When considering retirement, many pre-retirees and recent retirees focus on the vacation part, making plans to travel and pursue interests and hobbies. You might also be looking forward to the initial honeymoon phase of retirement, when you don’t have to wake to an alarm clock, quickly wolf down breakfast, and rush out the door to work.
But then what? Sooner or later, you’ll realize that pursuing these activities only occupies a relatively small amount of your time throughout the year. And the excitement of the honeymoon phase fades away as it becomes your normal routine and you settle into the next phase of your life, which can last 20 to 30 years.
What are some of the best ways to occupy the rest of your life? Let’s look at four hacks that can help you develop answers.
1. Pursue Your “Someday” Fantasies
If you’re like many people, in your middle age, you spent most of your time devoted to your career and family. These two time-intensive pursuits may not have given you much time to engage in your own interests.
Did you ever have a fantasy that started like this: “Someday, when I have more time, I want to …” Filling in the blank with one or more ideas can help you create your own personal bucket list.
Think back to the things you dreamed about doing, and write down all of those someday wishes, then start working on them. Because some day is now—or will be coming soon!
2. Avoid Death-Bed Regrets
Imagine that in the distant future, you’re lying on your death bed, reviewing your life. What do you regret doing—or not doing?
Many elders report that the biggest regrets they have are for the things they didn’t do. And often these “didn’t do” regrets were about patching up relationships with close family and friends, or not spending enough time with them. While you’ll most likely be able to forgive yourself if you didn’t go on that expensive trip to Paris you’d always dreamed of, you might not rest so easy if you’re still estranged from your sibling or child.
In retrospect, from your death bed you might realize that any roadblocks might seem less important as you thought they were earlier in your life.
Instead of waiting until it’s too late, take some time now to consider what you’d most regret if you never found the time or motivation to do it. Then make plans to address some of your potential regrets.
3. Write Your Own Obituary Or Funeral Tribute
Have you ever thought about what your obituary would say? Or what a close relative or friend would say about you at your funeral? If you have adult children and grandchildren, what do you think they’ll remember most about you when you’re gone?
Most likely the memories these people will share about you will be about your relationship with them, your personality and character traits, and the things you did for your family, friends, community, and the world. There’s a good chance that your career accomplishments (which may have happened decades ago) and any bucket list items you accomplished might get, at most, brief mentions.
As you write out your own obituary, give some thought to not only how you will be remembered but how you want to be remembered, and be sure you’re making choices that align with those thoughts.
4. Identify What May Be Standing In The Way Of Reaching Your Goals
The first three hacks can help you set a positive direction for your life in retirement. Now you need to determine what might be standing in the way of pursuing these goals.
Is it a lack of time or money? Is your health impeding your dreams? Do you need to just stop putting your goals on a backburner and make them a priority moving forward?
Hopefully you’ll find the motivation to overcome these obstacles. And if money or health are the challenges, can you find alternative solutions that are more realistic or accomplish the same end goal?
Remember that your life circumstances and priorities will evolve as you age, and the allure of some bucket-list items may fade. Your vitality and health could change, relatives and friends might pass away, your grandkids will grow up, and your adult kids might retire. Change is one of the certainties of life, so embrace it! Revisit your dreams and goals as you age, and revise any that may no longer be of interest to you.
No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to try these life hacks to create the retirement you’ve always dreamed of.