For lack of a better name my retirement vision so far could be GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

When I look through the eyes of retirement I see this giant jigsaw puzzle with each piece representing my expectations. The risk with keeping the pieces too big is that I could end up with a faulty plan. These are my pieces: 

• I expect my time to be well spent because finally I will have 24 hours a day “for me”.
• I expect my health to carry me through reads, parties, hikes, jogs and new discovered passions.
• I expect money to last and be able to share some.
• I expect my soul to be full to appreciate life even more.

Some of you may have already succeeded at trying to balance all these expectations. In my case I have done some strikes in certain areas but for most I’m leaving the balancing task for later; perhaps for when I retire.

But what about this predictor of success in retirement? Create an engaging vision of your life after retirement and your chances of being happier will increase. I must find the time now! I want to create a vision that is big enough (or creative enough) to include all the expectations listed above.  As I was writing the previous sentence my mind asked, is this list of expectations creative enough?

On Creativity

I hope you are convinced that we are ALL creative. Otherwise, how to explain that you are alive in the 21^st century when other species are extinct? Putting the evolution discussion aside, I do need to exercise my creativity muscle. Producing challenging goals for my retirement, as I have done for previous stages in my life, requires creative thinking.

Professor Gerard Puccio, in his course on Creative Thinking Toolkit, invites us to reinvigorate our imagination by:

1. Pursuing what intrinsically motives you. In my case, learning new things. In my husband’s case, travelling.
2. Applying divergent thinking or exploring multiple solutions.

I want to reinvigorate my imagination!  Like the “oh so” famous game of imagining new uses for a paper clip, so my husband and I should imagine other uses for learning and travelling. We have evidence of our love for these activities. Thus, my goal is to create a list of 50 hobbies with potential to travel and learn.

To start, I googled “hobbies after 50”. I have never thought of this hobby: horology, the art of making clocks and watches. I love wearing watches; knowing how they work seems appealing to my learning bug. I even see myself and my husband travelling to conferences to meet like-minded people.

As Dickens said “take everything on evidence.” Like an entrepreneur that validates assumptions as early as possible I must try horology before retirement. Nancy L. Anderson, contributor for Forbes, writes “Practice retirement while you are still working. In fact, making a long, drawn-out transition to retirement could actually be part of your retirement plan.”

I will keep my vision of great expectations for retirement. The pieces of my puzzle will become smaller, and with sharper edges, once I decide what solutions to try. Those solutions that I like the most will be part of my tested retirement plan.

Visit this list from Wikipedia to feed your imagination, hobby-wise.

Let us know what novel ideas you come up with to expend your retirement’s leisure time.