Why Brett Favre Can't Quit

Football players endure a lot of pounding. Quarterbacks, such as Brett Favre, are constantly mauled. After 17 years of professional play, last March Mr. Favre finally announced his retirement from the Green Bay Packers, saddening many cheesehead fans.

Ironically, Favre is now trying to return to professional football. As he knows it would place the Packers in an awkward situation (they are already grooming their new quarterback) he's willing to be traded to another team. He has refused an offer of $20 million to stay retired (he has two more years on his contract). What's up with this?

A colleague of mine pointed out that the real story behind this is that Favre did not prepare mentally to be retired. Football was his life, and his retirement was reluctant, mainly due to concern over injuries. Football players have very different career trajectories than, say, symphony conductors - a 40 year old quarterback is a grizzled veteran and a 40 year old symphony conductor is a prodigy. Football players often retire due to injuries, and since they are relatively young, career-wise, they need to consider how to stay engaged and happy during their "retirement." And here's one of the problems with the word "retirement:" it implies that you are through with your productive life. The concept of retirement at age 65 actually was developed in the 19th century; in those days, most people had physical jobs and were literally worn out by age 65. The idea of offering a pension to retired workers at age 65 wasn't as generous as it appears today - most people did not live more than a few years past 65.

For Brett Favre, needing to work for financial reasons is not his motivation. He has achieved financial independence, which is a far better concept than "retirement" with its implications of no longer being useful. If Favre had planned well (look how Steve Young is enjoying his retirement) he may not have missed his active career so much, since he could have other productive activities to look forward to.

This is true for non atheletes as well. Rather than thinking of retirement of a goal, I encourage you to think of the concept of financial independence, which is the point at which you have complete choice about what you will do going forward. You could choose to continue to work, stop work completely and engage in hobbies and interests that you had to defer, volunteer or engage in philanthropic work, or work in some other field that you love, but is not lucrative. But, have a plan, since traditional retirement is a major life event, which can affect your personal relationships, your health, and your self esteem in ways you need to anticpate.