Author Larry Jacobson Knows the Seas are Rough but Retirement Doesn’t Have to Be

[Originally published on Mango Publishing platform]

Larry Jacobson is a retirement expert, motivational speaker, personal success coach, and award winning author. After retiring from his position as a CEO, Jacobson embarked on a sailing journey that sparked his interest in writing. Recently named “Retirement Coach of the Year” by the Retirement Coaches Association, Jacobson dedicates himself to helping his clients find personal satisfaction at every stage of life. Your Ideal Retirement Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Retiring with Purpose and Fulfillment is his latest title.

By Giovanna Smith

1. You circumnavigated the world for 6 years after retiring from your job. What inspired you to take on such a massive trip?

Since I first taught myself to sail when I was 13 years old, I dreamed of achieving the ultimate challenge in sailing. I kept that dream alive for 33 years and when I saw the opportunity to attempt making my dream come true, I jumped at the chance. It was not, “Retire and then go sailing,” but rather it involved making a plan three years before leaving my work career for how I would make it happen. It was a huge project and involved leaving my life behind as I knew it. I left my:

Career

Income

Security

Home

and my Identity…see next question.

2. Your latest title, Your Ideal Retirement Workbook, addresses finding personal identity after retirement. How did you incorporate the lessons you learned from your time on the seas into this book?

When we retire from our work lives, in my case as a CEO of a successful company, we have to leave that identity behind us. When someone says, “I’m a retired (fill in the blank), it means they have not yet left that identity behind. It takes work and digging deep to find the strength to leave one’s identity behind. I went from CEO to sailor, quite a big change, and at times it was a struggle.

I learned so much at sea about myself. I felt like I was sailing around the world looking for something…I didn’t know what, but it was something that would make me happy. I learned happiness is a state of mind, not caused by any one thing, but by one’s attitude about what we see in the world. I saw the happiest people imaginable in Vanuatu and they had the least possessions of anyone I had ever met. Upon my return is when I realized what I had been looking for all along was already inside of me, in my heart with my love for friends, family, and our amazing lives.

Interacting with other sailors who were “out there” cruising, taught great lessons. There is an unspoken rule of the cruising world that you don’t talk about or ask about: “what did you do before going sailing?”  Out there, everyone is equal and it didn’t matter if you were a CEO, a judge, teacher, whatever, we all just looked out for each other. This taught me how unimportant my old identity was, and how I needed to find a new identity.

3. Why do you think it’s important for new retirees to have a guidebook to help them navigate this new era of their lives?

When I returned from my sailing journey after six years, I knew I wanted to write a book about the journey. I did that and The Boy Behind the Gate was a number one on Amazon and won six literary awards… Read the full interview transcript – Click HERE!