I did the unthinkable. I forgot my flash drive at a business copy center. Thankfully, there wasn’t any client or top-secret information on it, so I called to let the staff know I would come by the next day to pick it up.

The next morning, I walked back into the store and over to the copy and print area. I said I was there for my flash drive, and to my surprise, the clerk gave me this weird look. It was a strange non-verbal gesture like, “Good luck with that.” So I began to wonder, “Did they lose or misplace it?” Or worse, “Did they give it to someone else?” That’s when I was handed a big box from under the counter that was overflowing with orphaned flash drives.

I was in shock at how many were in the box. There were well over a couple hundred of them. It was mind-boggling to consider how much time, energy and effort had likely gone into the content and information contained on them … and they just sat there, in a graveyard of data files.

The situation reminded me of a Les Brown quote, “The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step.”

It’s interesting because a wide variety of research and science supports the notion. According to a 2019 Gallup report, nearly three in 10 people think the American dream is personally unattainable for them. A 2014 study in the academic journal Social Forces found that only 6% of adults got the careers they wanted when they were children. In 2017, Pew Research found that only 37% of Americans thought that the children of today would grow up better off financially than their parents. Different sources put the failure rate of New Year’s resolutions at high levels of 80% to 92%.

These are pretty dismal numbers, but important information for a couple of reasons. First, I believe a growing group of financial professionals want to be more and do more within our industry, but they are hesitant, feel stuck and just aren’t sure where to start. They want to do something different, like add a more personal touch to their services or focus on group presentations instead of one-on-one meetings. They want to write a book, blog about non-financial topics like health and wellness, or teach a course on helping people start a business in retirement.

They want something better and feel the pull to take the leap, but for some reason they can’t pull the cord. Time, money or some other circumstance keeps getting in the way. The harsh reality is, there will always be something in the way and someone saying it may not be worth it. Tackling such a new challenge will come with its own ups and downs, but pushing it down and beating it back will only add to the riches in the graveyard.

So I want to encourage you to avoid keeping all your ideas in the flash drive of your heart and mind. Take a quick minute right now to write it down and give yourself 30 days to simply start working on it in some way. It can be as simple as reaching out to someone you know who is already doing it and asking them how they got started. It can also be finding a few articles, videos or podcasts on the topic. Just make it small and give yourself a deadline. It is the absolute first step in making sure your dreams don’t end up permanently on hold.

In addition to the fact that we as advisors need some encouragement to take that next step, so do our clients. They need permission to be more … do more … and step outside of the box. This is especially the case when it comes to retirement because, like the graveyard, retirement can be a place where hopes and dreams, relationships, health and other things go to die. It can leave people with no purpose or passion, struggling to figure things out and to have a positive impact on others. It can be a heartbreaking reality if we dwell on it and don’t find creative ways to help our clients avoid that.

Recently I developed an online retirement course that’s in beta testing with some folks. One of the people going through it said, “This information was very helpful because I realized for the first time I didn’t know much about retirement and I was just conforming to what everyone else was saying about it. … And that’s not the way I want to approach it and go through it.”

One of the things I do with my course and other writing is offer moving stories and ideas for people to see retirement in a fresh light and that is something you can do as well. For example, when it comes to retirement, I have found one of the biggest issues that people have during this transition is the idea of needing to redefine who they are and what’s important to them.

On the surface, it doesn’t sound hard or difficult, but once most people leave work, it strips them of everything they knew and were. Furthermore, the first couple of months, or honeymoon phase, can make it worse because some people tend to do very little. They put their lives on cruise control, put distance between themselves and former co-workers, let their skills languish, and generally stop staying mentally and physically active.

Instead of letting clients suffer as they try to figure all these things out, I use my newsletter to add fun, engaging and heartwarming stories. Here is a recent one:

I recently heard about this young man who started working for his father at a young age. During that time, one of the main staff members was a custodian who had a ring full of keys to access the different work areas and offices.

The young man went off to college and returned to an official role in his dad’s business. But when he started, he was disappointed that his dad only gave him one key to his office. He figured his dad didn’t trust him yet and that he would have to do more and be more to get full access.

For years, he asked the custodian to open the various areas for things he needed to complete projects, fulfill customer orders and help manage employees. Then one day, he needed immediate access to a room but the custodian and his dad were not around, and they would not be back anytime soon. He was desperate and did not know what to do, so he reached for his key and was surprised to learn that he was not just given a single key for his office but the master key to the entire building.

The moral of the story for clients is simple: They already have everything they need to be successful in retirement. They just need to be encouraged to insert the master key and open up the different areas of their life and skills—and put them to work in new ways.

What’s powerful about that story is it reduces the burden and anxiety that can be associated with change. Too often people think they have to be someone different, and since they aren’t sure how to do it, they freeze. Therefore, by adding fresh perspective, you become an agent for change and can help them take those next crucial steps.

No matter if it’s a client or you as the financial professional, now is the time to make sure our collective hopes and dreams don’t end up in a box at a copy center or buried in the graveyard. It’s the perfect time to change the narrative, add to your story, passion and purpose, and do it in a way that has a positive impact on your clients and our industry.    

Robert Laura is a best-selling author, nationally syndicated columnist and president of Wealth & Wellness Group. He is a seasoned conference speaker, corporate trainer and pioneer in “The New Era Of Retirement” which focuses on the non-financial aspects of life after work. He can be reached at [email protected].