I’m not sure when the idea of retirement was institutionalized and democratized but I’m sure it wasn’t always this way. The caveman didn’t have a retirement age – he stopped work when he could no longer push himself and it turned out that those folks weren't dying young at all. They were on the daily grind till full old age because work does not kill.

Yes, work doesn't kill and in fact, it is ‘not working’ that has the power to kill. The law of use says that ‘whatever you do not use, you lose’. A house that is not occupied or vehicle that is not put to use will depreciate. Same way, the human body that is not used will be lost sooner than later.

Let's draw lessons from here: a fish has to keep swimming to stay alive. Same way birds fly for a living. When they decide to stop swimming or flying, they die. They have to keep doing this no matter how monotonous until they can no longer -- they don't get tired and retire at some age. And humans cannot play any less.

My point is, when we stop working (and serving our fellow man), we start dying. Verifiable statistics already show this. The human body was not designed to stop working until indeed it can no longer work and this age is relative -- different strokes for different folks. Not the institutionalized age of '65 or 60 something' like what we have today in most part of the world.

Now, any takeaways?

Yes, start by intentionally taking off the idea of retirement from your mind. Resist what society says. Begin today, to invest in a kind of work that you will still be involved in, in some way much in the later part of your life. And entrepreneurship (in its diverse ramifications) offers each of us a perfect chance at this. It’s worth considering!

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