Now What?

There was moment, shortly after waking on the first day of retirement, when a question at the back of my head made my eyes pop open: “Now what?”

I had great plans – lots of plans – that I’d been piecing together for several years. But it suddenly became clear that I had goals, not plans, which is like having a shoe without a foot – the shoe looks good but it’s not going anywhere by itself. I needed a foot to get from Point A, my first day or retirement, to Point B, my objective. And I needed to map a path between the two, which meant I had to ask and answer a few more questions: “Where do I start?” “What do I do, exactly?” “How much time should I give myself?”

My first response was to make a list. Unfortunately, item number one turned out to be “Make a list.” What followed was an hour of pencil-tapping, email-checking, snacking, followed by pen-clicking, snail-mail checking and more snacking, after which I wrote item number two: “Start a diet.” Number three: “Write down everything you want to do,” because objectives come and go when they’re only in your head, but on paper they’re a special kind of torture that doesn’t stop until you cross them off. Number four: “Share your experience.” I think retirement is going to teach me something, and the best way to reinforce what you learn is to explain it to someone else… which turns out to be the purpose of this blog – I’m going to let you retire with me. Maybe we’ll both learn something.