James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, made an observation that stops people in their tracks: "Work is endless. Exercise is endless. Parenting is endless. Same with marriage, writing, investing, creating, and more. You get to choose the parts of your life, but many of the important things in life cannot be 'finished.'"
That idea should give anyone planning for retirement a moment of pause. For decades, retirement has been marketed as the ultimate finish line. The cultural script says: Work hard, save diligently, check the boxes and then — finally — you're done. The goal, implicitly or explicitly, has been to stop: Stop working, stop striving and stop needing to grow.
