Are you winging it? Your life deserves more.

Your life deserves more than you just winging it, right? You need a plan.

No doubt you’ve seen the movie “Pretty Woman” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Do you remember the scene at the end of the movie where Kit DeLuca interviews a new roommate after Vivian has been rescued by Edward Lewis and is out of the picture, the apartment, and the business? (Lucky gal.) Kit’s advice was right on, in my opinion.

“You gotta have a plan.”

When I left my career of over 30 years, I thought I had a plan. But, looking back, I see that I only had part of the plan. I had the financial plan in place (one that would hopefully weather financial market ups and downs). But, I had not taken into consideration the rest of the plan.

And, that was a huge mistake.

Transitioning from a career to a next chapter requires more than just making sure your financial plan or 401(k) is in order. It requires paying attention to the psychological perspective as well to dispel fear of the unknown and keep your physical, mental and emotional health in good order.

I lost myself, and I made a lot of mistakes trying to find the true, authentic and unapologetically me.

But, let’s talk about transition for a hot second. Because transition is different from change. Change is the event. It happens quickly. How you respond to the event and navigate the uncertainty between the old and the new is your transition.

That will take time, and it will be messy. (Trust me, it will. But the good news is that you’re not alone.)

Being prepared ahead of time means you’ll be better able to embrace the new beginning because you helped shape it. Think of it as programming yourself just like you would the navigation system on your car. Program what your life will look like when you push through the fear and come out the other side better than ever before.

If you’re one of the 47 million people that left their jobs as part of the Great Retirement/Resignation phenomenon, you long to be one of them, or you’ve found yourself recently out of work, my goal is to help you prepare for and navigate the transition—the space in the middle—with grace and confidence.

Because, let’s face it. Your daily schedule, sense of purpose, and structure are different. You have a sense of loss. That’s totally natural and to be expected. But, you don’t have to stay there. Quite frankly, planning used to frustrate me. I’d make a plan, set goals, then go about (haphazardly, if truth be told) keeping busy trying to meet them. Then I learned the importance of having the right mindset. Not only in developing the plan, but in being successful in implementing it.

I want to help you do better. Help you get in (and stay in) the right mindset. Help you come up with a plan and then the best ways to implement it.

Right about now you’re probably thinking about the obvious part of planning for retirement or your next chapter. You no doubt believe the obvious piece is your financial plan and you feel like you have that under control (or you at least know where you are and what you need to do).

But let me tell you my friend, there’s more to it than a financial plan. My goal is to help with that not-so-obvious piece—how you’ll manage the mental and emotional perspectives of your transition to a new chapter.

As this year winds down and you start to think about what next year holds in store for you, maybe having a plan in place would help make 2023 your best year ever. Let me know what you’ve come up with and how I may help.