IL Postcard

Early Retirement Starts With Your Attitude

Date: 12/22/2007

Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007

Read more about retiring overseas in International Living Postcards--Sunday Edition

Emilio was a beach vendor in Phuket, Thailand, where Vicki and I spent a month earlier this year with some friends. It was slow season, May/June, and Emilio had few customers. He stopped by and chatted with us every now and again. He spoke good English.

One day I told Emilio he seemed to be always around, to be working all the time. He said, “I work as long as it takes to make a living. In high season sometimes 10 hours on the beach, then six more in my shop.” He paused, thought about it a bit, and went on. “But I never work hard. Not good to work too hard.”

The Laotians--next-door neighbors in Southeast Asia--share the same work attitudes. According to the Lonely Planet travel guide, “Laotians commonly express the notion that too much work is bad for your brain, and they often say they feel sorry for people who think too much.”

I grew up in a Calvinist household in booming California in the 1950s and '60s. I took it for granted that I would work hard, get ahead, to (as a professor later put it) “crawl and gouge my way to the top of the profit heap.” I never really thought about alternatives. So years later when I decided to retire at age 35, I had to fight back. I had to come up with new values for my new life. I had to view work and struggle with a different attitude.

Then I went to Thailand. I saw Emilio's Buddhist culture and the very different attitude toward work and decided that I didn't like their attitude at all. Thais and Laotians work long hours, just not very hard--they cheerfully work 12- and 14-hour days, stay on the job even in the absence of customers, chores, or really anything to do at all.

I'm much more results-oriented. If I'm going to work or play, I like to do it right, to create value.

Our upbringing comes in a package, with religion, work attitudes, and motivation wrapped up together. That's true whether we're Buddhists born in Thailand or Calvinists born in California. As we reach adulthood, we tend to review our package. We should also do this as we approach retirement.
Reconsider your values--especially as it pertains to work--and you may surprise yourself. You could have unknowingly changed your attitudes over the years. If you recognize that you have changed your values, you'll be in better shape to begin your retirement.

Paul Terhorst
Roving “Retire Early” Editor, International Living

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