Managing Your Retirement To-do List

You used calendars, to-do lists, reminders, alarms and all sorts of so-called productivity tools for most of your working life. Some who date to the pre-tech era may even remember paper calendars and planners. Many may also have used the more modern collaboration tools that seem so essential to modern working life. All these tools were designed to monitor, measure and keep track of all the things that seemed important at the time. It was kind of a scorecard, too. The more jam packed with activities and todos, the better.

As you plodded along in your career, your to-do list tended to become repetitive. You would find the same sorts of meetings and activities day-in and day-out, quarter by quarter, year by year. You developed a regular cadence of staff meetings, one-on-ones, quarterly reviews, annual budgets, self-assessments, and the odd training or off-site retreat.

At some point in your career, you realize that the most important and productive work happens outside of and generally in spite of all the scheduled activities and tasks. In retrospect, it is amazing you ever got anything done at all.

Now that you have difficulty remember almost everything, calendars and todo lists are more vital than ever in our day to day existence. Once you are out from under the burden of trying to be busy all the time, your calendar and todo list can play a different role. It can help you prioritize and keep track of the important stuff rather than the unimportant stuff. Here are just a few suggestions for regular entries on your calendar and todo list.

Take a Nap.

If there is only one sacred event on your daily calendar, it should be napping. Naps should always take priority over everything else. It is not only one of the great joys in life, it is easy, it is free and it keeps you from wasting your time on something else.

Think about what’s for lunch or dinner.

Menu planning should always be part of your daily routine. This can simply be about deciding among your standard repertoire of go-to recipes. Or about exploring an entirely new cuisine. In either case, it generally involves rummaging through the kitchen cabinets looking for inspiration. Worst case, you can weed out all the cans and jars of stuff that expired more than five years ago.

Take a Hike.

Here is an easy form of exercise that doesn’t require much in the way of equipment of skill other than some shoes and a sense of direction. The simpler version of this involves walking up and down your street.

Make a friend.

There are plenty of like-minded people out there who would probably make great friends. The question is, how to find them? If you knew the answer, you wouldn’t need to block out time on your calendar.

Find a new hobby.

This can take a lot of time and effort, so plan accordingly. Developing a new hobby can be extremely satisfying, but there can be trade-offs. If you intend to take up something like trumpet or bagpipe, you will probably need to de-commit in other areas such as making friends.

Read a Book.

You swore to yourself you would become a better, more thoughtful reader. Now is your chance. Start your reading journey with any interesting fiction or non-fiction title. Avoid self-serving memoirs by aspiring and/or disgraced politicians. They are lying, and the ghost-writing is never that good. Finally, support your public library. It’s free, and it can be a great place to hang out.

Quit Procrastinating.

Develop a list of projects you have been putting off for the last decade. Prioritize the list. Block out some time in your busy schedule to get started on the highest priority item, or at least spend some time re-prioritizing the list.

Go to the Beach (or mountains, or anywhere outdoors).

Contemplating nature should be essential to your schedule. Here is the chance to do absolutely nothing. It may take some patience, but you will get the hang of it sooner or later. Treat this item as a very high priority, especially in season.

Travel. Or at least plan to.

Planning travel can be as satisfying as actually traveling. It is also generally cheaper. Get to work on that bucket list and don’t let the terrifying price of airfares, hotels and car rentals slow you down.

Read the paper.

Staying up on current events is the duty of every citizen, no matter how ill-informed. Pick your preferred journals carefully, and limit your sources — especially the free on-line ones. You get what you pay for. Speaking of which, how many print and digital subscriptions do you have? How many do you actually use? Just food for thought.

Happy Hour.

This is easy to schedule and easy to execute. Just remember the hour part is as important as the happy part. Be careful not to over-schedule this item.