Even if you live outside of the baseball world, even if you live far from the Pacific Northwest, even if you don’t follow sports, the name Ken Griffey Jr. is recognizable. His announced retirement from the Seattle Mariners this week was really not so much of a surprise. The Kid had a brilliant career, is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame (probably as a unanimous entrant in the first round of voting) and quite possibly could offer us a couple of tips about our own retirement.
Griffey never seemed to be trying that hard. A natural at the sport he chose, Junior came to work every day, on time and ready to play. Most of us can say that about our jobs but could we say it something we do with the same consistency. That sort of passion for the game is the same sort of enthusiasm we could all learn a lesson from.
So the first tip Junior offers: bring it every day. His ability to show up and do his best, day in and day out is something the vats majority of us fail to do. Even in a job weakened economy, this approach has been lost to the simplistic though that at least we have employment. If it is something you do not like to do, how can you hope to muster the fortitude to fight through the setbacks?
Many pundits suggest that we will be working at our jobs much longer than we like, if only to build our retirement funds to a level that will support us in those post-work days. But this does not necessarily mean we have to do the same thing. Working and working at something you enjoy are two wholly different things. Finding your passion will enable you to look at a future of less retirement and more work with less dread.
The second tip Jr. offers is: working through your setbacks. Jr, had more than his share. The potential to break the home run record (legally and without the use of enhancements) was cut short by a strike in 1994. Much like the market crash of 2008, this would have been considered the worst possible thing that could happen. Griffey simply shrugged it off with that famous backward cap look and boyish smile. Could we do the same? Have we done the same?
Instead of staying with what worked for us in the past, we challenged our own sense of investment risk and switched our approach. Instead of doing what got us to those robust portfolios, many us changed to a more conservative approach. Not so with Jr. He kept at his game, even when he struggled with injuries late in his career.
If we would have done like Jr., we would have realized that the only way we could retire was to accept that the markets have risk, that investing is not the same as saving and that recoiling when things got rough is counterintuitive to making progress. We need to keep our contributions higher than they currently are, employer match or not and utilize every tool at our disposal (budgets, understanding the importance of retirement planning as a whole life experience, and preparing our financial house now while we are working).
The last lesson Griffey offers: do it with dignity. Many of us see the road to retirement as something we will never successfully navigate. You will and you can. But there will be bumps and unforeseen obstacles which will attempt to misdirect us. To understand that this is a truly noble effort, one that will give your children an example of how to turn dependence into independence, is key to getting there is good shape.
Will you be able to experience these kinds of words about your effort as Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said: “It’s a sad day for the Mariners, our fans, for all the people in the community that have loved Ken, admired him as a tremendous baseball player and a great human being”? Keeping in mind that you are the CEO of your retirement effort.
Griffey may have been born with amazing talent, nurtured by his father, another great player/coach, but it was coaxed further by the attitude he brought to the game. This attitude must be yours, Optimism tinged with caution is fine but doing so without turning pessimistic takes a yeoman’s effort. One of things we need to keep in mind: your retirement belongs to you and how you get there will require you to look at each day as an opportunity.
To read ore about this baseball legend, go here and here.
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