Commanders (ENTJ) and Retirement Blind Spots (That Have Nothing to Do with Finances)

There’s a reason why Commanders (ENTJ) have their name. As natural leaders, people with this personality type have vision and are decisive, methodical, and highly driven. With an innate ability to see the big picture, develop strategic plans, and execute those plans, they often end up in professional roles managing others or “commanding the ship,” so to speak.

Commanders are, simply put and with no offense intended, workhorses. The amount of energy that they dedicate to expanding their knowledge, improving their skills, and advancing in their career or toward their professional goals stands out compared to most other personality types. For many Commanders, their professional goals might as well be personal goals – their very identity is often so intertwined with their work that it can be difficult for them to separate themselves from what they do.

But despite their enthusiastic dedication to their career, sooner or later, they usually choose to go through the final professional rite of passage – retirement.

Commander Attitudes about Retirement

People with the Commander personality type are likely to think of retirement as just another professional milestone. From early on in their working lives, it looms on their horizon as a likely eventuality. They know it makes strategic sense to prepare for it, so they do. Along with Architects (INTJ), they’re the most likely personality types to report that they set aside more than 10% of their monthly income – at least some of which is probably invested to fund their life as a retiree.

But just because Commanders are among the most likely personality types to be preparing for retirement doesn’t mean that they’re in a hurry to cross that finish line in their career. These personalities tend to have plenty of work-related goals that they need to take care of before they will allow themselves the luxury of, well…enjoying the luxuries in life that await them.

By the time Commanders are ready to opt in to this next phase of life, they’ll have a whole new set of goals for what they hope to do in retirement. They are the most likely personality type to say they’ve written down a bucket list, and that list probably has a lot on it.

Commanders live for challenging themselves, and retirement can certainly provide them with a clean slate for doing so. But despite their general adaptability, when they are finally ready to face this life change, they may find that they have certain blind spots that can make the transition into retirement unexpectedly difficult.

Does this description hit close to home? If you think you might be a Commander but aren’t sure, take our free personality test to find out.

Standard Retirement Advice for Commanders

Most retirement advice usually focuses on tending to three specific areas of postcareer life: financial planning, taking care of your health, and creating a satisfying lifestyle around your interests and hobbies. While it’s true that many people will benefit from hearing the details of this standard guidance, most Commanders are likely to regard such widely shared generic advice as simple common sense.

Chances are Commanders don’t need to be taught how to budget carefully or live within their means postretirement. They’ve already been doing that for years. Their finances are probably so carefully designed that they expect to comfortably enjoy their retirement and leave behind something for their family after they’re gone.

And it would be preaching to the choir to tell these health-conscious types that they need to stay physically active or take care of their mental health. They’re most likely already on that ball. In fact, there’s a solid chance that the interests and hobbies that they intentionally develop in retirement will be focused on doing just that.

So what are we even doing here? Read on.

Difficulties in Retirement: Blind Spots for Commanders to Watch Out For

At first glance, out of all the 16 personality types, Commanders seem like the ones most likely to glide into an easy and fulfilling retirement, once they finally decide to do so. But despite their uncanny ability to anticipate and plan for nearly every hurdle that this change of life might bring, they may still have some blind spots that could catch them off guard.

Lack of Hustle

Despite consistently saving throughout their working lives, most Commanders see themselves as earners. They like making money, and their strategic-thinking capabilities (which are enhanced by their ambitious and competitive nature) have always been an asset that’s allowed them to achieve their economic goals.

In retirement, many people plan to live off of the returns on their investments or long-term savings, and people with the Commander personality type are no exception. But this powerful drive to make money doesn’t automatically turn off once Commanders officially leave their working lives behind. They’ve always found meaning and purpose in the challenge of winning economically. Retiring might make them feel lost and adrift, due to the sudden withdrawal from a lifetime of “hustle.”

Changing Sense of Identity

As we hinted at above, there is a very good chance that people with this personality type will suffer through some kind of identity crisis after the initial excitement of retirement wears off. More than any other personality type, Commanders may feel that their career is the most important thing in their life. Interestingly, many of them say they feel like they are more themselves when they’re at work.

Because their sense of self often becomes intimately entwined with their role in the workplace and their professional accomplishments, for Commanders, retirement can feel like a shocking amputation of a core part of their identity. This can be particularly difficult for these personalities because of how attached they can become to who they perceive themselves to be. Their sense of identity is probably not very malleable, so when the circumstances through which they define themselves change – and with them, their sense of self – they may feel like the floor has fallen out from under them.

Letting Go of the Helm

After retiring, it might become obvious to Commanders that not everyone around them has had the same amount of foresight when preparing for retirement.

Commanders care deeply about their friends and family. Watching the people they love struggle with many of the issues that they themselves have so carefully planned around can be an eye-opening experience that results in complicated feelings. They can clearly see the problems (and the roots of the problems) that their loved ones are struggling with, and they know it might be too late to solve many of those problems.

What’s more, in contrast to the professional realm, they cannot simply impose effective strategies and solutions to help the people they care about solve the problems that they’ve created for themselves. Their friends and family are not employees or team members who need leading. The style of leadership that Commanders tend to use, while an asset in their career, might create conflict within their personal relationships.

Commanders might be surprised by their uncomfortable feelings of frustrated impotence when they cannot – and probably should not – try to solve the problems of those they love. At some point, Commanders have to significantly adjust their expectations for their loved ones and their personal need to guide them out of their difficulties. They have to let go of the helm. They have to cede control and accept that they do not have the ability to manage the outcomes of other people’s decisions, nor do they have the responsibility to set the course straight for the people they love.

Easing the Transition into Retirement

In the article “Personality and Happiness in Retirement,” we discuss the four distinct psychological phases that most people pass through upon retiring. The first phase is essentially enjoying this new stage of life as a vacation. In the second phase, called the Downturn, things get complicated, and this is when all of these blind spots that we just spelled out are likely to appear for Commanders.

Awareness about how these potential personality-related difficulties could reveal themselves is the key to mitigating them before they become a serious issue. Simply having them on their radar allows Commanders to anticipate these challenges and work around them, hopefully minimizing the time spent in that Downturn phase and smoothing the transition into the third and fourth phases of retirement – an exciting time of experimentation, rediscovery, rebuilding, and settling into a newfound sense of identity as a retiree.

Final Thoughts

Retirement is a professional rite of passage, and the emotional process that it triggers is, quite literally, life changing. Overcoming these blind spots won’t be easy.

Commanders often rely on strategizing and concrete actions to work through difficult situations, but these abstract struggles are more complex to resolve than, say, a working budget. Fortunately, people with this personality type love challenges. Now, with a more clearly defined idea of the obstacles to watch out for, they can start contemplating how they will take them on.

Retirement is indeed a journey, not just a destination. It’s the start of an unexplored chapter that will be filled with new opportunities, challenges, and discoveries. For Commanders, overcoming the hurdles that are unique to this transition is yet another quest that’s ripe for the taking.

If you’re a Commander who has been through this journey or is preparing to embark on it, we would love to hear from you. What strategies have you developed to navigate the transition into retirement? Please share your experiences and insights in the comments below to help other Commanders better prepare for this monumental life change. Your story could provide the insight that makes this transition smoother for someone else.