we\u2019re giving ourselves permission not to hold another. We need room to adjust, to live into this new rhythm before deciding what belongs in it. Look for our next one in 2027!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\u00c5se Lill: \u201cVisibility, calm mornings, shared plans I can actually see.\u201d
Me: \u201cAdventure, evolution, learning new things together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00c5se Lill: \u201cStructure and purpose.\u201d
Me: \u201cMomentum and curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00c5se Lill: \u201cKnowing what\u2019s coming and having a say in it.\u201d
Me: \u201cNot knowing what\u2019s coming \u2014 and trusting we\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n