Archives: November 2008

25 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Distractions and decisions

Author: Susan Kersley

How easy it is to get distracted by one's own experiences of bodily dysfunction. Gallstones have been confirmed and I'm reluctant to have the necessary operation. However been persuaded by the possible awful things which might happen if I don't and the wonderful benefits which will happen if I do….

Reminds me of the four questions to ask yourself when faced with making a decision of any sort.
Ask: What will happen if I do?
What will happen if I don't?
What won't happen if I do?
What won't happen if I don't?
The rest is easy. (I hope!)

So when you get ready for retirement you have to remember that unexpected health challenges are part of the journey. Get them sorted then back on track and do what you really want to do. 

I've written a book to motivate you: 'Get ready for retirement- how to have a life after work'
18 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Moving on with a short e-book

Author: Susan Kersley

Why do things take so long to arrange and do? I’ve almost finished putting together a short book on ‘80 ways for doctors to manage their time’

Planning to have this as part of a product for sale on my web site in a bit. The trouble is, other little jobs take up time to do and things which at first seem quite straightforward take longer than expected. There are so many things that delay completing what you want to do. For me today it’s been a succession of phone calls when I’ve been hanging on waiting for an answer for ages; another succession of web sites when I got s far in finding out what I wanted to find when inexplicably I was off the appropriate page and had to start again with all the complicated log in procedures.
Of course, one of the most important things about managing time when you are at work, or moving towards retirement is to decide what you want to get done, then set a date or a time by when you want the task completed. Decide what might stop you doing it and work at removing any obstacles in the way, then just do it!
Just remember that even if you don’t do quite as much as you planned to do today, you are getting things done and you have done more than the person who didn’t even start!
15 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Finding out what’s hidden and what you really want to do when you retire

Author: Susan Kersley

Finding out what is going on inside is a challenge. A recent scan showed I have gallstones. Suddenly I find everyone I speak to has either had them or knows someone who has had their gall bladder removed. But it took a scan to find the reason for the pain.

What does it take to find the answer to a nagging emotional pain? As you plan for your retirement think about what the nagging ‘pain’ you have that you’ve ignored through your working life. What would you really, really like to do if money and time were no obstacle? What is the equivalent of the scan to find out your deepest desire for the rest of your life.

As you get older there may be restrictions on some of the things you could do, so don’t delay plan to follow your dreams. Close your eyes and visualise what your life would be like if you did those things. Imagine daily how wonderful it would be if each day you knew you would spend the day doing things which gave you happiness and joy.

Read more in Get Ready for Retirement – how to have a life after work

10 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Getting back on track while you prepare to retire

Author: Susan Kersley

However good your intentions, do you find that sometimes several days go by and you don’t get done what you hoped to get done? I’m like that too, I’ve been away for a few days and it’s always a dilemma for me whether to keep on track or just relax and forget about goals for a few days. Actually retirement is a great time to come to terms with having goals but also being comfortable about letting go and doing whatever seems the right thing to do at the time.

Getting the balance right is sometimes the difficult bit, the balance between: doing whatever seems the thing to do at the time, or being too rigid and not trying anything new or exciting.

How about you? Are you a rigid ‘keep to the plan’  type of person, or are you learning to ‘go with the flow’ more as you don’t have the same pressures as you do when you have to keep to a work schedule?

8 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Exercise is good for you

Author: Susan Kersley

My little grandson aged 3 wanted to go to a keep fit for parents and young kids class today and persuaded me to go too. It was great. About 100 small children each with a parent or a grand-parent ‘in tow’ We exercised to well known Swedish children’s songs. (I followed what the instructor said by watching the others and my grandson saying ‘come on grandma this is what to do now’.

40 minutes late two hot and well exercised people! Young or old exercise is great! I remembered how much I used to enjoy going to regular exercise classes years ago and how much I’d like to these again.

Never mind your age get moving again!

FInd out the 7 benefits of exercise here

Find out more about preparing for retirement here.

7 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Go for a walk to find a solution

Author: Susan Kersley

I was going to order some more copies of my book ‘Get ready for Retirement- how to have a life after work’, when I discovered to my horror a huge price increase. So much so that my profit margin would be almost nil. I didn’t know quite what to do as I’ve just started to publicize the book and have several people about to write a review of it. I wrote to the Lulu forum to get my frustration out and today went for a walk.

When you retire walks are good for lots of reasons: keep you fit and joints mobile, gets you away from sitting in front of the television releases endorphins so you feel much better. As a sort of walking meditation a walk also offers your sub-conscious mind a chance to let you know the answer to your worry or frustration.

What I decided to do was to consider raising the price of my book (which I don’t want to do), or re-write the book to produce a new edition in a few months covering topics not covered by this book ( not an ideal solution as I have several other things I want to complete before then). Anyway at least I felt better.

When I got home I found thta my rant in the Lulu forum had been answn to slightly change the size of the book ered by someone’s suggestion to slightly change the size of the book to a US standard size. It works the price is as before!!

So just a bit of re-formatting and up loading in the next few days. Retirementbook

6 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Retirement is a journey

Author: Susan Kersley

Sometimes journeys don’t go as planned. You can have a detailed itinerary and then something unexpected happens. Flew to Sweden and the plane couldn’t land at Stockholm Skavsta as there was too much fog so we had to land at Stockholm Arlanda instead. This meant a three hour train journey to reach our destination. How is this related to being retired?
-Life is like a journey
-You plan a destination and yet sometimes you are taken on an unexpected route to get there.
-Things may take longer than expected
- be willing to change your plans but keep your ultimate goal in mind and you will get there.
What can you learn when things don’t go as planned?
-There are different routes to achieve the same goal.
-Enjoy the journey
-Be flexible
-Don’t be too rigid in your plans

What life lessons have you learned recently in relation to retirement?

4 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

What is the secret…

Author: Susan Kersley

….of getting things done? The first most important thing is to decide ‘to what do you want to get done today?’
I planned to complete the script for 2 tele-classes I’m presenting: today on ‘Confidence’ and next week on ‘Beliefs and Values’ As I’m thinking about what to say about these subjects I realise they have a lot in common: the thing about confidence or lack of it is the connection it has with your beliefs. If you have limiting beliefs about what you could achieve then what you believe is what tends to happen.
I find I write for a while then get distracted (or need to change what I’m doing/get away from my computer/ refresh myself/ have something to eat or whatever.

Amazingly, though, I find that doing something quite different for 15 minutes or so means I come back to my computer with fresh ideas and can get going again on the task in hand.

This is particularly important when you are retired: it’s so easy to spend the day aimlessly doing not very much.
What do you think?

When you decide what you want, set realistic and specific goals you will achieve more than you thought possible. Go to http://www.getreadyforretirement.co.uk to download my free report on the six essential things you must do to prepare to retire.

3 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Do as I say….

Author: Susan Kersley

Here I am writing about retirement and wondering how to reach people who are getting ready to retire and find myself wondering if actually I’m going through the transition myself!

These past few days I’ve been thinking about when I want to retire from Coaching or at least some past of it. And what I’ve realised is that I need to listen to myself and go through that I recommend others to do. A recurring theme which comes up again and again in what I write and how I coach is that its important to ask and then answer the question ‘What do you want?’ This is Steven Covey’s habit ‘Begin with the end in mind’

So what do i want? I want to continue writing, initially using the material I have already produces and am in the process of producing to make several products both digital and in print and CD. I also want to design a ‘workshop’ on the theme of my new book ‘Get ready for retirement- how to have a life after work‘ This would be something I can offer as a teleclass and/or face to face workshop. I’m considering devising something using some of the principles of Louise Hay from her book ‘You can Heal your life’ as I am a certified Louise Hay workshop leader.

1 Nov 2008, Comments (0)

Keep moving!

Author: Susan Kersley

When you no longer have the routine of going to work each day it’s too easy to become lazy, to sit around and do very little.
You have to find a new routine for this new stage of life and that must include some regular exercise. If you can keep to your good intentions about joining and going several times each week to the gym or the swimming pool then that is great. However if that proves too difficult then the simplest and one of the most useful forms of exercise is walking. Go out of your front door and walk. After ten to fifteen minutes turn around and go back and there you are – 30 minutes of exercise. Good for body mind and spirit!

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