Many retirees may think that they are losing many things such as jobs, roles, social status, health, etc. during their retirement age. Yet, one thing that will always accompany retired people is their valuable and enriching life experience.
Imagine our lives as a 'Living Academy', from which we pay our lifetime as tuition fee to learn and accumulate valuable experience including knowledge, skills and self-experience. Through the interaction of 'using', 'learning' and 'teaching', we can continue to make effective use of our precious life experiences after retirement.
The Three Interactive Methods
1. 'Using' – to Externalise Our Experience
Upon leaving their job positions, retired people would naturally lose their chance to make use of their experience in workplace. They need to ask themselves a question: "What can I do to continue to make the best use of my valuable experience?" Such self-evaluation has actually motivated many retired people to develop a new career.
2. 'Learning' – to Deepen Our Experience
We either progress or regress in our lives, and this also applies to our 'experience'. Our experience would dissipate if we stop advancing in our lives. Hence, continuous learning to deepen our experience after retirement is an important and strategic means to ensure enhancing instead of undermining our experience.
3. 'Teaching' – to Extend Our Experience
Teaching and learning can benefit from one another. Teaching experience can not only help extend our valuable experience but also preserve our experience from becoming less and less.
Experience includes knowledge, skills and self-experience. Knowledge and skills are the rational side of experience, while self-experience is the emotional side. Many people may have gone through the 'eureka' moment. For instance, despite having learnt certain knowledge or techniques, we may have the feeling that such knowledge or techniques are not truly ours as we do not have the chance to make use of them. However, after certain incident, we may suddenly realise the essence of these knowledge or techniques and truly acquire and apply them. Therefore, the most effective way to pass on any experience is to encourage the recipients to rethink through asking questions and listening to ideas in order to refocus their mind for the eureka moment, either emotionally or rationally.
Thirty years ago, when I was undergoing professional training as a specialist medical consultant in child and adolescent psychiatry in the United Kingdom, my trainer Professor David Taylor always asked me some unforgettable questions, one of which was: "What deficiencies do you recognise in our child and adolescent psychiatric services that you would try to avoid when you return to Hong Kong?" Professor Taylor is a very successful professor in child psychiatry. He wanted me to learn not only from his successful but also unsuccessful experience. He is one of the teachers I respect most.
'Experience' is the most valuable thing that we earn with our lives, and we should not let our 'experience' disappear upon our departure. Instead, we should continuously make actual use of it and pass it on to our next generation, because it is the key to live a meaningful life.
Dr Wong Chung-kwong, JP
Chairman of Honorary Advisory Board
Whole Person Development Institute