I thought about retirement during COVID, and decided I still had more to accomplish. That seems to have been the right call.
I've been thinking about it again lately, or at least the idea of taking a sabbatical. We have pushed out a lot of good work over the past three years, and it's taken a toll on my body, on my home life, and on my other interests. I've had little to no time to just go enjoy the courses I've built, and I probably have fewer years left for that than I do for designing, if I still want to do the latter.
But at the same time, I get regular calls from people who want to pay me millions of dollars to keep doing what I love to do.
Another goal is to provide some chances for my associates to design some courses of their own, but I can't figure out how best to do that. The guys who left me years ago [or who weren't invited to stay] are better known than the guys who have remained loyal and done great work; I've tried to give credit where credit is due, but it just isn't as effective. So it seems to be easier for my associates if I keep taking commissions, because the clients I reject seldom listen to my recommendations.