Reach My Retirement Goals

HELP ME Reach My Retirement Goals... 

Recently, I asked retirees about setting retirement goals, and the responses are shown below. I was THRILLED to get ANY replies as I wasn't sure how many retirees would actually make a goal post-retirement. 

These are 90-Day Goals, easier to attain, than setting a whole year, right? So what can you do in the first 90 days of 2016 -- January, February, March!

Let me help you reach retirement goals, by showing you what others hope to do, and maybe a bit of planning too! I picked up only the first few emails... will add more later!

I will be volunteering for a pantry and or animal clinic -- This is a great goal. Giving back to your community helps the place you volunteer, and also YOU! The act of volunteering is not only you helping out, but you gain benefits of getting OUT of your home, learning new skills, meeting new friends, having communication outside your normal social circle,  just oodles of things happen to enhance your life.

DO THIS:  1) Try a few websites to see what's available in your local community NOW. If you want to volunteer outside the home, www.volunteermatch.org  is a great site. Simply change the location under the header to where you are, and pick a topic area!   2) APPLY, it can't hurt, can it? 3) Get out of the house and talk to some agencies you are interested in volunteeering at! 4) Search for more opportunities below:  "Volunteer with Kids, SE Michigan: for example. 

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 I will be starting a weekly Yoga class -- We all need exercise, something that I personally don't do well... but besides the physical benefits, there are so many mental benefits of keeping yourself moving. Your happiness depends on it!

DO THIS:  You should go register for a local class, at a gym nearby, or if you want to try Yoga as this retiree will, at a Yoga studio... but you could also try online to see if you'd like Yoga. Check out the You Tube video below and get moving!

Resume church attendance. Means too much to me to continue not going. -- This goal I liked, because the writer was so honest! To RESUME, means the activity will take some effort as you've not been doing it.  But then it "means too much to me to continue not going." That's the honest part, because it kinda means it did not mean enough, as you quit, right? Unfortunately, yes... Go Back! 

DO THIS:  All churches are not created equal. Some you will like, and others you will not, and that's ok! Simply try another locally! If you find a church that just feels right, attend. Get to know others as churches have so many friendly people looking for others, helping others, and generally doing good in the world!

Lose 10 pounds and begin writing a novel! -- Ninety days to do TWO big items? WOW... I hope  you do! Both totally different and both totally doable. A few weeks have passed, are you losing weight?  Are you deep into the book writing too? I hope so!!

DO THIS:  LOSE 10 LBS - Losing 10 pounds in 90 days means you need to lose 3-4 pounds a month. That's really not much and should be doable, if you watch what you are eating (and drinking... ditch that "pop" stuff). Fine.

-- and -- BEGIN WRITING A NOVEL - HMMM, now that I re-read this one, it says "begin"... so that means you can accomplish this goal with one page! Yikes! I'd clarify this goal to say "Write a Novel in 90 Days". Yes, pushing it there... but short reads are books on Amazon that people can breeze through, lots of people like shorter books nowadays (obviously since there is a category just for 'short reads'. Do I sound tough? Heck if you write 10 pages a month (thats only a few pages each week), you'd have a 40 page book in 90 days. You Can Do This!

Retired...June 2015, been traveling since, and I am helping my hubby with caretaking his 93 yr mom. I am going to find my "new retired self"... finally read a book, take more personal time for myself,  discover the local area (we moved in with mothernlaw). -- I like this! Taking personal time for herself! We all need that, we are so busy being caretakers (especially with a 92-yr old mother-in-law), and often neglect ourselves. We all need to spend more ME time, become a bit selfish with a personal time schedule if you must. 

DO THIS: 

1) First, if you have a hard time finding time for YOU, Please calendar your personal time, just like you would with a doctor appointment or any other meeting, and Just DO It. Whatever IT is to you...

2) Make a list of things you'd enjoy doing, both inside the home and out, and consider the small steps you need to do to DO them FOR YOU. Having this ready list done will allow you to put some thought into YOU and your days. If you have time on your schedule, either plan what you will do for that hour, or day, or look on the list and pick something!

3) Sometimes, a simple movie or day trip sounds like work, with everything else happening around you, but if you think ahead, and do a bit of planning work, you can do this. Look at the movie listings on Monday, Buy the ticket on Tuesday (online), and go Wednesday or Thursday... matinees are relatively cheap and fun!

4) Schedule lunch with friends. If you run into someone unexpectedly, set up lunch for the next week... do it now, don't wait, it may never happen. Look in your phone book or Facebook for local friends... simply call or send a message: "want to have lunch next Tuesday?" Easy peasy. Calendar it now... that lunch with a friend will do oodles for you socially.