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 Can-Do: Knowledge and Skills
Preparing a retirement life plan means working up a lot of lists. One of the most important is a list of the knowledge and skills you have that you can put to use. Every occupation has its own jargon--what lingo did you speak? The techno-speak of a network engineer? The "debits, credits and journal entries" of an accountant? Or the "I need this stat" of a nurse? Think about the knowledge you acquired--the rules, processes, facts and figures that you mastered--as well as what you actually did with that knowledge, which are your work skills--like writing contracts, diagnosing machine malfunctions, or analyzing budget forecasts. Technocrats sometimes refer to this set of knowledge and skills as your "domain expertise"--the field that you are expert in.
But that's only the first dimension of your skills and knowledge. Consider also the people, companies and industry knowledge you learned about in your working career. Any job is usually the intersection of your occupational skills we first described and your knowing the particular people and operating procedures in a particular job. You might be a Java programmer, for example, and could write Java code anywhere, but in your specific job you have to know all kinds of details about your company's computing system that would be irrelevant in a different company.
All this sounds like what you would do if you were looking for a job. But, hey, you're retiring, right? Yes, but remember, you will continue to be productive, to do things for others that are valuable. Some call it "work" if they get paid, and "volunteer" if they don't but in either case you will continue to draw on skills and knowledge you have spent a lifetime accumulating.
But let's get back to skills and experience because there is more to it. Aside from the knowledge you developed while working, you probably have many other skills and knowledge sets. Think about your hobbies and pastimes. Are you a gardener and expert in growing orchids? Or maybe a history buff who has read every book on the Civil War? Or a photographer who has mastered the art of taking underwater pictures?
Consider as well undeveloped skills which with more work could become useful. Canoe-building, theatre set design and yodeling, for example, are all useful skills. Of course, if they are undeveloped, you will need a plan to bring them up to speed. Returning to school, perhaps to a community college, is an obvious pathway, and in fact retirees are returning to school in droves. Hiring a coach is also a possibility. After all, you took golf lessons from a golf pro, why not singing lessons from a voice coach?
What can I teach?
In summary, in thinking about what you CAN do in retirement, take an inventory of every possible talent and set of knowledge and experience you have, even if it seems minor.
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