The Next Edit - Issue #56
Retirement isn't the only exit.
🧠One Big Idea
For decades, we’ve been taught there are only two career options.
Keep working.
Or retire.
It’s presented as an either/or decision, almost like flipping a switch.
One day you’re working full-time. The next day you’re done.
But I don’t think that’s how life works anymore.
In fact, I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is believing retirement is the only exit from a career that no longer fits.
Sometimes people don’t want to retire.
They just don’t want to keep doing what they’re doing now.
There’s a difference.
After years of coaching executives and professionals through major transitions, I’ve noticed something interesting.
Many people who say, “I want to retire,” are actually saying something very different.
They’re saying:
“I’m exhausted.”
“I’ve outgrown this role.”
“I want more control over my time.”
“I want work to fit my life instead of my life fitting my work.”
“I want to do work that feels meaningful again.”
Retirement may solve those problems.
But it isn’t the only way.
Today there are more possibilities than ever before.
You might decide to:
Work three days a week instead of five.
Become a consultant instead of an employee.
Join a corporate board.
Teach or mentor.
Start the business you’ve always imagined.
Build a portfolio career with several smaller roles.
Take a six-month sabbatical to figure out what’s next.
Change industries.
Stay exactly where you are—but on your own terms.
Notice something?
None of those require traditional retirement.
They’re all different ways of editing your life.
I think we’ve become trapped by the idea that our only choices are to stay exactly where we are or leave work completely.
Most transitions aren’t that dramatic.
They’re built one thoughtful change at a time.
That’s why I called my framework the EDIT Method.
Editing isn’t about throwing everything away.
It’s about deciding what still fits, what no longer does, and making intentional changes that move you toward the life you want.
Sometimes the best next chapter isn’t retirement.
It’s redesign.
🛠️Try This
Imagine there were no such thing as retirement.
You simply had the freedom to redesign your work however you wanted.
What would you change?
Would you work fewer hours?
Take on different clients?
Teach?
Consult?
Mentor?
Lead a nonprofit?
Start something new?
Now ask yourself:
Is there one small change you could make in the next six months that moves you closer to that vision?
You don’t have to reinvent your entire life overnight.
Sometimes one thoughtful edit is enough to begin.
📚Read This
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
One of my favorite ideas from the book is that there isn’t one perfect life waiting to be discovered.
There are many possible lives.
The goal is to prototype them, experiment, learn, and keep editing as you go.
📋Andrea’s List
Signs you may need an edit—not an exit:
You still enjoy meaningful work but not your current role.
You’re craving flexibility more than freedom.
You’re energized by new possibilities but drained by your daily routine.
You want more choice over how you spend your time.
You’re curious about what’s next, but not ready to stop contributing.
✂️The Final Edit
One of the greatest gifts of living longer is that we have more choices than previous generations.
Retirement is one of them.
But it isn’t the only one.
You don’t have to choose between working exactly as you are today and never working again.
There is a wide space in between.
Maybe your next chapter isn’t about leaving work.
Maybe it’s about redesigning it.
Because retirement isn’t the destination.
It’s simply one possible edit.
See you in “the next edit”
Andrea
Redesign, I like it!