The Rookie Retiree By Renee Langmuir: Getting Something Done……Or Not!

By Renee Langmuir

Today was a lovely, but not unusual day. In the morning, my husband and I did a volunteer stint at a local house museum, feeding the goats and sweeping out the barn. Afterward, we took a leisurely ride in the country to a favorite breakfast place. At home, I took a short nap, then did some maintenance on our hot tub, washed the filter, and created 2025 spreadsheets for Robert’s business. A bit later, I practiced playing the piano.

This day probably wouldn’t have happened when I first retired, because I would have never agreed to the breakfast idea (kills the whole morning), I wouldn’t take time for a nap, and it has taken me over 13 years to make time to play the piano. I would have filled up the day with as many tasks as I could. The piano, back then, was a distant goal.

Why getting things done is a challenge in retirement

All of us need to “get things done.” We need to have food in the house, clean clothes, pay bills, and walk dogs. In retirement, because we have a surplus of 40-50 hours per week, this often presents a change in behavior. Without some conscious structuring of time, many retirees become disoriented and depressed. The day of the week is unknown. There is no tangible result for the passage of a large chunk of time and too many hours are clocked on the sofa or laptop. At the other extreme, others feel compelled to fill every hour with “meaningful” activity.

A bilateral approach for getting things done

A helpful way to begin thinking about this new bounty of time is through the symbiotic dichotomy of setting intentions and creating an actionable list of tasks. A common beginning to any yoga class is the directive to “set an intention.” Usually, the teacher asks the students to think of what brought them to the mat today. What would they like to accomplish? This idea is also embraced by spiritual practitioners and life coaches. It is the macro part of time planning, the big idea component, the opposite of letting fate steer your ship. The idea is to focus your attention on a personal desire.  

Some suggest putting these ideas on paper and doing weekly or monthly check-ins. Has any action been taken on these “life’s purpose” pursuits? Examples of intention setting include personal health goals, creative pursuits, making time for important relationships, spiritual goals, and social action activities. Playing the piano regularly was my most challenging goal. It wasn’t until I found a course created for adults over the age of 50, Upper Hands Piano, that I had some success – even though two years went by since the piano was tuned and the instruction manual was purchased before I began playing last month.

What worldly things need to get done?

Once room has been made for these yearnings of the heart (the type of issues that unexpectedly pop up in dreams or idle time), some work can be done on the more mundane. There will probably be some crossover between intention setting and actionable items.  

I’ve found in retirement that “things to do” fall into several categories: physical – exercise, moving things around and organizing; paperwork – bills, elderly parent issues, home refinancing; social – friends, relatives, neighbors; house – repairs, maintenance, purchases, learning –internet reading, courses, books; creativity – writing, gardening, decorating, sewing, cooking, photography, instruments, and volunteering. Finding the right balance in these realms requires both intention and planning.

How to set intentions and identify tasks

I am constantly updating my intention setting through daily meditation, readings, and reflection first thing in the morning. Your way might include some scheduled downtime walks, baths, or listening to music. Intention setting is always dynamic, hopefully because one is always growing.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, our days are populated by seemingly unimportant tasks. How else would we pass the time?  Every Sunday, I complete a weekly calendar page which I keep on the kitchen counter. It contains all the time-sensitive appointments, social engagements, and the tasks I’d like to accomplish that week. Anything which is not completed is moved to the next week, with no guilt! This is retirement, after all.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable with lots of free time, I like to have a running list of things I could do. I don’t treat this list as a life coach’s suggested slip of paper with three things to be accomplished on a particular day. No – this list serves as an anxiety-mitigating artifact. I only turn to it when my regular weekly plans are too thin. Items such as repotting plants, washing windows, cleaning out closets, and other tasks without a time limit are examples.

Two gurus with different perspectives

David Allen, creator of the book and philosophy entitled Getting Things Done, is a personal and organizational productivity guru, ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the top executive coaches in the United States. His suggestions can be quite helpful for the scattered retiree. He encourages the unorganized to Capture their vision (on paper or electronically), Clarify what is actionable, Organize the ideas in a visual way in the environment, Reflect regularly on their utility, and Engage, or get them done! He moves ideas out of the mind into action.  

Seven-plus years down the road of retirement, and being one who has a tendency to over-program, my current guru is Oliver Burkeman, author of 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Although intended for those still working, Mr. Burkeman posits that life is too short to ever achieve all our goals. A better quality of life can be achieved by letting life unfold and accepting our insignificant place in the universe. I’ve penned a post on Sixtyandme.com with the highlights of this book, geared to the retiree.

Rejoice!  You don’t have to be so productive!

It should be noted that a big difference between a retiree and someone in the prime of her career is age or stage of life. It is not appropriate to be quite as focused on outcome as someone decades younger. That is where the sweetness of retirement comes in. If you are honest with yourself, you really don’t want every minute to count. You want to feel the benefit of your good planning and years of diligence by having a good measure of freedom and flexibility.

Flexibility, especially being able to pivot when an opportunity arises, is key. Discovering one’s own rhythm, honoring the lark or owl, is a gift of slowing down. There is no longer anyone watching or evaluating your retirement. Time is starting to feel more finite.  Intentional Idleness is a skill worth developing. By slowing it all down, it will be possible to live more deliberately. The moments in your life will begin to feel more valuable. Here is a simple recipe for getting things done: set your intentions, create an actionable list, but do less. Be present, appreciate nature, and focus on all the people you encounter.