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One of the reasons we love working with people who have plenty of life experience is the ease of recognition they have when it comes to what their Birkman.me report is surfacing.

What do I mean? Well, the younger person recognises what is in their report too, but sometimes with a sense of shock: "oh my goodness, that makes so much sense"; whereas the person in their fifties or sixties is more likely to say, "oh yes, it took me ages to work that one out." In other words, they still absolutely value the feedback they get from the process, and the way it works together as a whole; but they have already had some inkling of "the big rocks" their Birkman.me reveals.

Why does this matter? Two reasons at least, which seem to be diametrically opposed, but aren't, really.

Firstly, and especially if your job hasn't always been exactly what you could have wished, now that you are retiring, you may well be able to please yourself to a greater extent. For instance, if your job had too little people interaction for your taste, you could pursue more people oriented activities. If your job was too hierarchical, finding a context that is more low key may suit you; if too focused, something with more variety, and so on. Making sure you have objective data on the context you really value is key: it is very easy to assume that you didn't enjoy your job for a reason which later turns out to be the wrong one. Maybe all the structure was exactly what you needed: it was the way you got communicated with that frustrated you.

The second reason is that maybe you want to really push the boat out now, and do things unlike those you ever did before. Before you set off on your solo circumnavigation of the world on your Enduro bike - it might be a good idea to check that so much solitude is going to work for you, and whether it will go better with tight forward planning, or just the merest outline.

Your Birkman.me report is going to give you a reading of 9 key areas, ranging from how Sociable you like to be, to how Structured you like things and how much Feedback you need. Some of these you may have a lot of bandwidth in - for example you may appreciate being with lots of people some of the time, and by yourself the rest of the time - i.e neither one of those would trouble you too much. There may be other areas where you have little or no bandwidth; perhaps your view of 'flexible' is pretty narrow and you really appreciate a detailed plan. There could be a steep learning curve ahead if you find yourself doing something with people for whom "the plan" is whatever seems a good idea at 10am tomorrow morning.

There are no good and bad scores - ever. But the angst you can generate for yourself by setting out without a good understanding of what matters to you, in terms of context and the kind of people you surround yourself with - can be greatly reduced or even avoided altogether.

Birkman.me will be a great source of insight to you!