This is Johanna Rothman’s March 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter.
Dave (not his real name) asked me this question: “How do you know when you have to quit? Or retire? Is it when you’re no longer on the top of your game?” (Being at the top of your game means you have no more to learn—you’ve mastered this topic.)
Because I am ridiculously snarky, I said, “How could anyone have nothing left to learn? And how many people think they know everything and know much less than they should?”
We both laughed.
Then he said, “Well, I wonder if I’m on the top of my game, and if I’m not, what do I do next?”
Dave’s question is good, and we need to segment it a little:
- In which dimensions are we at the top of our game: intellectual, physical, or emotional capabilities?
- Can we assess those abilities?
- Finally, how do we choose what to do next and when? That often depends on where we are in our lives.
Let me start with our various capabilities and how we might assess them.
How We Might Assess Our Intellectual, Physical, Emotional Capabilities
Dave meant his intellectual capabilities. But part of his intellect is his stamina for problem-solving and his relatively calm demeanor at work.
I have a lot of stamina as long as I don’t have to stand up (!!). However, I am nowhere near as apparently as calm as he is. I don’t know how calm he is—I only know how calm he appears on the outside.
Dave is also terrific at asking for help and giving credit to the people who help him. Many other people think that makes him even more intellectually capable than he thinks he is.
I asked Dave if he’d ever asked for feedback about his capabilities.
“No,” he said and looked away. “I’d be afraid of what I’d hear.”
Fear is a powerful emotion. But Dave has other options. As an example, he could ask if he’d ever let the other person down. Or, he could ask if the other person valued something specific about him and his work.
That might offer him insights as to what to do next.
What’s Next?
Regardless of our current intellectual, physical, and emotional capabilities, most of us do have to choose what to do next. We might want to retire—and I hope that means retire to, not just retire from.
When we retire to the next thing, we can anticipate it, prepare for it, and learn to enjoy that next thing. We can look forward.
In contrast, when we retire from a previous thing, we tend to look back. I bet you know some of those people—they’re always talking about the good old days. I much prefer to make these days the best I can, rather than relive the old days.
(Some of those old days were not so hot.)
But When is an excellent question. It might have something to do with Now, and it definitely has something to do with our future selves.
Plan for “When” Before You Need To
After I reassured Dave that I thought he was still on top of his game, I asked him two questions:
- What’s next? Do you have any idea?
- When do you think “Next” will occur?
He said, “I have no answers for either of those questions.”
I suspect those are the first two questions each of us needs to answer. Because we might want to move to the Next thing before we think we’re no longer at the top of our game.
What does Dave think? He decided he is still on the top of his game, but it’s time for him to start thinking about “what’s” next. Then, he can consider “when.”
Announcements…
Register now for the Q2 2025 Writing Workshop 1: Free Your Inner Writer & Sell Your Nonfiction Ideas. While primarily for nonfiction writers, I have options for how you can use this workshop for content marketing for fiction writers.
My editor has offered me early feedback on my new book, Effective Public Speaking: How to Use Content Marketing With Stories to Show Your Value. It’s only available on leanpub right now. If you do not like reading books in progress, do not buy it yet! I expect to keep updating it over the next month and then go to the publishing steps.
If you are part of the agile community, consider checking out The Agile Network. Also, don’t miss out on discounted membership options. Use Discount Code: ROTHMANPMC33 to get 33% OFF all memberships. I’m speaking several times at the February micro-conference in two weeks.
Links
My Books. (If you’ve read any author’s book, please consider leaving a review. Your reviews help readers find books.) Also, my store is up. I do not yet have all the links on all the book pages (!!), but yes, you can go there and buy my self-published books and all my audiobooks.
See my Linktree with all the relevant links to everything I do, including all my social media.
Till next time,
Johanna
© 2025 Johanna Rothman