An inspiring talk by Jane Fonda. Are you ready for your third age?
Resolutions for 2012
Which path will you take now you are retired?
Another year will soon have passed and the time comes around as it does each year to make your new year resolutions. Are you planning to make some or are you despondent about making more because you failed to keep those you made a year ago?
Or are you planning lots of new resolutions because you were so happy with your success rate during the year just passed?
Before you rush in to either make or not make any new ones this new year take a moment to back at those you made last year, if you can remember what you resolved and ask yourself if you managed to keep them.
If you’ve forgotten what they were than the first thing to do when you make another lot of resolutions is to write them down in a notebook, or how about on the first and last page of your diary for 2012?
Writing goals down is said to make it more likely that you will succeed in achieving those goals or resolutions, since that what resolutions are, just goals.
The trouble is that quite often they are not stated as clearly as goals you may set yourself later in the year. They may be vague goals like ‘I want to lose weight’ or ‘I want to be more successful.’ As with any goal your greater chance of success is when the goals are SMART. That means they must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. So rather than ‘I want to lose weight this year’ how about I plan to lose a stone (fourteen pounds) before the end of March 2012. This gives yo a realistic and achievable goal which can easily be measured and at the end of March you will know whether of not you have achieved this.
Maybe you didn’t achieve what you wanted during the year because you set a time which was too short or too unrealistic for what you wanted to do.
On the other hand if you were one of the few people who did do what they planned you may have done exactly what is suggested here: wrote your resolutions in your diary, made a plan of what you would do step by step, day by day, week by week, removed any objections or obstacles to achieving and worked away in small steps doing something to enable change each and every day.
If you want something to kickstart your new year – take a look at this: CLICK HERE
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Retirement: what will you do all day?
Do you ever wonder about retirement and what it will be like not to go to work any more?
Which way now?
When I say ‘go to work’ I’m referring to working for an employer. Many people do work after retirement but this may be setting up their own business, doing voluntary work, and doing whatever it is that you really feel drawn to doing.
So if the thought of losing your working day routine worries you and you wonder how you will pass your days without it then take heart there are new opportunities which open up for you. It depends on what you really would like to do after you retire. Some people are very anxious about their lack of income and might want to find some suitable employment. This could be something entirely different from your long time job. Perhaps there is something you love doing as a hobby and now you could find some paid work. Perhaps the rate of pay would be less than before but nevertheless it is still something which would occupy your days and also bring you some extra finances.
If on the other hand you have an adequate pension provision you may be more able to volunteer to help in any number of organisation doing whatever it may be that truly interests you. This might be showing people around a stately home, invigilating at an art exhibition or doing some gardening for a friend.
As with everything the most important question to ask yourself is. ‘What do you want?’ Then make sure you answer yourself in great detail so that you are more able to identify something suitable for you to spend your time doing.
If you have enough money from your pension or savings then you might be able to spend this time of your life learning new skills and indulging your passion for anything which you didn’t have time for previously.
Whatever you decide to do avoid putting yourself into another working stress sort of situation. It’s very important at this stage of your life to be able to enjoy yourself as as well as finding plenty to do each day.
A common experience of retired people is that as time goes by they discover many things they hadn’t realised were available to them and their days fill up quickly, so much so that they say ‘I’m so buy now, I don’t know how I ever had the time to work!’
Coaching can enable you to sort out what to do in your retirement and motivate you to find another path to open new doors. CLICK HERE to find out more.
What is there for you at the end of the rainbow?
5 Golden Rules: What to do in retirement
Are you someone who wonders if you will be bored when you retire because you can’t imagine what you will do in retirement when you are no longer fully occupied by your work? Here are 5 golden rules for things to do in retirement.
- Do what you enjoy
- Do what you’ve always wanted to do
- Keep on learning
- Keep healthy
- Join in
Do what you enjoy is most important because retirement is a time for you to have fun and stop doing things which frustrate, annoy or upset you. When you were working you probably had to do many things you didn’t want to do but in retirement you have choices. If there are things that have to be done and you don’t want to do them either let them go or get someone else to do them. You could pay for someone to do some gardening or housework or if those are things you enjoy then do a swop with a friend so you help each other.
Do what you’ve always wanted to do because retirement is the time to finish projects you started years ago, get your clutter sorted at last and do things you didn’t get around to before. Maybe you always wanted to travel to and see other parts of the world. Make your plans and do it now.
Keep on learning because it’s important to keep your brain active and the best way to do this is to keep on learning new skills. You could learn a language or a musical instrument or take an Open University course or go to your local Adult Education college and take up a new hobby.
Keep healthy because as you get older your body needs as much help as possible to keep as fit as possible. Keep walking, do yoga, swim, dance whatever form of exercise appeals to you. Remember too that eating lots of fruit and vegetables and keeping your food as natural as you can will enable you to maintain your health for a long time.
Join in with whatever appeals to you in your local community. Get involved and contribute to things going on. You are at a stage in your life when you have a lot to offer others and it can be satisfying to help others. These rules are important if you want to enjoy your retirement and each one will provide a wealth of ideas for what to do in your retirement.
What are your golden rules for what to do in retirement? Let me know in the comment box below!
Posted in Keeping fit and healthy, Retirement
Tagged keep healthy, what to do in retirement
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Dealing with change in retirement
Have you ever tried wearing a different sort of shoe in order to be like others? I wore flip-flops during a holiday and my feet objected at first strongly until they got used to the new sensation. My feet unaccustomed to the new pressures of the flip flop’s straps because they are more used to being enclosed in socks and town shoes, they have reacted to the flip flops with several blisters. However I knew that after a few days the skin would heal and the skin adapt to their new footwear.
Life after (or even before) retirement can be like adapting to flip flops too. At first doing something different may feel strange and you may be tempted to stop and abandon whatever it is which caused the discomfort. However when you persist the scars heal and you adapt to the new situation. As you prepare to retire or adapt to the transition called retirement, there will be many opportunities to do something different. Be brave and go ahead. Take the opportunities which retirement brings to do something different, even if it seems at first as though you won’t be able to accept your new lifestyle and miss the routines of work too much. It’s not just the routine that people miss at first , it may be the camaraderie of the workplace and the long term friendships you have had over many years connected with working together.
When you retire you need to find ways to fill the gap caused by losing these things. Although you may keep in contact with workplace friends you might find that the friendships where to a large extent because of the common work experiences. When you start to develop new habits in retirement you find that you will meet new people and develop new interests. But at first you must make thees changes consciously because they may seem strange as you organise your day in new and hopefully exciting ways too.
Most things need repeating or doing 21 times to become automatic. Be aware of what you want to achieve in your retirement and move your sights forward to the new opportunities retirement offers you. If you miss a regular routine you can either find another job, or sign on for a course and learn whatever you missed out on earlier in your life. Just remember to keep your goal in mind and don’t give up too soon.
What is Abbeyfield Week?
Samantha Alleyne and her friend communications@abbeyfield.com
would like me to promote Abbeyfield Week, an annual event promoting the interests of older people run by the Abbeyfield charity. This year, they are focusing on breaking down barriers between young people and the older generation through a “skill swaps” scheme.
They’ve had quite a bit of high profile support – actor Geoffrey Palmer is supporting the promotion, and a number of MPs have got involved – but they would really love to spread the word wider, to make sure that as many individuals, community groups as possible know about the scheme and hopefully will take part.
Their Abbeyfield Week blog has loads of extra information, such as the research that was done to identify the intergenerational misperceptions they are hoping to help break down (link: http://www.abbeyfieldweek.co.uk/agenda-research/), a video demonstrating the idea of the skills swap scheme (link: http://www.abbeyfieldweek.co.uk/generation-skills-swap/) and details of how to get involved.
They would be really grateful if you’d consider getting involved. They are hoping that the event will make a real difference to the lives of everyone who takes part: http://www.abbeyfieldweek.co.uk
Posted in Abbeyfield, Retirement, skills swap
Tagged Abbeyfield, achieving goals, doing something different
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What will you do when you no longer go to work?
Thinking about your retirement goals, it’s useful to break the big goals into smaller do-able steps, because sometimes you can have the intention to do something but be daunted by the size of the task.
By breaking big goals into small manageable steps you will find it much easier to move forward step by step to achieve what you want for your retirement. You could write the steps on a chart so you can tick them off as each is completed.
Many people when asked why they haven’t done what they said they would do, answer with ‘I’ve been too busy,’ ‘I’ll get around to it, one of these days’ and so on. If you’ve followed the suggestion about small steps and still haven’t taken action, perhaps the step you chose was still too big. Break it down to something even smaller.
Ask yourself, ‘what has to happen before I can this or that?’ Ask yourself too if your goal is right for you. What are you passionate about? Do you feel the same way about your goals? If you are passionate about the vision you have, and about the goals you have set out to achieve, then you will find a way to do what you have to.
Too often if you feel you must gain approval from someone else, you lose the impetus to ‘just do it.’
Take the steps which need to be taken, contact the people who need to be contacted. Tell others that you are going to do what you are going to do, then just do it. Sometimes this will involve you changing a long term habit, and that might be difficult.
You, like everyone, are a creature of habits. But these can be changed. Before you go for the big ones, try changing a habit or two unrelated to your goal. For example, eat something different for breakfast, take a different route to your destination, wear a different style of clothes, whatever you want, but change something each day! Then you will find that when it comes to the first step it will be so much easier to just do it.
Posted in Changing habits, Goals, Retirement
Tagged achieving goals, doing something different, goal setting
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Decisions, decisions In spring, an old man’s fancy turns to thoughts of retirement
By: Barbara Bowes Posted: 04/23/2011 1:00 AM
Spring is a wonderful time of rejuvenation; trees take on their green shimmer and a world of colour reaches out from the flower beds. There even seems to be more activity as people take time to get outside and enjoy the weather. It’s definitely a time for new beginnings. Then, as we move from spring, Easter celebrations and into our summer season, people also start to solidify their vacation plans.
Some eagerly await the day when they can open the cottage. Others are solidifying their campground rentals or scheduling that longed for travel to a faraway country. Finally, many others are busy planning for a family reunion or scheduling their engagement in larger scale community summer events and celebrations.
The spring season as well will see a large number of our baby boomers struggle with the challenge of defining their own beginnings and endings as they seek opportunities for personal rejuvenation. The image that comes to mind is of a person walking along a pathway slowly plucking the petals from a daisy, all the while whispering, “do I retire or don’t I, do I or don’t I?” This conversation is a true challenge. After all, our baby boomers are well educated, they’ve been high achievers throughout their career and they gain a lot of meaning from their work. Most continue to be healthy and want to remain active in one way or another. However, although they’ve continually dealt with problems and challenges at work throughout their career, they may find that managing change in their own life pattern will be one of their most difficult challenges. Part of the reason for this challenge is that while many people have their financial retirement plans well in hand, they rarely take a good look at the emotional aspects of their life, nor do they develop a plan to replace the benefits of work in their new lifestyle.
The issue of lack of lifestyle planning is often made fun of and is echoed in statements such as “the challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money” or “the trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” While we may laugh at these concepts, the truth is right there, staring us in the face: Work creates emotional benefits that need to be replaced. For instance, our time management is related to work as is our sense of personal utility. Work also gives us status, it facilitates our socialization and it creates that overall sense of accomplishment and achievement. These work-related benefits must be replaced at the next stage of life or your transition into retirement will be rocky and unsatisfactory. With this in mind, there are a number of powerful questions that potential retirees should be examining with respect to their emotional well-being. How do you define work ethic and how important was this during your working life? The reason this is an important question is that your perception of work in general determines the level of satisfaction you received from work and what depth of meaning work had for you.
Getting a grip on understanding your work ethic will help you determine how to engage in activities that help you to feel a sense of value and utility in the next stage of your career. What personal and professional identity did you gain from your work and occupation and what did this mean to you? Most people gain a great sense of personal satisfaction from the identity they achieve at work. This is typically accomplished through their work title. When you transition into retirement, the title is left behind, it’s lost. So, you need to think about how important this title was to your identity. What will replace this satisfaction? Those individuals who have a stronger attachment to their job title will have more difficulty with this issue. What does a high level of wellness mean for you? What are your specific ideas about living vitally? While many people focus only on the physical and mental well-being, it is also important at this stage of life to find personal meaning in your life. How will you learn to live a relaxed lifestyle? What gives you vitality? How strong are your self-care skills and how will these carry you forward so that you have zest, energy and that you enjoy life? How would you define your ability to make and keep friends, to develop, nurture and maintain intimate relationships? Relationships in our lives are important in that they help us to feel that we belong and that we are safe. Our personal self-esteem is affected by the affirmation of others. Relationships will be important as they will provide support as you make changes in your life. How important has leisure been in your life so far? How can you create personally satisfying activities that stimulate your mind, enrich your spirit and rejuvenate your body in retirement? No matter what, leisure is a fundamental need, without it we will eventually become ill.
Yet, many people do not see leisure as a valuable endeavour, but rather they focus on achievement. I’m sure you have often heard the lament, “I haven’t accomplished anything today.” Now is the time to reflect on the meaning of living and learn to appreciate the beauty around us. You may have engaged in personal and professional development during your work years. How will you continue to stimulate your personal development in retirement? Retirement is an opportunity to take on more, not less personal development. While personal development in the past centred on work, this is a chance to ensure that you and you alone are the focus of any new learning. Don’t let a sense of emptiness overcome you; get out there and find a new meaning in life. Learn a new skill, develop a new and enriching hobby. As the change of season progresses, it’s important for all of us, no matter what age, to not just plan for the beachside vacation or the new home or car, but to begin building a complete plan for retirement. The plan must include much more than securing financial stability. Rather, your plan needs to include specific strategies for replacing the benefits of work. This includes how you will spend your time, how you will replace your job title with a new identity, how you will maintain and create new social relationships and how you will continue to stimulate your thinking and intelligence.
Thankfully there are trained counsellors and focused transition programs that can help to map your path to an exciting future. After all, there is indeed a silver lining within those grey clouds.
Source: New Horizons: Mapping Your Path to Retirement, Career Partners International, 2009. Barbara J. Bowes is president of Legacy Bowes Group and vice-president of Waterhouse Executive Search. She can be reached at barb@legacybowes.com. Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 23, 2011 H1
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…from Ralph Carlson’s blog
Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle: Freedom means you can take a day off!
Ralph Retirement Advice 2011-04-20
Image by Earl – What I Saw 2.0 via Flickr
I’m back!
I’m Back!
If you follow Ralph Carlson Blog you know that I maintain a 5 post per week schedule- one post per each week day. If you are a faithful readers, you have noticed that on Tuesday April 19, 2011, there was no post. If you were eager to learn something about Healthy Aging, the topic for Tuesday posts you were disappointed. What happened to knock me off schedule? It’s simple. I just didn’t feel like it.
It wasn’t for lack or preparation. The draft was waiting for final edits. It required only a small amount of effort to make it a final and publish. But I didn’t do it. The why is more complicated.
I was being Outrageous.
Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle is where you do things because you believe in yourself and go with your passions. Sometimes, however, those passions get diminished. Life intercedes-sometimes even in trivial ways and the spark goes out. It happens to the best of us. It’s a test because no one can stay on top of their game with passion, 24/7. It doesn’t matter what is the cause. It could be a family tragedy or something trivial. What is important is the impact on your passion- and how you deal with it.
Do you plow through and hate it or back up and start again?
Yesterday was one of those days for me. After a promising start, it went downhill until I was happy to close it out and go to sleep. So it’s over. Now what?
I could have awaken today driven to make that blog post happen. I didn’t. Instead I took the day off.
Did it work?
There was no post for Tuesday and I took on the day free of the self-criticism that would have filled me if I had pushed to publish. I picked my priorities and checked off tasks, feeling better about myself minute by minute.
Outrageous means you can be spontaneous.
Taking the day off is part of the Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle. Normally, I plan those days and organize work to cover them but once in a while,life happens. This is the first time in a long time that I missed my schedule. If I had pushed through and posted, I know that I would have fed my funk. Backing off and restarting clean today lifted me out of it.
So that’s my story about blog responsibility. It’s conditional not absolute. If its not driven by passion, it has no place on my blog or in my outrageous retirement lifestyle. It was a big issue for me to accept the freedom to break my schedule. What I don’t know is how much difference it makes for my readers. What does it say when a blogger breaks his schedule. Does it discourage readership? Or did you not even notice.
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Is your lifestyle killing you?
20/04/2011 12:21 PM
“If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Baseball’s Mickey Mantle.
How are you treating your body?
In writing this article for you, I also want to talk to me. A former bodybuilder and triathlon competitor, I am currently 20 lbs. overweight. The fact that I have a technologist diploma in nutrition and genetics makes my current health condition embarrassing.
Health care is quickly becoming the number one concern in the Western world. Today our life expectancy is higher than ever; the average lifespan for men and women exceeds 70 years. People are now looking at the quality of their life as equal to or more important than the length of their life.
As the baby boomers reach retirement age, they are expecting an active lifestyle — not the past stereo-typical “doing nothing” view of retirement. In fact, most retirees want the option of becoming more physically and mentally active than they were during their working career.
In addition, our achievement of longer life has created unanticipated fallout in the economic models on which developed countries operate. Already several countries are raising their retirement age from the average age of 65. Why? They can’t support their population for the 20 extra years that many of them are going to live. Those of you who are younger and who will not be financially independent at retirement should expect to work much later. Age 70+ will become the new retirement norm.
Modern society has not only helped us live longer, it has contributed to increasing our stress levels. In a recent survey by Northwestern Life, over 40% of workers reported their jobs to be “very or extremely stressful.”
Heart disease and cancer — two of the primary disease killers in North America — are more rampant than ever, as are pollution, damaging lifestyle choices, and poor diet.
What do we do about living longer in good health?
1. Take responsibility for your own health condition. Blaming others will not improve your health and it might increase your stress levels.
2. Establish your current health condition. Many of us take better care of our automobiles than we do ourselves. When was the last time you had a maintenance check-up? Have an annual physical check-up.
3. Another option is to complete a stress related self assessment. It can serve as a useful starting point to assist you in assessing your stress and health practices in five areas.
* Physical Health: Physical, Psychological, and Behavioral Symptoms
* Interpersonal Stress Factors
* Wellness Practices
* Nutritional Practices
* Occupational Stress
4. Think preventative wellness and nutritional balance, not drugs and medicine. Unfortunately, the majority of medical practitioners are trained to treat, not help prevent conditions. Medical training includes very little instruction on the nutritional effects on the human body. My many doctor friends agree that more must be done to include the preventative mindset in the medical community.
After my father almost died of a heart attack, the doctors put him on a low-fat, high-carb diet. The results of this approach increased his risk factors. After switching to a low-carb diet, he now is in better shape than he was 20 years ago.
5. Set-up a plan that will work for you and your life conditions and preferences. Be realistic.
6. Take action. This is one area where just thinking about it will not help us achieve the wellness levels we all want.
Health and safety losses cost billions each year in lost productivity and related expenses, not to mention the intangible personal costs. You have seen on the news where seemingly perfectly fit joggers die while running. Wellness issues apply to more than overweight and inactive individuals.
Environmental stress is global; it does not restrict its effects to certain groups. Our lifestyle choices are contributing to our health and wellness condition.
Health and wellness are your responsibility. After all, you will have to live with yourself for the rest of your life. The following action steps are designed to help you increase your overall health.
1. Take responsibility for your health and wellness.
2. Determine the ideal health and wellness condition for you. Document the differences between your current lifestyle and your new plan so that you have health goals to shoot for.
3. Establish your current health and wellness levels by completing an assessment that targets health and stress levels.
4. Acknowledge your current condition before embarking on an improvement plan. If I decided to run a marathon next week, you would surely be reading about my untimely demise.
5. If you have not done so, have an annual check-up to benchmark your medical condition.
6. Be holistic in your wellness plan. Map your improvements in all areas: nutrition, wellness, interpersonal, occupational, and physical.
7. Physical activity must be part of your plan. Recent research proves how your overall health and cognitive abilities improve by simply walking 25,000 steps a week.
8. Make your plan a challenge. Make it fun. Be creative. If time is an issue, plan activities that combine healthy pursuits with important relationships.
9. Nutrition will play a critical part in your long-term success; it must be included in your wellness plan.
10. Start from where you are. Now.
Until next time keep “Living on Purpose,”
Ken Keis
Article Source: http://physicalfitnessarticles.net
For information on CRG Resources, please visit crgleader.com
Posted in Keeping fit and healthy, Retirement
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