2026 March 31 Retirement planning

Why Pull Goals Are So Effective in Retirement Planning

This week I want to explain why pull goals are so effective in retirement planning. We talked about pull versus push goals in the previous two episodes, and I'm always looking at how other coaches present retirement — to see if there's something we could discuss together or do a collaboration on.

This week I really started to notice how different and effective our approach is, and I want to explain why.

Many speakers and coaches talk about aspects of what we cover, such as what we call the identity gap, and they may address how that results in feeling meaningless and those sorts of topics. But the big difference in how we approach transitioning into retirement successfully is that we start off by teaching you how to define your life vision, and then work toward that vision in all that you do.

Why is that so important? Instead of just warning you that you might feel lost at some point, we give you the tools to help you transition through those stages with a clear destination — a destination defined by what's most important to you. If you think about it, your life vision is the ultimate pull goal. It's made up of the things that hold real meaning to you, so you will naturally want to make them your reality.

The biggest advantage of following your vision is that it's a powerful filter to remove retirement goals that don't really matter to you. It also includes tremendous personal motivation, since these life vision goals were defined by you — and those are the things you truly find desirable.

Additionally, much of what I see written is in the style of "look at all the things you can do now!" And that happens to apply to me. I like to do lots of different things, and so do many people I know. But it's really important to recognize that everyone is different, and not everyone desires to shine like a star after retirement.

If your life plan is to work conscientiously and then retire peacefully — just spending time with your family, or even just time with yourself meditating in the woods — whatever your vision is, that's absolutely fine, as long as it's consistent with your life vision. We in the West sometimes forget that self-care is allowed. It isn't selfish or any other bad thing.

This is exactly why our first step is to give you the tools to define what your life vision is, because that gives you the foundation for all your other actions moving forward.

Can you change your life vision or how you implement it? Of course you can. It's yours. It has to satisfy your needs and wishes, and it's important not to be shamed by others sharing their prototypical "good goals" and making you feel bad by comparison. If you honestly feel that you've done what's right — both in getting to and living in retirement — then be confident in your decisions.

And if you want to do a million things in retirement across the whole gamut of opportunities, don't let others criticize your choices for that either. That actually happened to me at my 50th high school reunion. It wasn't ill-intentioned, exactly, but someone actually said, "Why are you still doing so much?" I laughed and gave a flip answer about how this is our only life and it's not a rehearsal, so we might as well make the most of it. But I found it interesting that someone would apparently feel somewhat threatened because I have a to-do list a mile long.

Your life is your life. Live it fully in the way that makes sense to you.

I realize I tend to emphasize helping others as part of our regular theme — even as part of our normal closing — but that's how I view my purpose and how I try to live my life. There are many paths through life, and most of them are correct. Like we said last week, taking care of yourself is the first step in showing others that you care for them. When you live in alignment with your own vision, you are more likely to be filled with energy, and that alone will help others feel energized. That's not selfish at all.

So to recap: retirement has some aspects that are less talked about in the mainstream. It seems that most people who discuss them approach retirement as a somewhat avoidable set of steps you have to go through. We take a different approach. While we acknowledge there are certainly challenges — the identity gap, rediscovering meaning, and all those things — we believe you can prepare for them. The crucial step is to start by reexamining, and maybe for the first time, defining your life vision.

Once you get your own North Star — or Southern Cross — defined, you're in a position to see how the changes in retirement become opportunities instead of unexpected problems.

So have fun, and see you next week!

As always, one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. Please visit UKR7.com for links to organizations that support the people of Ukraine, and WCK.org for World Central Kitchen, which works in disaster areas around the world. There are also lots of local charities always looking for help — and even a simple smile can change someone's day in ways you can't imagine.

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Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dreamed of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.