Yes, that’s right.  Bea Arthur, the beloved actress and comedienne who passed away this past weekend at 86, would want you to be happy on the job.

How do I know?  I was watching my fave Sunday morning news shows (I’m a total news wonk) and CBS Sunday Morning did a tribute to Bea including an interview with her a couple of years ago when she was doing her one woman show on Broadway.  The CBS correspondent asked her, “Why are you doing Broadway at an age when most people are long retired?”  Bea passionately replied, “Actors don’t retire!  People who HATE their jobs retire!”

I love it.  So true.  Of course many of us who love our jobs may not work as many hours as we head into traditional retirement years, but we “get” what Bea was saying.  If I were, for instance, an accountant or an IT manager, I would surely be planning my retirement.  Now.  I don’t like crunching numbers and I’m a complete technophobe (the Apple store staff in downtown Portland knows me by first name due to all my questions) so those would not be dream jobs for me.  But The Golden Girl has it right — if you love what you do, you won’t have to, or want to, retire.

Bea’s passion as an actress is a perfect segue for me to encourage everyone to sign up for a free teleclass, “8 Steps To A Successful Career Transition”, I’m moderating on Monday, May 4 at 8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific.  My expert panelists are career and life coaches Dori Mintzer, Roberta Taylor and Will Wiebe.  They are 50+ (actually, all are 60+ but don’t tell them I told you) and will have detailed advice on how a 45+ person can make a career transition into something they love.  We’ll be geared a bit more toward the 45+ crowd but you younger folks are more than welcome to join as you’ll discover a thing or two as well, I’m sure.

“8 Steps To A Successful Career Transition” – Sign-up here for the free teleclass!

And share with a friend – the more the merrier.

With that, Bea, I hope you’re having a blast entertaining folks wherever you are!  I know one thing’s for sure:  You’ll never fully retire.

Cheers,
Brian

www.briankurth.com