One of the biggest fears workers have about retirement is losing their sense of purpose. That fear is not unfounded. It is one of the negatives of early retirement nobody likes talking about.

For the first several months, maybe even a year, you may feel a little lost. The steady paycheck is gone. The camaraderie of colleagues over long boozy lunches disappears. A low grade melancholy can set in. But it passes, and when it does, you naturally find new purpose on your own terms.

I know this firsthand. I retired in 2012 and have lived through every up and down of early retirement and semi-retirement since. Despite everything, I would not trade a single year of that freedom for more money. Offer me millions and I would still choose the time I have had with my kids, my health, and my life over grinding 60 hours a week for someone else’s dream.

But this post is not just for people choosing to retire or retire early.

With firms like Block laying off 40% of their workforce, a combination of overhiring and accelerating AI productivity gains, many other bloated companies will inevitably follow. If you have been laid off, or suspect you might be, I want to address the fear that you will permanently lose your sense of purpose and meaning.

You will not.

Yes, a job gives you purpose. The problem is when it becomes your only source of it.

Easy To Find Meaning And Purpose In The Little Things

It took me about 12 months to get over the initial shock of early retirement. By year three I was fully settled, and there was no going back. What I have discovered over 14 years of being unemployed is that the little things provide just as much purpose as the big ones.

Let me share one random day that illustrates exactly what I mean.

Managing rental properties can be a pain, but it also provides a surprising amount of purpose. Something always needs fixing, and fixing things turns out to feel satisfying.

On the morning of February 27th, my tenant emailed to say the side door to the outside was rotting out. A couple of years ago that email would have mildly annoyed me. This time, with the stock market down, my kids at school, and my wife substitute teaching across town, I was home alone and bored. When the email came in, I was actually relieved.

I called my handyman and we met at the property at 10am with the tenant. We measured, talked it through, and landed on a solid core wooden door. We had briefly considered fiberglass or metal for weather resistance, but neither can be easily cut or sanded for a precise fit.

Wood won. It was genuinely fun solving the problem together.

More Things To Do

While my handyman was there, I put him to work on two other items that had been sitting on my mental list.

First, I had him climb onto the roof and spray sealant on parts of the light well that might be leaking after a particularly violent storm. It was the same issue from eight years ago, when a clogged drain created a three to four inch pool of standing water.

Second, I had him adjust a side gate that had been bent and would not lock properly.

The solid wood door and new door knob cost $400 and another $350 for labor. Not too bad. For 35 minutes I felt useful to my tenant. I also watered the side and front yard for another 15 as insurance, just in case they forget.

I gave business to a handyman I have trusted since 2020, someone who is not the cheapest option but has never let me down. And I took another small step toward protecting an important piece of our semi-passive retirement income.

That is a pretty good morning.

Next Purposeful Quest

After the property visit, I drove to my office mailbox to drop off nine signed copies of my USA Today bestseller, Millionaire Milestones for readers who had taken advantage of the free Empower financial checkup. You can still participate by clicking this post and reading the instructions.

Writing personal notes in each copy felt genuinely meaningful. I spent about $200 on books and shipping, and I do not mind at all. These are readers who care deeply about their finances and long-time readers of Financial Samurai.

Afterward I picked up lunch at my favorite Vietnamese noodle spot, and brought extra food home for the family dinner.

A signed book, a bowl of pho, a fed family. Not a bad afternoon.

Break Time To Write This Post

After lunch I sat down to write this post to help retirees and the recently unemployed feel better about an uncertain future. Sharing firsthand experience has been rewarding over the years, and that day was no different.

Maybe for you it is not writing. Maybe it is applying for jobs in a completely different field, or taking a continuing education course to get certified in something new. Or maybe it is going for a 30 minute run to try to lose those last 10 pounds. Even if the scale does not move, you will almost certainly feel better afterward.

For me, having something mentally stimulating to do after any type of physical activity provides for a happy balance. Usually, I’ll go play tennis or pickleball for 1-2.5 hours. However, I was nursing an injury.

Nap Time And Then School Pickup

My favorite thing to do after a hearty lunch is take a nap. No apologies. It’s also easier to nap after I’ve done something productive, like write a post.

After that I picked up my wife from the school where she was substitute teaching, and took her to our children’s school for a Girl Scouts troop meeting.

My wife had insisted on taking the bus and subway to our school, not wanting to feel like she was putting me out. I insisted on driving her anyway. She said she felt bad that I was acting like her Uber driver. I told her that driving her was exactly why I gave over 500 Uber rides back in 2015. I was training for these moments.

In the end, I saved her 30 minutes of commuting time and got her to Girl Scouts before it started at 3:30pm. Helping my wife always makes me feel useful. It’s also good for our relationship.

After picking up the kids we ate Vietnamese food together, helped them with homework for 30 minutes, then ended the night with the kids and I being completely silly in the hot tub. Bath and bed by 9pm.

Small Things Provide A Tremendous Amount Of Meaning

That day, I did not close a big business deal or give a presentation to hundreds of people. Nor did I attend a fancy conference where I hobnobbed with powerful people. Instead I did a lot of small things that made me feel like I mattered. And that was more than enough.

When we are caught up climbing the corporate ladder and chasing status and prestige, we forget there are countless other sources of meaning outside of work.

We convince ourselves that purpose must come from a promotion, a bigger paycheck, or a more impressive title. But I promise you, it does not have to.

The little things in life can provide just as much meaning as Senior Vice President or Managing Director on your LinkedIn profile, often times more.

Diversify Your Identity Before You Retire Or Get Laid Off

The risk of tying your entire identity to your career is that you slowly stop investing in everything else. And when the inevitable day comes that you leave your job, voluntarily or not, the void feels overwhelming because you never diversified your identity.

From gardening to teaching your kids guitar to simply washing the dishes with some intention, there are endless ways to find purpose once you no longer have a day job.

And within three months of your departure, hardly anyone at your old company will be thinking about you anyway. Your position will be eliminated or filled by someone else trying to hit their quarterly numbers.

So go ahead. Embrace the freedom that retirement or unemployment offers. Do not worry about becoming an aimless soul, void of purpose. You will find something meaningful to do, no matter what stage of life you’re in.

Readers, if you are unemployed or retired, have you been able to find new purpose with your free time? Do you think some people tie too much of their identity to their careers, to the detriment of everything else? And do workers truly not realize how quickly they will be forgotten once they leave?

Negotiate A Severance Package And Break Free

If you are thinking about leaving your job or sense a layoff coming, do not quit. Quitting leaves you with nothing. Negotiating a severance package, on the other hand, can give you a meaningful financial runway and the breathing room to figure out what comes next.

Both my wife and I negotiated our own severances. That money gave us the courage to walk away and never look back. Since retiring in 2012 and 2015, respectively, we’ve traveled extensively, wrote a couple more bestselling books, and became stay at home parents to two children. It’s been a wonderful life so far.

If you want to learn how to do the same, pick up a copy of my bestselling ebook How To Engineer Your Layoff. Use code “saveten” to save $10 at checkout.