Micro-retirement: has gen Z found a brilliant fix for burnout?
Name: Micro-retirement.
Age: Coined in 2007, but surging in popularity.
Appearance: Like quiet quitting, but luxe.
Is this one of those things where gen Z takes an old concept, gives it a new name and pretends they invented it? Not at all. The concept is taken from a 2007 book called The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.
I take it back. Although nobody really talked about it until this year, when a bunch of TikTokers started doing it, so you're partly right.
So what is it? You know work-life balance?
I am vaguely aware of it, yes. And you know how the company you work for only cares about wringing every last drop of energy out of you, and nothing you do is ever enough, and it exhausts you?
This I am more familiar with. Well, why not try a micro-retirement? It's where you combat burnout by taking some time to focus on you.
I'm listening. One big proponent is Adama Lorna, who was inspired by Ferriss's book and took a six-month micro-retirement. She says: 'Instead of waiting until you're 60 or 70 to travel the world and indulge in hobbies, you do them while you have your youth, your energy and health.'
This isn't new. It's called a sabbatical. It isn't really a sabbatical, because people want to make a lifestyle out of micro-retirements. For instance, some micro-retirees are planning to spend the rest of their lives travelling for a year after every three years spent working.
But when will they actually retire? Oh, they won't. They'll just keep working three years at a time until they die.
What if they get sick or become incapacitated in old age? Shh, this is about micro-retirement, not the inability of the young to acknowledge the inevitability of declining health.
Does micro-retirement have to involve travel? Not at all. Retirees don't always travel. Some take up hobbies, or find ways to get involved in the local community. Others just watch lots of bad television and are sad because their children never visit, so there is always that.
I don't think I'll be able to afford a micro-retirement. Then why not try a micro-micro‑retirement instead?
And what exactly is a micro-micro-retirement? Well, I just made up the term. But it's where you sneak away from your desk three times a day to cry in a toilet cubicle. It keeps me going.
Do say: 'Screw you, guys, I'm taking a micro-retirement.'
Don't say: 'See you next week.'
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