Loading progress...
Earlier, we established an important principle: the level of
challenge you experience depends partly upon the resources you have available
to meet it.
Something that puts you in your Panic Zone today may become
a Stretch Zone challenge if you acquire more of what you need. Equally, a lack
of resources may keep you within your Comfort Zone, avoiding a challenge
because you don't yet feel equipped to take it on.
You may also discover that you already possess resources you
haven't fully recognised or used. The Challenge Audit helps you identify what
you already have and what you may need more of, so you can give yourself the
best chance of entering and staying in your Stretch Zone.
The Challenge Audit helps you identify both. Start with the priority retirement
challenge area(s) you identified in the previous activity. For each of the
resources over the following slides, give yourself two scores from 0–10:
What I have: 0 means I currently have none of this
resource available to me; 10 means I have as much as I could reasonably need.
What I need: 0 means this challenge requires none of
this resource; 10 means I need a very high level of it to take on the challenge
successfully.
As a general rule:
·
7–10: You have enough or more than enough of
this resource. Focus on nurturing and protecting it.
·
4–6: You have some of this resource, but not
enough. You can manage for now, but should look to develop or acquire more
soon.
·
0–3: You don't have enough of this resource and
need to develop or acquire more as a priority.
Consider how much information you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves improving your self-esteem, you may need information about what currently undermines it and what could help you build it. If your challenge involves changing your lifestyle, you may need information about local activities, travel options, courses, volunteering opportunities, or other ways to spend your time.
Do I have enough information? If I don't, can I find it myself, or does someone else have the information I need?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much knowledge you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves improving a relationship, you may need greater knowledge of what is happening between you, what the other person needs from you and what you need from them. If your challenge involves improving your health and wellbeing, you may need more knowledge of your current health, what influences it, and what changes are likely to help.
Do I have enough knowledge? If I don't, can I develop it myself, or does someone else have the knowledge I need?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much technology you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves work, career and professional development, such as setting up a lifestyle business in retirement, you may need technology to create a website, market your services, communicate with customers, take payments or manage the business. If your challenge is financial, you may need to be able to use online banking, budgeting tools or other digital services that help you manage your money.
Do I have the technology I need? If I don't, can I acquire and use it myself, or will I need support?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much of the skills and abilities required for your challenge you currently possess and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge is cultural, such as learning to play a musical instrument or taking up photography, you may need to develop new practical or creative skills. If your challenge involves home and family life, you may need skills such as communicating more effectively, setting boundaries or managing responsibilities differently.
Do I have the skills and abilities required? If I don't, can I develop them independently, or will I need support?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much confidence and belief you currently have in your ability to take on your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves identity, role and status, you may need confidence in who you are and what you have to offer without the position or professional status you previously relied upon. If your challenge involves your environment, such as moving to a different part of the country or living abroad for part of the year, you may need to believe in your ability to adapt, establish yourself, and deal with unfamiliar situations.
Do I have enough confidence and belief? If I don't, can I build these qualities myself, or will I need the backing of others?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much finance and money you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves your lifestyle, such as travelling more extensively in retirement, you may need sufficient money to fund the type and frequency of travel you have in mind. If your challenge involves your environment, such as moving home or relocating to another part of the country, you may need to understand and meet the financial costs involved.
Do I have enough finance and money? If I don't, can I acquire what I need, change the scale of my challenge, or will I need specialist advice?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much support you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves your social life, such as building new friendships after retirement, you may benefit from someone encouraging you to attend activities or introducing you to new people. If your challenge involves work, career and professional development, such as starting a new business, you may need practical or professional support from people with expertise you don't possess yourself.
Do I have enough support around me? If I don't, where will I find what I need, and who could provide it?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider whether your current wellbeing gives you the physical and emotional resilience you need to take on your challenge.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves health and wellbeing, such as becoming more physically active after a long period of inactivity, you may need sufficient energy and resilience to establish and maintain new routines. If your challenge involves a relationship, such as addressing a long-standing difficulty with your partner or another family member, you may need enough emotional resilience to tolerate difficult conversations and work through what follows.
Do I feel resilient enough? If I don't, can I increase my resilience myself, or will I need encouragement or support?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much motivation you currently have for your challenge and how much you believe you need to keep pursuing it.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves self-esteem and self-worth, such as becoming more assertive and putting your own needs higher on your agenda, you may need sufficient motivation to keep practising new ways of responding even if they initially feel uncomfortable. If your challenge involves your lifestyle, such as improving your fitness or becoming more active, you may need enough motivation to continue beyond the initial enthusiasm and establish new habits.
Do I feel sufficiently motivated? If I don't, can I increase my motivation myself, or will I need inspiration and encouragement from others?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider how much time you currently have available for your challenge and how much you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves home and family life, such as providing regular care for grandchildren or an elderly relative while protecting time for your own retirement, you may need to decide how much time you can realistically make available to both. If your challenge is cultural, such as writing a book, learning a language or developing an artistic interest, you may need to create regular time in your week to pursue it properly.
Do I have enough spare capacity? If I don't, can I create it myself, or will I need to work with other people to make more time available?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider whether your environment supports the challenge you want to take on and what you may need from it.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge involves your past, present and future, such as creating a retirement that feels sufficiently different from your working life, you may need to spend more time in environments that encourage new experiences rather than continually returning you to familiar routines and roles. If your challenge involves identity, role and status, you may benefit from environments where you can develop and express different parts of yourself rather than continuing to be known primarily through your former occupation.
Am I in the right environment? If I'm not, can I change my existing surroundings, or do I need to spend time somewhere else?
BOX FOR NOTES
Consider whether you currently have the right strategy for taking on your challenge and how much strategic direction you believe you need.
What I have: ___ /10
What I need: ___ /10
For example, if your challenge is financial, such as making your retirement income last while still enjoying the lifestyle you want, you may need a clear strategy for balancing spending, saving and longer-term financial needs. If your challenge involves relationships, such as wanting more independence from your partner without reducing the quality of your relationship, you may need a strategy for discussing what you both want and agreeing on how your time together and apart could work.
Do I have the right strategy? If not, can I develop one myself, or will I need to work with someone else to develop it?
BOX FOR NOTES
Now compare your ‘What I have’ and ‘What I need’ scores. Where
the two scores are similar, or where what you have exceeds what you need, you
may already have sufficient resources available.
Where your ‘What I have’ score is lower than your ‘What I need’
score, you have identified a potential resource gap. The size of that gap gives
you useful information about where your attention may be needed.
Don't assume that every gap has to disappear before you
begin. Some resources can be developed while you are taking on the challenge.
Instead, consider:
·
Which resources do I already have enough of?
·
Where are my most significant resource gaps?
·
Which gaps could make my challenge too demanding
and push me towards my Panic Zone?
·
Which one or two resources would make the
greatest difference to my ability to remain in my Stretch Zone?
·
Can I develop or acquire these resources myself,
or do I need help from someone else?
·
What will I do to increase the resources I need?
Your Challenge Audit isn't simply asking, “Can I do this?” It
gives you a more useful question: “What do I need to give myself the best
chance of doing this successfully while remaining in my Stretch Zone?”
Priya was 61 and planning to retire from her role in
financial services within the next year. Unlike Martin, she wasn't concerned
about having too little to do. She already knew something she wanted to make
part of her retirement. She wanted to travel independently.
Priya had travelled extensively during her marriage, but her
husband had organised almost everything. Since his death three years earlier,
she had travelled only with friends or on organised holidays.
“I keep telling everyone I want to travel,” she said, “but
whenever I think about actually booking something by myself, I stop.”
Travel itself wasn't the problem. Priya enjoyed airports,
unfamiliar places and meeting people. Her challenge was being solely
responsible for everything that happened. She initially considered booking
three weeks of independent travel around South America.
“Why three weeks in South America?” I asked.
“Because if I'm going to prove I can do it, I might as well
do it properly.”
However, it quickly emerged that her proposed challenge was far
greater than her current resources could handle. In a moment of honesty, she
admitted that it was too much too soon. But rather than conclude that
independent travel wasn't for her, Priya used the Stretch Zone to ask a
different question:
What would make this challenging but manageable? She decided that her first experiment would be a four-night trip to Lisbon. Priya then considered the resources she would need and scored what she currently had against what she believed the challenge required, using a 0–10 scale.
Information, Technology and Knowledge (all scored the same)
What I have: 5/10
What I need: 8/10
Skills and Abilities
What I have: 6/10
What I need: 7/10
Confidence and Belief
What I have: 4/10
What I need: 8/10
Finance and Money
What I have: 9/10
What I need: 7/10
Wellbeing
What I have: 8/10
What I need: 7/10
Support
What I have: 5/10
What I need: 7/10
Motivation
What I have: 9/10
What I need: 8/10
Time
What I have: 9/10
What I need: 8/10
Environment
What I have: 7/10
What I need: 7/10
Strategy
What I have: 4/10
What I need: 8/10
The biggest gaps were therefore Confidence and Belief
(4-point gap) and Strategy (4-point gap), followed by Information, Technology
and Knowledge (3-point gap) and Support (2-point gap).
Her Audit helped explain why the original three-week trip to
South America risked putting her into her Panic Zone. It wasn't a lack of
motivation, time, money or wellbeing. She lacked some of the specific resources
she needed to meet the demands of her challenge. The exercise changed how Priya
understood her challenge.
“I've been treating all of this as evidence that I'm not
brave enough,” she said. “Actually, there are things I don't know how to do
because I've never had to do them.”
Priya began addressing those gaps.
She learned how to store travel documents on her phone, use
an eSIM and organise airport transfers. Rather than asking her daughter to
arrange everything for her, she asked her to show her how to do the things she
didn't understand. She chose a centrally located hotel with a staffed reception
and booked two activities before travelling, while deliberately leaving the
rest of her time unplanned.
Her daughter became part of her support resource, but with
an important difference. Her role wasn't to take responsibility for the trip,
but to help Priya become more capable of taking responsibility herself.
The day before departure, Priya was nervous.
“So am I in my Panic Zone?” she asked (I had encouraged her
to call if she needed to.)
“Do you want to cancel?”
“No.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“Yes. I'm just not entirely sure I can.”
“Then you’re in your Stretch Zone, Priya.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yes, that’s good.”
Priya went to Lisbon. Not everything went smoothly. She got
on the wrong tram, struggled with the lock on her hotel-room safe and spent an
uncomfortable twenty minutes trying to work out whether she had left her purse
in a café. But none of those experiences overwhelmed her.
When she returned, she re-scored her resources. Her financial
position, time and motivation were largely unchanged. Her knowledge and skills
had increased, her strategy was much stronger and, importantly, so was her
confidence.
The next challenge could therefore be greater. Priya didn't
book three weeks in South America (“South America can wait.”), but she did book
eight days in Italy. The important change wasn't simply that Priya had become
more adventurous. She had increased the resources available to her, which meant
she could take on more challenge while remaining within her Stretch Zone.
According to Priya, South America can still wait, but she
now knows it is a matter of when she goes, not if she goes.
Reflect
BOX FOR NOTES
Lesson