I really like that concept. But it got me thinking…

How many people work for companies that Scott Adams likes to poke fun at in his Dilbert comic strip? You know the kind I'm talking about. They want their employees to be constantly on call, always thinking about their work (because “the customer always comes first,” of course), and, in sum, have absolutely no life outside of work. In these firms, employees feel guilty taking a day off, so they frequently leave vacation days go unused.

Doesn't sound too healthy, does it?

It gets worse.

The best way to prepare for retirement is to practice. That means placing yourself in situations similar to the ones you'll find yourself in once you retire – only well before you actually retire.

Here's a common example. People will rent condos in a variety of locations in Florida prior to retiring. From this sampling, they'll know what communities suit them best. They'll use this assessment to decide where to relocate once they retire.

But we need to go beyond this very common example. Not everyone relocates after they retire. Moreover, even those that do relocate aren't immune from the eventual “what's missing” feeling.

Here's what workers need to do to reduce the likelihood of finding retirement to be nothing more than a hollow pastime: practice.

Practice means having a balanced lifestyle right from the beginning. If you allow work to define you, if your life is all about work and nothing but work, you'll quickly find your retirement to be nothing but a bitter reflection on “what used to be.”

A balanced lifestyle, however, doesn't simply mean using all your vacation time. Unless you're independently wealthy, chances are you'll exhaust your retirement savings if you spend every day of your retirement traveling for tourist trap to tourist trap. No, we're talking about “lifestyle” and that means a series of regular behaviors, not a vacation.

So, find a hobby early in life. In fact, find several hobbies early in life. Treat these hobbies as a shopping excursion like many treat the traditional pre-retirement sampler of various condominium locations.

You don't have to pick one hobby and stick to it. Truth be told, you'll want a handful of hobbies you can bring with you into retirement.  (And, yes, they should satisfy the entire slate of the Three Hobbies Adage.)

Perhaps the best advice I've heard – and seen – is the increasingly common decision to shift from full-time to part-time in the years leading to retirement. This transition allows you to more meaningfully explore your hobbies (and your living expenses) while still giving you a chance to continue building your retirement nest egg. More important, it allows you to make a mid-course correction before you even launch into retirement.

In last week's article we reviewed the variety of post-retirement activities folks engage in once they get bored with retirement. This week's focused on how to best find your post-retirement calling in advance of the actual event. Do it now, before the appointed hour, and you'll find life in retirement will be more enjoyable, more vibrant, and more fulfilling.