March / April 2019 InFluential Magazine, Spanish InFluential, and Teen InFluential

Page 119

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stage for longer-term impact and fulfillment but also led to future endeavors well beyond my pre-retirement imagination. Feeling strongly that I needed to enhance my spiritual education and development, I began to research and then apply for a post-graduate degree program in religion. Because I’d completed this work in advance, immediately upon retirement I commenced a program at Yale Divinity School that I found remarkably enjoyable and fulfilling. Before retirement, I also began to construct a business school course on executive management and leadership in which I felt I could impact students’ lives utilizing my teaching and writing skills. As a part of that process, I wrote 16 real-life case studies derived from my career experiences. Since retirement, I have been teaching this course and others as an adjunct professor at two business schools. In line with my identified passions and skills, I also researched both the nonprofit and for-profit organizations in which I felt I could add value utilizing my business and financial acumen and I now serve on five nonprofit and two for-profit boards where I have been able to do exactly that.

Most recently I have set up a website, Godrevealed.com, where I have posted stories of my personal encounters with God over the course of my life. The website has attracted nearly 100,000 visitors in less than a year and has proven to be an effective vehicle for expressing About the my faith and utilizing my storytelling skills.It’s both Author exhilarating and rewarding to know that my gifts and skills Fred Sievert have found an avenue for such meaningful expression. retired as President of New The peace of mind that has come from following my York Life Insurance passions and impacting the lives of other people has Co., a Fortune literally left me far happier than I have been in many years. 100 Company, at the height of his career to attend Yale Divinity School. He is the author of the books: God Revealed: Revisit Your Past to Enrich your Future (Morgan James, 2014) and Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength in Any Crisis (Broadstreet Publishing, 2018).

And one final thought: don’t forget to remain physically active and take care of yourself. I believe that the combination of meaningful post-retirement engagement coupled with a physical exercise routine, proper sleep, and good eating habits has contributed to a dramatic improvement in all my vital signs. One of the truly amazing outcomes in this phase of my life has been a sense of youthfulness many years younger than my chronological age. If you’ll follow your own passions in a way that effectively deploys your own unique gifts and skills, I’m certain that you too will feel happier, healthier and younger in retirement. l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2019

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