Current Position


Module 1
Your Current Position


Understanding Where You Stand

Whether you are a pre retiree looking to plan your next step or an existing retiree looking to review, perhaps sharpen or even redesign your retirement from the ground up, it helps to understand your current position, your thinking, your emotions, your mindset.

This understanding is critical.

Before heading off in our new direction, it is important to understand what might be holding us back and a quiet bit deep reflection on what those issues might be is critical. There is a lot going on for us at this stage of life. We stopped working and whether we lose structure, purpose, identity, connection comradeship, and so on. At this time of life we are dealing with significant time of life issues. If we have children they may have left home so our parenting responsibilities and relationships diminish or shift, a physicality and vitality may depending on our age and state of retirement be of concern or be diminishing, our parents may be ageing or perhaps have passed and we’re dealing with that grief and loss and so on.

As we approach retirement and then when we are in retirement we are dealing with more change more loss more upheaval than at any other stage in our life. To energise us to move forward to give us the confidence to move forward to find the things that deliver purpose, fulfilment and joy we need to reflect on and address things that might be holding us back.

This is the purpose of this module. Of course, if you feel that your issues are clinical, then you should seek professional help.

Find a quiet space and take your time with these questions. It’s easy to pass over them or treat them as of little importance. You want to get to the good stuff, the interesting activities that can change your life. But if the next 25 years of your life matter and you wish to make that the best it can possibly be then investing the time in these exercises pays huge dividends.

It helps remove blockages and resistance. Even if you find great things to do, you may wonder why they are not fulfilling, why they don’t meet expectations, why perhaps you don’t follow through with them. Often that is because of your current mindset. Your mindset is blocking you. The activities can deliver if you have the right mindset.

This module is about clarity.
Not judgement.
Not performance.
Just clarity

Let’s Start

Overall, how would you rate your current state from 1 to 10 with 1 being ‘Not at all’ and 10 being ‘Very’

  • Energised?
  • Certain?
  • Settled?
  • Upbeat?
  • Excited?
  • Unworried?

For Pre-Retirees

If you are approaching retirement, the work you do now lays the foundations for a successful retirement. Reflect honestly:

Anticipation or Apprehension?
  • Are you genuinely looking forward to retirement?
  • If not, what concerns you?
  • What specifically feels uncertain?
What Will You Miss?
  • What parts of your working life give you identity?
  • What provides your structure?
  • What gives you purpose?
  • What relationships will you lose daily contact with?
  • What recognition or validation might disappear?

Be specific.

“Work” is too broad.

What exactly within work matters to you?

Structure & Rhythm
  • How much structure do you currently have?
  • How much of that structure is externally imposed?
  • What will replace it?

Retirement without rhythm often becomes retirement without direction.

Purpose & Contribution
  • In what ways do you currently feel useful?
  • How will that continue?
  • What might replace it?
Financial & Practical Confidence
  • Are you confident in your financial planning?
  • Are you worried about spending?
  • Are you postponing retirement because of uncertainty?

Sometimes “not ready” is emotional, not financial.

Early Adjustments
  • What small experiments could you try now?
  • Could you reduce work gradually?
  • Could you test new activities before retirement?

Retirement is easier when trialled before it fully begins.

For Retirees

If you are already retired, reflect on your current reality.

Energy & Engagement
  • Do you feel engaged most days?
  • Or do you feel flat more often than you expected?
  • What time of day feels strongest?
  • What time feels aimless?
Structure
  • Do your weeks have rhythm?
  • Or do they blur together?
  • Are you choosing your structure — or drifting into it?
Purpose
  • Do you feel useful?
  • To whom?
  • In what way?
  • If not, what feels missing?
Loss & Adjustment

Retirement involves loss, even when it is chosen.

  • What have you lost since leaving work?
  • Identity?
  • Colleagues?
  • Status?
  • Daily focus?

Have you properly acknowledged that?

Physical Confidence
  • Has your physical confidence changed?
  • Have you quietly reduced activity?
  • Are fear of injury or health concerns influencing behaviour?
Relationship Dynamics
  • Has your relationship with your partner shifted?
  • Do you spend more time together?
  • Has this been easy or challenging?
  • Have roles subtly changed?
Social Initiation
  • Are you initiating activities — or waiting?
  • Has your social world expanded or contracted?
  • Are you comfortable reaching out?
Are You Drifting?
  • Are your days deliberate?
  • Or are they filling themselves?
Are You Using Placeholders?

Placeholders look like activity.

But they lack meaning.

  • Excess television
  • Endless scrolling
  • Habitual routines without intention
  • Activities chosen out of comfort rather than growth

Be honest.

What Feels Missing?

If something feels incomplete:

  • Is it purpose?
  • Is it connection?
  • Is it challenge?
  • Is it novelty?
  • Is it contribution?
  • Is it structure?

Naming the gap is powerful.

When to Seek Additional Support

If you are experiencing:

  • Persistent low mood
  • Loss of motivation
  • Anxiety affecting daily functioning
  • Significant relationship distress

Professional assistance may be appropriate.

SMART is not a substitute for clinical care.

It is a forward-looking design system.

What Happens Next?

You do not need to fix everything today.

The goal of this module is awareness.

Once you understand your current position, you can step into:

  • SMART Profiling — to clarify your retirement type
  • Aligned Activities — to correct imbalance
  • Implementation — to build structure
  • Keep It On Track — to recalibrate

Return to this module whenever something feels “off.”

Retirement evolves.

So should your awareness.