Important news for soon-to-be retirees. If you feel compelled to finish every task that you have been working on or to clear your desk of every item on your To Do List, don’t. Stop! Here are the reasons for leaving things undone that will salve your conscience and allow you to walk away with a positive conscience.
Disclaimer: If your personality is completely compulsive and at the end of every day you cleaned your desk not only of loose odds and ends but also of every task on your To Do List, the remainder of this article does not pertain to you. Your retirement was planned long before you contemplated life after your primary career. Good luck in your very neat future.
For everyone else –
- Projects still in the works belong to the organization, not you. Sometime ago, a discussion was held that said, “This is what the outcomes of the project should look like and this is approximately how long the project will take to complete.” If the project is on target and on its timeline, let the next person in your chair own the completion. Not you.
- Daily tasks on your To Do List typically are not organizational projects. They are the frequent and constant details that have been part of your every day job. For each To Do that you rush to check off, another will be added to the list in the next hour. And, the day after you retire more items will be added to your successor’s To Do List. These tasks are like daybreak. When day breaks, tasks To Do appear. They will get done, but not by you.
- Introspectively, a rush to complete everything will cause the organization to wonder, “So, this is what she could have accomplished if she really put her mind to it.” A final flurry is not indicative of your career, so don’t make your last days on the job an unreal portrayal of how you worked over the years. Make your final days reflect the good, steady work performance you have given every day of your tenure.
- Leave some things for your successor to do. These are part of your legacy. If you clean your desk of every task so that your successor assumes a “clean plate”, then every task immediately has his or her brand on it. You have effectively erased yourself from the organization’s short-term history. Leave enough of your undone work for your successor so that everyone will perceive the continuity of you to your replacement.
- Always allow your successor to owe you something. The start of a task is a good owe. Let your successor appreciate how you set the task in motion. The groundwork for your successor’s first success is a good owe. Almost every replacement employee completes some things her predecessor began. Let it be her first success. Established collaborations are a good owe. When colleagues meet and greet your successor with collegial not competitive welcomes, your successor will know that you and your workmates worked well together. Positional relationships are a good owe. Your successor steps into the shoes with which managed your up and down relationships These owes establish your successor’s appreciation that they are part of an ongoing work effort, one that you handed to them as she will hand similar relationships to her successor one day in the future.
- Leave no regrets. On the first day of retirement, do not think about the work you did not complete. That was yesterday and your retirement is all about today and tomorrow.
If, by chance, your former employer contacts you to ask if you can assist the organization or your successor with work that no longer is your responsibility, smile. And, if you say, “Yes, I would be happy to help,” do not work for less than your prior salary. Work is work and post-retirement must be compensated. After all, you could be on a cruise or on a golf course or touring the world. Post-employment income always is appreciated.