Retirement and Time on Your Hands

These children are part of
why I am useful...and boy
are they fun!

Being retired does not mean that you even want to call your life your own. Really, a totally self centered existence is meaningless.

I suppose that is the reason for volunteers and hiking clubs. In my case six months of the year are all about our family and the other six are all about friends and staying healthy. We are flexible and can change that routine at anytime. WE ARE RETIRED AND WE CAN DO THAT! But it has taken me many years to figure it out.

Actually inventing the way to fill the days with something worth doing is a very new job when a person retires. I suppose even the thought of "being the boss of me" is frightening. After all the retirement dream is one of being your own boss I suppose. Happy retirement depends on whether a retiree can be a "good self-boss" or not.

I thought it might be a good exercise to see how those people who know about such things describe a perfect work boss. Google has some good ideas as to what that person would do so I copied the list verbatim. It looks like this (yawn):

• Communicates Clear Vision.
• Connects Vision to Daily Tasks.
• Sets Clear Performance Expectations.
• Provides Consistent Feedback and Coaching.
• Cares About the Employee as a Person.
• Shares Personal Information.
• Makes Work Fun.
• Fosters Team Development.

The trick is to edit the list and yet keep it's central meaning. A child might say to the boss, "you are not the boss of me" or "you don't get to tell me what to do". But when it comes to "self-talk" the shoe is on the other foot. You are bossing yourself around. Can you in fact make yourself do what you want or expect to do?

If you were to pick four of these being a good boss ideas, which would you choose?

I personally thought the list was ok but I really don't like the language at all: 

We love spending time with
our family AND we love the wine in
our part of the world. We have
fun by combining the two.

• (Connect Vision to Daily Tasks) Do you even have an idea of what you would like to accomplish daily or even hourly? Are you being realistic about your expectations?
• (Care About the Employee as a Person) Do you see yourself as caring for or about youself? While liking yourself is pretty basic and an over-used concept, it still remains important. If your work life simply sucked the life out of you, now is the time to put the life back into yourself.
• (Foster team development) Remain connected to people. Honestly, being lonely is in most cases a result of choices. It may feel good to be away from people but only do that as long as it is healthy both physically and mentally.
• (Make Work Fun) Never forget that having fun is a good thing in our retirement life. Honestly, going swimming or playing a game of tennis or pickle ball is a lot of work and takes effort. But, why would you do it if it were not fun?

There are things that we have to do. Cleaning the toilet and sweeping the floors are tasks that have to be done or maggots will grow on the junk and ants will come crawling on the floors. Make those tasks routine and don't think too much. Take pleasure in the results. As for the rest of the day remember what I just said:

• Honestly, going swimming or playing a game of tennis or pickle ball is a lot of work and takes effort. But, why would you do it if it were not fun?

Make all of your life like that.

Have a wonderful day and let me know what you think.

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