Decisions: Retirement Strategy #5
There are so many decisions to make as you transition into retirement. How do you make the right ones so that you won’t regret them as you look back? In her book 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, author Suzy Welch described a process for making a decision when faced...
Clarity: Retirement Strategy #4
One of Yogi Berra’s famous quotes is, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” This apocryphal expression is taken to mean – when you have a choice to make, don’t just stand there – make your decision and move on. Retiring can be complicated. You have the...
Getting Unstuck: Retirement Strategy #3
I’ve seen two situations in the retirement area where people are stuck. One is the transition into retirement when someone holds back from initiating the process. The second is post-retirement when the transition has not worked out very well. The retiree is not happy...
Time Left: Retirement Strategy #2
Starting at around age 50 we begin to think not only how old we are, but how much time we have left. Our life expectancies from birth are to age 75-80, which translates to an age 65 retirement length of 10– 15 years. However, if you’ve made it into your mid 60’s, your...
Replacing Work: Retirement Strategy #1
This is the first of a series of blogs I am writing about Retirement Strategies. My goal for this series is to give you information and ideas to facilitate your transition to a joyful and fulfilling retirement. Retiring means transitioning from full-time work to...
Great Conversations
Through the years I’ve had many wonderful personal relationships and conversations with family and friends. It’s clear to me what makes those conversations great – the people are terrific listeners. They encourage me to share my emotions and fears, support or...
3 Steps to Prepare at the End of Covid
I’ve had my vaccine shots, and my life is slowly starting to change. On the plus side, I went shopping a few times last week, and we had someone from our building over to share a pizza. But we’re still living with restrictions. We wear masks, don’t eat at indoor...
Emotional bank accounts
I learned long ago, partly through participation in Marriage Encounter, that a good marriage takes work. Otherwise, entropy wins – things fall apart. I have always wanted my marriage to grow and become even better. When my wife wants me to do something, generally I do...
Experiments
Some pursuits just don’t work out as intended. The question is what to do next. I think about Thomas Edison who is said to have had 5,000 - 10,000 failures on the way to improving the light bulb. Before him a light bulb lasted for only several hours. He eventually...
My metronom
My cello teacher Jacqueline Ultan has been telling me recently how important it is to use my metronome when preparing to play music with other musicians. Playing music together means that everyone must play at the same regular pace. The metronome shows me how I’m...