Every time management book I have ever seen looks exclusively at the problem of having too much to do in too little time. There is another huge personal time-related question that is never mentioned in these publications. What do you do when you have too much time on your hands and nothing to do? While I might not have all the answers, if you want to be a Time Master instead of being 'time bored' you need to consider and attempt to get control over this potential problem.
I have come across many people who say:
'I am retiring soon after 40 years of work and I haven't a clue what I am going to do with my time.'
'I sold my business six months ago and I'm bored out of my head.'
'My kids have just left home and I'm totally at a loose end.'
If you haven't reached this stage of life yet, here is a vital tip for you: it is equally important to manage, control and plan your time when you have plenty of it as it is when it seems to be in short supply.
A Google search for 'retirement planning' produced almost 22 million possible links, but not one of the first 100 deals with the issue of time planning during retirement years. Pretty much all of them focus exclusively on financial planning, pensions and tax. I find this bizarre. Consider too that I have seen statistics reporting that over 20% of the able-bodied retired population experience some level of depression and that boredom is one of the contributory factors.
Note
As many as 60% of retiring people do not have a plan for what they will do and how they will spend their time after retirement.
What are your retirement plans? Remember, retirement is not an end in itself. I have seen people who count down the years and days until they retire. On day one of their retirement they are celebrating, but by the end of the first week they are wandering around their house fed up of watching daytime TV. The main ambition of a business friend of mine was to sell his business and retire on the proceeds. Six months after selling up, he was on pills and recovering from depression. His structure, personal significance, activity and purpose had gone, with nothing to replace it.
While I can't tell you precisely what to do, I can invite you to give some mental focus to the problem and explore some possibilities to reduce the chances of it happening.
The big problem many people face is that the question, 'What do I want to do in my retirement years?' is just too general. If any answers do suggest themselves they are also often so vague that they are not helpful at all: 'I just want to have the freedom to make choices,' or 'I'm looking forward to doing things I have never had the time to do,' or 'I want to travel.' These all sound good, but what exactly do they mean in day-to-day living when you really have nothing to do?
The Time Master way to find the answers is to narrow down the questions to specifics so that you can't help but come up with some specific and tangible possibilities to aim for.
To give you a helping hand and to show you what I mean, I'm going to give you a checklist. Go through these questions however far from or close to retirement you are. Run through the list once a year. In fact, why not plan when you will do it and make it a fun occasion? If you have someone close to you, a friend or family member, it can be a great dinner conversation to go through this together.
My checklist is not meant to be exhaustive, merely an indication of the process. I'm sure you can come up with other questions too. The only rule of this game is that you must have an answer. In making your list and having discussions, do not rule things out because you don't know how you could do them. The list is meant to be aspirational. In fact, working out the practical logistics is part of the process that will keep you busy.
Travel. If there was one place I haven't yet been to that I would like to visit in the future, where would it be?
Things. If there was one thing I could acquire, what would it be?
New experiences. If I could have a go at one thing that I have never tried, what would it be?
Knowledge. If I could learn more about any subject in particular, what would it be?
Skills. If I could develop one new skill that I don't possess, what would it be?
Job. If I was going to do some kind of paid work on a part-time basis, what would it be?
Past friendships. If there was one person from my past whom I would like to renew contact with, who would it be?
Helping. If there was one group or person I could support as a volunteer, who would it be?
Habits. If I could get rid of one bad habit of mine, what would it be?
Health. If there was one thing I could do that would help make me healthier or fitter, what would it be?
Have you got the hang of this yet? How many other questions like these can you come up with? Once you have the answers to these types of questions, go through each of them again with this set:
What do I need to do to make it happen?
When can it be done?
What are the cost implications?
How can I get the money?
What are the steps I need to plan in and what are the priorities?
Merely making the time to go through this process constitutes recognition and acceptance of the problem. By doing so you are well on the way to turning these things into reality.
If you're now asked what you're going to do in your retirement years, at least you have an outline plan to work towards.