{"data":{"id":"4f02093a-d685-4734-98b2-6c3a33d5cbc5","updated_at":"2024-04-12T20:39:17Z","template_id":"73046548-86ec-431a-aca0-75b53bc936f3","localized":{"blocks":[{"id":"b9515892-d8d7-4652-ac71-534778aee20f","kind":"richtext","template_id":null,"content_html":"

Recently I suffered an eye injury which had put me on the shelf for a couple of months. Not being able to read, write, workout or watch tv has given me plenty of time to think about things which resulted in me taking a deep dive in how I want to spend my remaining time on this planet.

I know that this is deep, but I had nothing better to do with my time.

Some retirees look forward to sitting back and taking it easy for the duration but this won’t work for me. I’ve discovered I need to remain useful finding ways to contribute and do work I’m proud of for as long as I can. This is just how I’m wired.

From a young age I always felt there was something special I was meant to do but I had no idea what it was. It wasn’t until I was forced into an unplanned retirement it started to emerge.

My retirement transition was done strictly by trial and error and I ended up suffering from retirement shock for a couple of years. During this time, I sometimes felt like a retirement crash test dummy experiencing things about retirement that nobody warned me about and this definitely wasn’t fun. Because of a lack of guidance, I had to figure out everything on my own which was hard and took a lot of time.

When I look back and connect the dots, I believe I was put through the wringer so other people might be able to benefit from my retirement experiences both good and bad.

I guess you could say I finally found that thing I was meant to do or maybe it’s better to say it found me.

Funny how life works.

Some people refer to this type of situation as a calling but I look upon it as a gift. And I don’t want to miss out an opportunity to pass on my gift to other people.

Going forward my mission is to help one million people transition to a successful retirement. It’s a cause I believe in and one I’m fully committed too.

Of course, every mission needs a plan of action for how to help so many people and following is mine.

Last year we released our free retirement book “Longevity Lifestyle By Design” and it felt really good seeing it downloaded by thousands of people.

This year I’ve decided to give back in a different way.

I’m offering to do free virtual retirement webinars both in Canada and the United States for libraries, church groups, teachers, health care workers and so on. If you are interested in having me present to your group, please just send me an e-mail to michael.drak@yahoo.ca

My plan is to tell my story to as many people as possible so people can learn from it and avoid all the stress, worrying, and anxiety that I went through.

It’s an exciting time for me because I’m doing work that lights me up and makes the days fly by. Being able to help make even one retiree’s life better gives me an incredible sense of purpose, meaning and makes me very happy.

And being happy is what a successful retirement is all about.

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Mike Drak is a Senior Contributor at Booming Encore and the Author of the best-selling book Victory Lap Retirement, Retirement Heaven or Hell and Longevity Lifestyle by Design. Along with being an Author, Mike is also an award winning blogger, retirement coach and public speaker and has made appearances on BNN, CBC Radio and iHeart radio. He is a thirty-eight year veteran of the financial services industry and lives with his wife Melina in Toronto, Canada.

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