As maxims go, "When you're about to breathe your last, will your final thought be 'Bugger, I wish I had worked harder for the boss and less time with (insert 'x' here)'" has to be up there. Financial security is vital, but try not to look at everything in terms of financial success or failure.
Retirement is like a Norway det. You leave the warmth and comfort of a sauna and throw yourself into a snowdrift - scary and invigorating (but you're only here once). I think back and never realised that my time 'in' was only a means to an end. I found it hard to see perspective, I found it hard to even find the time to consider life outside the goldfish bowl.
As you get older, you realise you make mistakes and that as the years pass, time cannot undo those. Don't make the mistake of wishing you had done something differently, something that you really wanted to and something that you could realistically have done.. but didn't have the courage to.
There are transition phases that we all experience in life, but hardly any of us recognise them until much later. We bought a sea facing bolt hole a few miles from the Gower very recently, it might not be the slowdown but it's certainly the start. Accumulating wealth is one thing, but realise that you save for a reason - know when to shift from accumulation to decumulation.
Plan!!!