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This is Earth Day. I see bikes everywhere and people making every effort to be consciously green. As I was thinking about areas where I could be greener or enrich my knowledge of recycling, I realized that as a retirement coach I could change my approach to recycling: PEOPLE.
People – their interests, talents, skills and experience – can be used, reused and recycled just like a wood product. Can you recycle yourself? If you are over 50, I am 100% positive, the answer is YES.
Reduce wasted talent
Bob is a 62-year-old retired aviation engineer. He left Raytheon two years ago and now meets his golf and poker buddies regularly. He is healthy and runs for a mile every morning. Bob has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Cheryl is a retired teacher. She is healthy and loves to travel. She used to teach geography and occasionally pride herself on teachers of French and Spanish because she is almost fluent in both languages ??and loves languages. Now, taking advantage of her teacher’s retirement age, Cheryl travels overseas at least three times each year, visiting places she has read about and taught but never saw.
Reuse of skills and experience
Schools and tutoring centers across the country desperately need teachers and tutors to help children of all math levels. Bob could use his math and science skills by becoming involved in schools and extra-curricular programs in his area. If he could devote just one afternoon a week, it would make a difference to his community. One student who, through Bob, finds the key to understanding fractions or defeating algebraic equations could be a future aerospace engineer.
Thousands of refugees come to the USA every year without even having to speak English well enough. Cheryl could reuse her language skills by teaching adults ESL in evening school programs. She could also show trips to places she got to know better after her retirement. Both require exceptional talents and experience that Cheryl has accumulated throughout her life.
Prepare to recycle your skills
Here’s what you can do to prepare for recycling yourself:
1. Make a list of your skills, talents, experiences – all the skills you have developed and honed throughout your life
2. Ask three people who know you what else you can add to your list (we often omit or reject skills that others value in us)
3. Select the things you really like on your list
4. Cross out those things that you did no enjoy
5. Look at a well-received list and name as many uses of these talents as possible. Think about:
· WHO can find them valuable?
· Where can you use them
· How can you use them
· When can you use them
Now it’s up to you to decide how much of the available time you want to spend on this endeavor. If you are still earning a living it will likely be limited, and if you have retired from a middle-aged career you may have more hours off.
Everyone knows something that can be reused and recycled. The older you get, the more you know. For me, it is the epitome of waste, when these talents are dormant, when there are so many in the world. So go green … recycle!
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Source by Sara Zeff Geber