4. Example of OVAX at Retirement
This is an example to illustrate a simple application of the OVAX methodology to a life decision that may affect several years of our life in our "Retirement Season".
OPPORTUNITIES AT RETIREMENT
Opportunities, like road signs, point to possible Actions and to Value areas. For example, at retirement, I get the opportunity of free time, financial savings that allow me to pay for leisure activities, a good health of mind and body that allows me a choice of physical (e.g. playing some sports) and intellectual activities (e.g. writing a book, teaching as a part-time job), and various facilities within an easy reach of my home (e.g. a golf club, other clubs, job opportunities, etc.).
I can use these Opportunities for the achievement of some of my personal Values in my different Life Areas:
VALUES AT RETIREMENT
My choice of Actions at retirement is guided by those of my Values that can be achieved by these Actions. It may be a conscious or subconscious decision process. I give below an example that covers only some of my Values at retirement (a longer list could be derived from the 12 Value Areas described earlier). The Values in my example are:
- V1.Relationships: To develop new friendships (Specific Value within this Value Area) (Vimp=80, Vgap=50)
- V2.Worklife: To follow my passion for teaching (Specific Value within this Value Area) (Vimp=80, Vgap=90)
- V3.Physical: To improve my health by exercising (Specific Value within this Value Area) (Vimp=70, Vgap=50)
- V4.Wealth: To increase my income or reduce expenditure (Specific Value within this Value Area) (Vimp=50, Vgap=10)
Vimp is the personal importance that I give to each Value
Vgap is the achievement gap that I need to fill in order to reach a full achievement of each Value: a large Vgap means that I need many more Actions to achieve that Value in full.
Note: all measures are percentages, shown as 0 to 100 in these examples.
ACTIONS AT RETIREMENT
From Opportunities and Values, by asking the question "How", I reach more specific plans, i.e. alternative Actions to choose from (or, time permitting, I chose them all). In this process, I rule out some Opportunities that, from the start, are not suitable for my Values (e.g. joining an expensive night club, working as a salesman, would not be suitable Actions for my Values).
My tentative choices are:
- A1. Joining a golf club within easy reach from my house,
- A2. Taking a part-time teaching job in a local school,
- A3. Devoting my free time to leisure and reading at home.
EXPERIENCES AT RETIREMENT
The question is left: to what extent can each of these Actions achieve my personal Values, what will be my personal Experiences? These eXperiencee are the result of each of my Actions in combination with each of my Values (a matrix structure). As one example:
V3: To exercise-A1:Golf Club. This eXperience will provide good exercise in the club, by playing golf except on rainy days. The golf club offers me a good potential for exercising, i.e. the potential of this VA combination is VApot=90. The only reason why this is not 100 is because of the possibility of rain. This exercise Value is important for me (Vimp=70), but my need for golf, considering that I already practice other sports, is moderate (Vgap=50). Using my judgment, I can guess directly my VA achievement for V3-A1 (VAach) e.g. 30 out of 100 in this "Club" example, or it can remain as a "feeling" in my subconscious decision-making if I am not a user of the OVAX method. It can also be calculated mathematically by:
VAach= Vimp(70%) x Vgap(50%) x VApot(90%) = 31%
All the above experiences, and the resulting VAach's, are summarised in the OVAX decision table for retirement shown in the next blog.
The descriptions in the table, even without any numbers, can be a good aid in my decision-making. I can add my guessed VAach if I am a quantitative person. I can use the formula if I like maths (formulae and variables will be explained in the maths blog).
If you are interested in this methodology, read the blogs in order, starting from the first one.