Inside the Red Zone

Godspeed: good fortune; success (used as a wish to a person starting on a journey, a new venture, etc.).

I'm frequently asked if I'm retired.

It's weird being asked that question when the expectation is that you are, but in reality you aren't.

I've been looking at this stage of my career – what some might call "retirement" – as the Red Zone.

That's a football term – when the offense has the ball on the opponent's 20-yard line, which creates a high probability for scoring.

For non football fans, before you hit delete: I'm not a huge football fan either, but the metaphor works: A football field has 100 yards. If you're on the opponent's 20, you've got 80 yards – 80 percent – of the field behind you.

The odds, theoretically, are pretty good that the offense is going to score.

Of course, this is where the opposition's defense stiffens, making the matchup even more interesting.

Which is pretty much where I am in life. At age 67, I'm on the 20-yard line and going on the offense, hoping to score one last time.

That's my retirement.

I mean, hey, 6-7, right?

Two years ago when I hit the hallowed age of 65, I took a jump and de-emphasized my branding and marketing work (and income) to see if I could scale my individual social and environmental impact more across three platforms:

• Creating this Godspeed newsletter to help people on their journey of social impact
• Building a physical co-working space, Inspiration Alley, to bring people together in these fractured and digitally saturated times
• Launching a new community-building event in Boise called "HomeBoi"

It's a pretty decent workload, definitely full-time, and sometimes I find myself pretty stressed.

When I posted about this stage of my career and my stress level on LinkedIn, Georgia Smith offered this sage advice:

Give yourself some time. It takes a while to settle into this change. Life feels lighter when there’s no need to rush—and money’s just paper, not peace.

I LOVE Georgia's advice. It's so smart! And I try to remind myself of it.

Even so, a poem I studied in college seems to have burned so deeply into my psyche that it keeps me from being "Georgia smart." Consider the first stanza of "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though sometimes this "rage" verges on overwhelming, as in Stevie Smith's poem, Not Waving but Drowning. Again – a first stanza:

Nobody heard him, the dead man,   
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought   
And not waving but drowning.

Now is that some killer poetry or what? And yes, getting you primed for my annual poetry issue in April.

I find it energizing to keep the light alive, and, I'll admit – venturing out to the deep water where the currents are unsure, which is to say: I bring it on myself.

I guess I'm just a stress monkey at heart.

So, you can look at this as a retirement story or a business story, as what I've really done is start three businesses later in life: a newsletter business, a coworking business, and an event business, which might mean I either don't have an understanding of retirement or am reinventing it for myself.

I don't know if retirement for you is a long way off, looming, or you're knee deep in it. Hopefully, my real-time experience will be of some value to you, either for golden-years planning or your ideation in work-a-day of today's business world.

I'll give you an update on my triad of personal impact in an upcoming issue.

Godspeed, friends.

Russ

✍🏼 The Pen Is Mightier...

"Sooner or later people believe writers rather than the government." Gabriel García Márquez

💪 Speaking of Mighty...

Kim Allchurch Flick of B Corp Mighty Measure has launched a new podcast, The Good Measure, and for some reason insanity kidnapped her for a moment and she picked me for one of her initial episodes. Kim's a veteran in the social and environmental impact space with interesting perspectives – and guests. Give her (and me) a listen here as we talk about the inspiration of nature, values, collective action, B Corps, and more.

Design That Makes You Want To 🤮

Have you seen the logo (⬆️) for the White House's new initiative to give Kristi Noem a soft landing, Shield of the Americas? It's just flat-out bad – garish, really, which shouldn't come as a surprise, eh? Meet the man who's responsible for it, Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder and America's first chief design officer.

The Ripples Are Real

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz made his way to the wilds of Idaho recently. At 15:10 in this Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, he talks about buildings here in Boise flying the Minnesota flag as an act of resistance. HEY, WAIT A MINUTE - THAT’S MY FREAKING BUILDING!

Just another example of a small ripple sent out into the universe for those who wonder if their small actions have any consequence.

I got the flag from Flags For Good, which offers many different cause flags and banners if you're interested.