1) Start with micro-curiosity

You don’t need a big passion project. Start small.
Try one of these prompts:

• “What have I always been mildly interested in?”
• “What did I enjoy before life got busy?”
• “What do I click on, watch, or read without forcing myself?”

Then take a tiny step: borrow a library book, watch a beginner video, or visit a local event for 30 minutes.

2) Give yourself permission to be a beginner

Retirement is one of the few seasons where you can be new at things again.
Pick something where your only job is to show up:

• A beginner art class
• A language conversation group
• A community choir
• A walking club
• A gardening workshop

You’re not proving anything. You’re practicing being curious.

3) Use the “two-week experiment” rule

Curiosity thrives when there’s an exit ramp.
Choose one small experiment and commit to it for two weeks:

• Two classes
• Two meetups
• Two practice sessions

At the end, ask:

• Did I feel more energized or more drained?
• Would I do this again if nobody knew?
• What did I learn about myself?

The post Reclaiming Curiosity After Retirement appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

The post Retirement – Is It All It’s Cracked Up To Be? appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

It’s difficult to stay productive when your brain is buzzing. You have so many ideas and thoughts in your head that it’s tough to focus on your to-do list. But you don’t have to let the mental noise ruin your productivity. You can quiet your brain by doing a few simple things then you’ll be able to return to work with focus and clarity.

Gain Inner Peace and Focus through these 6 Strategies

Start a Journal

When your mind is buzzing, try writing down your thoughts in a journal. This exercise will help you empty your mind so that your brain is free to focus again. Once you’ve finished with your thoughts, write about the benefits that finishing your tasks for the day will bring you. By writing about your tasks, you’ll be able to sort through and pick which ones are the most important to you.

Try Colouring

Colouring for half an hour is a great way to let go of mental clutter. Allow your thoughts to come as you focus on the design of your colouring sheet. Besides helping calm your brain, colouring also allows you to get into a creative mindset. That makes it a great activity if you’re trying to come up with a solution to a problem or seeking inspiration for a project you’re working on. If you dislike colouring, you might try doodling instead. You’ll still get the same benefits as colouring.

Practice Yoga

Yoga is another great way to calm your mind. It’s effective because it allows you to get fully in tune with your body. If other thoughts try to interrupt you, push them away and focus on your current pose. You don’t have to buy an expensive DVD to practice yoga. There are many yoga videos available for free on YouTube.

Take A Walk

Taking a walk, even a short one, is helpful when your brain is buzzing. Not only does walking get you away from your desk, it’s also a great way to relieve stress. You can powerwalk or jog if you prefer that to a leisurely pace. But be choosy with your location. Busy streets can make it hard for you to focus and relax. Instead, opt for quiet streets or walk at a local park that you enjoy visiting.

Try Meditating

Meditation is a quick way to calm your mind and body. Get into a comfortable position and focus on your breathing. Take slow breaths and feel your body move as you inhale and exhale. Release any conscious thoughts as they come to you. If you’re new to meditation, it can be helpful to choose an object or word to focus on during your session.

Take A Hot Bath

A hot bath is the perfect way to calm an overactive brain. Besides helping you relax, a warm bath can also improve circulation and ease tense muscles. After you’re finished soaking, try to take a quick shower with lukewarm or cold water. This wakes your body up and energizes you so that you’re ready to tackle the rest of your to-do list.

When your brain is buzzing, don’t try to work despite it. Instead, acknowledge how you feel right now and try one of the exercises listed above. Then you’ll be able to return to work with a focused mindset.

Take Action: Journal Your Thoughts

1. When you’re overwhelmed, what helps you relax the most?

2. Do you find yourself frequently flitting from task to task without accomplishing anything? What do you think is causing this?

3. How can you create a system that lets you capture and organize your ideas?

Up Next: Recharge Your Body

The post Collecting Those Scattered Thoughts appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

Before you click off the page, I’m not going to let loose with my own thoughts on how things have been going. What I want to do is draw a comparison, if you’ll let me, between the various issues that have surfaced through the pandemic and the various issues that surface as you travel the road from working days to Beyond Retirement. I think there are some interesting similarities, and I hope you’ll agree…

Not to make light of anything that’s been going on lately, there has been a continuous struggle between “sides” of the situation, not unlike the struggle between those who think retirement is a “good thing” and those who think it’s the worst possible outcome for anyone. Let’s all just agree to disagree on that too, okay?

Many people have a strong dislike of the word retirement because of its connotation – withdrawal from activity. I hope you know me well enough by now (unless this is the first time you’re reading my stuff…) to know that when I talk about life Beyond Retirement, I don’t mean sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, or relaxing on the sofa with popcorn and Netflix. I’m talking about doing what you’re really excited about, rather than simply doing the day-to-day work that brings in the money to pay the bills. Because THAT life is over, right?! You’ve done the work, paid the bills, and now it’s time to get on with living!

So, back to the topic at hand… the comparison between Covid and Retirement. I think it’s safe to say that Covid is here to stay – what we do about life because of this new development, well, that’s up to us. And Retirement (or, more appropriately, BEYOND Retirement) is also something that’s here to stay. So let’s get through this limbo stage and move on to what’s next, okay? We’re D-O-N-E with all this stuff.

Spring is on its way, and hopefully, as Annie tells us, “The sun will come out tomorrow.”

The post The Winter of Our Discontent… appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

In terms of retirement planning and getting ready for life Beyond Retirement… I can say a lot has happened. I’ve got a retirement date set now, so it’s not just “someday in the future” anymore. Now the plans for the rest of my life are really starting to take shape. One of the big goals on my list is figuring out whether or not I’m going to continue with my podcast. I’m enjoying getting to know people through interviews and I love it when I get an email from a listener! It makes my day to know that someone is actually listening… podcasting can be a lonely pastime. We put our thoughts out there, but we’re never really sure if they’re landing on ears or just floating in the air. Sure, our stats show whether there are downloads or not, but that doesn’t really mean anyone’s listening, does it?

I started my podcast with the idea that I’d share my journey toward and beyond retirement, letting listeners in on the struggles and the successes along the way. The point was to focus not on financial topics but on the rest of the retirement package – basically the answer to “What Am I Going to Do for the Rest of My Life?”

The face of retirement has changed so much since our parents’ generation. Baby Boomers are starting to retire from their careers and they’re not ready for the rocking chair on the porch. So it’s important – maybe essential – to take a look at what the options are now. The way I see it, these are the main options:

• stop working altogether and focus on hobbies & recreation (paid or unpaid)
• stop working full-time and switch to part-time work in a related field
• stop working full-time and switch to part-time work in a new field of interest
• turn your career into a consultant business, choosing the hours you want to work
• keep on working (why stop if you’re enjoying it and able to continue?)

With all these options (and probably more), it’s no wonder people are having a hard time deciding whether to retire or not. It’s a lot easier to just keep on doing what you’ve always been doing, right? But that’s the problem – we’ve all heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. So why do we keep doing the same things in our life and being surprised when the results are the same?

Okay – so maybe it’s just me – but I don’t think so. Things like trying to sort out all my belongings and “downsize”. Every week it’s the same result. I clear all the accumulated junk off my desk so I can “organize my life”, only to find that by the end of that week, there it all is again, piled high and threatening to bury me. How does it happen? Why does it happen? What am I doing wrong?

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not doing anything “wrong”; I’m following the path that many people have taken before me. But maybe I need to pay a little more attention to Marie Kondo’s style of decluttering and start asking myself “Does this spark joy?” At some point in my life, I stopped doing things and collecting things because of the joy they brought to me. As a child, everything we did was for the joy of it, wasn’t it? That new collection of toys, the book series we simply had to have… Why do we stop looking for joy as we grow older?

I’ve asked a lot of questions here… and I think the answer to all of them can be found through a bit of soul-searching. As we age, we stop looking at life through the wonderous eyes of a child and start looking through the more jaded eyes of an adult. We need to get some of that wonder back! The world is a wonderous place – there’s no way we’ve “seen it all” just because we’ve grown older, although we do tend to feel like we’re seeing the same things over again each year. That’s where the soul-searching comes in. It’s time to start admitting what we’re looking for, because no matter how much STUFF we collect over the years, we aren’t going to find what we really want unless we’re ready to admit that what we want is CONNECTION. And that gets harder to find and to nurture as we get older. It’s not so easy to walk up to someone on the street and say “Do you want to be friends?” when you’re over 50, is it!? But that’s what it’s going to take – putting yourself out there and being vulnerable. Letting go of all the various security blankets you’ve held onto over the years (all the STUFF you’ve collected that makes you feel safe at home) and opening up a bit.

The most important part of life beyond retirement (in my opinion) is sharing it with others. Not everyone will have a partner to share the journey with, but there is SOMEONE out there who’s going through a similar situation at whatever stage you’re at, or someone who’s done it recently and can share some insights. And who knows, maybe YOU will be the one who’s “been there, done that” and can help out someone else.

The bottom line is the world is big, there’s a lot to see and do, and you’re not alone in your travels, no matter where you are. So smile and let someone know you’re there!

The post Another Year Is Almost Gone… but the “STUFF” remains appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

I seem to say that a lot; I wonder if deep down I’m not really “meant” to be a blogger? How do you actually know for certain what you’re meant to do? I’m having a bit of a challenging time right now, trying to sort out what I’m doing and WHY.

My heart isn’t in the activities I’ve been doing. Oh, don’t get me wrong – I do believe in what I’m promoting, and I have seen improvement in myself and in others from the products I offer. But it’s not what I want to be doing.

As I said to my husband, and to a friend that I chatted with, I spend my entire day sitting in front of my computer and I’m not accomplishing anything because I’m busy doing things that keep my mind OFF the tasks I feel I “should” be doing. I really don’t want to do those things, so I find ANYthing else to do instead. So each night I go to bed feeling that I’ve accomplished nothing on my daily to-do list, but I’ve spent at least 14 hours sitting at my desk (more, most days, according to the report that pops up every day telling me my average daily screen time.)

Let me tell you, that is a truly soul-numbing feeling…

Oh, I know, lots of people spend MANY hours every day sitting at their computers and NOT being productive. I don’t have a monopoly on that! However, I thought it might be useful to someone to hear/see the process that I went through to get myself unstuck when I finally realized what was going on.

The first step is AWARENESS. You have to recognize that you’re IN the downward spiral, headed toward the bottom, before you can do anything to get out of it. The trajectory isn’t always clearcut; you can spend a long time in the spiral before realizing what’s going on. Watch for signs: increased mental fatigue, general disinterest in the routine activities of your business day, tasks building up because you’re not accomplishing them, discovery of new pastimes that pull you from the to-do list (such as a new game on your iPad…just one more level before you get back to work!)

Personally, I’ve been trudging along in this phase for a long time. Each day, I’d log into whatever site I decided I was going to work on first – it could be my main website, the jumping off point for all my programs and products, or maybe one of my programs themselves that I felt needed attention. Or perhaps I felt that it was time to work on another solo episode for my podcast, since I have all the interviews completed and ready to air. Then I’d sit and stare at the screen for awhile, thinking about all the activities I should be doing for that particular site or program. While I thought, I’d invariably pick up my iPad and start playing a game because if I didn’t login to the game each day, I’d lose my streak and all the points that come with maintaining it! Now THAT was something worth accomplishing each day.

After a few puzzles were completed, or a few rounds of some game were lost (or won, if I was lucky that day) I’d put the iPad down and stare at the screen again. I’d check my email, pop over to Facebook to see what’s going on there, even login to Instagram, even though I rarely use it, to see if there might be some inspiration to be had. Inspiration for WHAT, I’m not sure, because all the resources I needed for the work to be done were already in my files.

Finally, a couple of days ago, I realized that I was in that downward spiral and if I didn’t do something about it, I was going to hit the bottom. Or maybe I DID hit the bottom and that’s what saved me… who knows? I spent a few emotional hours trying to sort myself out and finally reached for help.

The next step is SELF-EVALUATION. This is the time to really be honest with yourself. Sit down somewhere quiet and answer these questions:

1. Why did you start the activity you’re involved in? (what was the desired outcome, what did you hope to get from it)
2. Have you achieved what you hoped to?
   • If yes, do you need to keep doing the activity?
     • If continuing the activity -> Find a related NEW goal to move toward
     • If not continuing the activity -> Stop & find a NEW activity (don’t flog a dead horse)
   • If no, is the activity bringing you closer to your goal?
     • If yes -> Continue the activity (make sure you’re moving forward)
     • If no -> Stop & find a NEW activity (again: don’t flog that dead horse)

Step three is TAKING ACTION. This is the step that actually sees you moving out of the funk and into something wonderful! Yes, it might take a bit of time to get to this point, especially if you have to identify a new goal or find a new activity in step two. But it’s worth it to get here! Believe me, once you find the path you’re supposed to be on and begin working toward the goals you’ve put in place, taking action is FUN!

Taking action means searching out the activities that bring you JOY and FULFILLMENT. Take a look at your answer to the first question in step 2. Why did you start your activity in the first place? There really WAS a reason… and it might not be valid anymore. Accepting that fact will set you free – it certainly did for me! The secret to this action step – and my salvation this past week – is that sometimes the path you’re on isn’t the right path and when you figure that out, it’s okay to stop going down that path. You are not “failing” and you’re not “unsuccessful” simply because you’ve decided the activity or business you’re working on isn’t right for you. It takes courage and strength to admit that you’ve made a wrong turn and to turn yourself around and head down another path, knowing full well that it’s going to take time to get to the level you were at in the previous activity.

In the entrepreneurial world, people are forever saying “remember your WHY”. Well, you know what? You may discover that the reason you’re driven toward a certain goal changes over time. And that’s okay! Life is a journey and the most important part of the journey is to do your best to enjoy it. We only get one stab at this particular journey, so don’t let someone else tell you what you’re looking for.

The post Finding Your WHY…if you NEED to appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

It feels like such a short time ago that high school was my biggest concern…not the worry of getting good grades, but of having good friends. Then university came and went…good grades were substantially harder there, but I managed to find and keep some really good friends. I guess things have a way of balancing out so you’re not stressing over too much all at the same time! That’s a really important aspect of life – balancing all the moving parts so you’re not overwhelmed.

So, how do you go about achieving that balance? Do you have to decide which activities to drop, which friends to stop seeing so often, which business ventures to ignore? Yes, actually…you have to make choices. But that doesn’t mean you have to give things up completely. You need to recognize that you can’t do all things, all the time. Sure, you can take part in a multitude of different activities, but you have to decide which you want to focus on RIGHT NOW.

What stage of retirement preparation are you in? That will help you decide what you need to focus on. If you’re nowhere near ready to retire – meaning that you’re enjoying what you’re doing and can’t imagine not continuing to do it – then your focus will be on continuing to build whatever you’ve got underway. If you’ve determined that you’re ready to move to the next stage, then you’ve got to start to turn your focus to cleaning up and winding down your current work activities (unless what you do is something you can simply walk away from). If you’re already retired, then your focus can start to expand again: what do you want to be involved in, now that you’re free to choose? Maybe you should make a list and still focus on one or two activities at a time, but your path is wide open now.

There are a few questions to ask yourself as you’re getting ready to retire. They’re important questions because they’re going to determine whether you’ve set the stage properly. But it’s not just a matter of knowing what questions to ask. You also need to be comfortable with the answers to the questions, or you’re going to find yourself unhappy. Let’s not go into this great stage of life unhappy!

Ask yourself this: Am I ready for the next step?

If you hesitate before you answer, or if you’re not sure what to say, then YOU’RE NOT READY. It’s a pretty simple test. If you’re ready, you’ll know it. Even if you don’t have all the steps worked out yet, if it’s time for you to move on from whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll know it. Your answer will be some version of “Bring It On!”

If that’s not your answer… if your answer is “I’m not sure” or maybe even “Ready?! I’m hardly even started getting ready!” that’s okay too. Everyone gets there on their own schedule. You don’t have to retire when the calendar says you’re at a certain age. You don’t have to retire when your boss tells you to. You may have to leave whatever it is you’re doing at some point, but retirement – the time when you get to decide where and when and how much you work – is YOUR decision.

So make it wisely.

Many people are counting on their calendars, making little comments about it being “almsost time.” That doesn’t mean they’re ready. You’ll know – and so will they – whent the time is right, because a new leaf will find them, bringing with it promises of new days and new adventures. When that excites you (more than the idea of leaving your current work does) it’s time to go.

So take a moment today and look around you as you walk down the street. What new leaves do you see? What excites you today? Tell me about it below.

The post A New Leaf appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

In the past couple of days, I’ve signed up for or purchased a phenomenal number of courses and programs…more than I typically do in any given month. I don’t know if it’s a factor of having been cooped up in the house for so long without the reprieve of window shopping – which is something I really enjoy doing! Or if it’s just “that time of the year”…you know…Christmas. Do you find that everything seems more appealing at Christmastime? I think a little mental switch flips and suddenly my brain says “Buy that now!” on every second item I look at.

Of course, the downside of this rampage with my credit card is that I now have so many courses to complete that I don’t even know where to start. Some of them are self-paced, which is great. Others are supposed to be done in a set timeframe, and have online classes that I’m supposed to be attending. Those are NOT going as well, judging by the number of emails I’m receiving that say some variation of “You missed your class. Reschedule it now!”

I think it’s all about the calendar. As I turn up the page to reveal each new month, there’s a little less time left…

… to finish that project I started ages ago…

… to plan for next year…

… to feel “prepared”…

As a result, I sit at my desk, staring at my computer screen and making lists of all the things I have to do…

All.The.Things.

I’m trying to learn how a couple of new platforms operate, while I’m still maintaining the activities that I do each month. As an affiliate marketer, it’s hard not to be drawn to new flashy stuff when it shows up in my news feed… it’s like Kryptonite for Superman… or maybe it’s more like a meaty bone for a dog.

At any rate… I believe the stress most of us feel at this time of year is all due to the calendar. If we could throw out all the calendars, I think we’d be set. At least we wouldn’t know that the year is almost over and time is running out…right?!

The post Calendar Stress? appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

There are so many books dedicated to the idea that big results come from little changes. Darren Hardy talks about it in his book The Compound Effect; Jeff Olson describes it in The Slight Edge; and James Clear writes about it in Atomic Habits. I recommend all of these, if you haven’t read them. I don’t know who came up with the idea first…I suppose I could go and see which book was published first, but I’ll leave that for you to do, if you’re interested!

The overarching theme of The Compound Effect is that each day you make choices that are seemingly small and insignificant. They don’t really have any impact on your life. But as each day progresses, the choices that you make act on each other and all of these individually insignificant choices lead to incredible results, and the results can be positive or negative, depending on the actions you chose each day. When you look back over time, you’ll see that your results are either taking you in an overall positive direction or a negative one. Nothing happens overnight; if you want to see positive results, small positive changes each day are what you need to be making.

The Slight Edge follows a similar premise; however the author takes it a bit further by saying that the choices we make each day – those seemingly insignificant decisions – are either easy to do or easy not to do and it’s our decision whether or not to do them that puts us on the upward or downward arc of the path as time goes on. He continues the theme by showing that the little actions that are uncomfortable at the beginning (easy not to do – like exercising every morning, for example) become increasingly easy to do as time goes on, if you continue to do them. What is uncomfortable in the beginning becomes comfortable over time. Similarly, the little actions that are easy to do at the beginning (like spending the evening watching Netflix every night) result in more difficult situations later on. What is comfortable in the beginning becomes uncomfortable over time. The theme of this book is that your philosophy feeds into your attitude, which then leads to the actions you choose. The results you get from those actions lead to your lifestyle…all parts of it: finances, health, relationships, personal development and business. And these either continue along the upward curve or the downward curve, depending on the simple choices you make each day.

The theme running through Atomic Habits is similar again. Here, the gist of the book is that you want to make simple behaviours become habits. A tiny change in your behaviour isn’t going to revolutionize your life overnight; however, when you repeat that tiny change until it becomes a habit, you will start to see bigger changes in your life. If you continue to perform those actions every day, it absolutely can lead to big changes. Changing your life is not about making big breakthroughs or revolutionizing your entire life in one fell swoop. It’s about consistently taking the small positive steps over time. The secret in this book is that repetition results in automaticity; the more times you repeat an action, the more automatic it becomes…to the point where it is an unconscious act (a habit) and further repetition doesn’t make it “more automatic”. That means at a certain point x there is no longer any change in y regardless of the amount of x that’s added. This would be the Habit Line, where you finally reach a point in repetitions (x) that results in no further change in automaticity (y) because the action is now a habit.

What I really liked about Atomic Habits is the idea that there are just four simple steps to creating a good habit:

• Make it Obvious
• Make it Attractive
• Make it Easy
• Make it Satisfying

And the corollary of those four simple steps will lead to breaking a bad habit:

• Make it Invisible
• Make it Unattractive
• Make it Difficult
• Make it Unsatisfying

I haven’t done the books justice with this little review; you really should take the time to read them.

I’m sure there are a lot of other books on the power of small changes and the importance of making habits. Let me know if you’ve read a good one!

The post Little Daily Changes – a few book reviews appeared first on Beyond Retirement.

So I thought I’d spend some time working on my podcast episodes…maybe get a couple more interviews edited and uploaded…maybe get a couple of solo episodes written or at least outlined…nothing too heavy, since it was only 7 am at the time!

I sat down at the computer and was immediately overtaken by the DESPERATE NEED to sort out my finances. Now, really, who has EVER had that need overpower all other activities…especially on a Saturday morning?? Well…

I began updating my financial software from all my bank accounts…naturally I’ve chosen software that’s American, so it doesn’t connect automatically to my banks for me. I have to download the transactions and upload them to the software. Not a big deal; something I usually do once a month or so…so I can balance the books and keep on top of stuff. Anyway…part way through that task, I was naturally drawn to a couple of transactions that I didn’t recognize. So I searched back through my emails and found them. You’d think that would be great news…but it wasn’t. Remember the Shiny Objects episode I posted awhile ago? No, of course you don’t…because it never got published! I just found it in my drafts folder.

And therein lies my problem…

…I found the errant transactions, but it made me recall what I’d purchased, so I had to go check out those purchases. From there, I moved on to WHY I’d bought the items – what it was going to do for me, my family, my future…and further down the rabbit hole I went…

Pretty soon, the finances were forgotten and I was trying to outline the next few months of my schedule, so I could fit some new activities into it, because I absolutely MUST start using the purchases that I just “discovered” again. Outlining my schedule led me to my blog…and the rest is history. Still nothing accomplished from my list, but I’m doing a blog post finally!  

How is all this mental roaming a “blessing”, you may ask?

Well, I look at it this way…I’ve now spent the better part of an hour (yes, even writing gets interrupted by the wandering thoughts!) simply recounting my earlier time-wasting activities…but did I really WASTE that time? I think not. Like many people who are striving to make a living as an online entrepreneur, I buy a lot of products…and I tend to lose them shortly after buying them, because I haven’t taken the time to properly catalogue them so I’ll be able to find them later. Today, only because I picked a rainy day to try to do some other work, I managed to get the majority of my purchases organized and catalogued so now I know what I have…and unlike novels that I tend to buy two or three times before I actually get around to reading them, I won’t go out and purchase the same online product again, because I can quickly search my catalogue to confirm a purchase.

So…maybe I didn’t get done what I set out to do, but I’m feeling better about what I did get done on this rainy day… and my post is finished!  

The post Rainy Days…A Blessing In Disguise? appeared first on Beyond Retirement.