Before retirement, goals are not
usually hard to find. Life and the job
have a generous supply. Raise the
kids. Meet the sales forecasts. Prepare the fall’s seminar schedule,
etc.
Even the process of retirement has it’s own set of
built in goals. Find a place to
retire. Review your financial
strategy. Take a world cruise. Plan the transition. Maybe build a new house or remodel the old
one – do some landscaping, plant a garden.
But then all of that is done. You’ve accomplished all of the goals you
identified on your retirement day. Each
day you get up and it’s pretty much the same as the others. (Except for Mondays when you have to wheel
the garbage container to the curb to be picked up.) You find yourself often asking the question, “What day is this?”
What are reasonable retirement goals –
after you’ve been retired for a while?
Your health and your energy level may have declined a bit. Your hearing and eyesight are deteriorating. Options are fading.
Maybe this is one benefit of golf. A reasonable eternal goal for a golfer is to
take two strokes off of their average, whatever it may be. Indeed that may the entire purpose of golf –
not as a method to exercise, but to supply goals. That would explain the golf carts.
Are goals essential to a happy retirement? The longer I’m retired the more think they are. This blog provides goals for me. Think up a topic for a new post. Write that post. Answer the extremely insightful comments made
by the readers. Read other similar blogs. The world would not end
if none of that happened, but it fills time and it’s easy for me to convince
myself it has more meaning than playing online poker.
Perhaps not.
It’s not Monday is it?
©2014 Lester C. Welch
Same thing happened to me. Three years in, I'd achieved my goals. What's next?
ReplyDeleteThere are no more goals, but there are things to look forward to - family gatherings, travels, holidays. These days, it's the little stuff that means a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt's a struggle. I start defining smaller and smaller activities as goals. "Water the plants on the back porch." "Sort and match my socks." For many things whether you do them today or tomorrow doesn't matter - hence procastination.
ReplyDeleteI'm still adjusting to the lack of a formal structure in my life. Work provided this structure, which was based on goals established by my profession. Oh, I couldn't wait until I retired, to have all of my time to myself! But then comes the task of finding meaningful activity that provides the perfect balance between enjoyment and fulfillment.
ReplyDeleteLester, I'm so glad that you enjoy blogging! I love reading your posts; quite thought provoking. Your humor delights me.
I hope the enjoyment lasts. This blog originated as a book. Many of the posts were chapters. I had a cousin (in the publishing business) and my son preview it. The advice they gave me was that books don't sell (especially by unknown authors) and that a blog might be a better vehicle. My son had the technical skills to get me started. Thanks for the kind words.
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