Experiment. Adjust. Improve. Keys for a better retirement.

 

How do you picture your retirement? No work. Loads of free time.  Sitting on a beach sipping a cool drink. Flying all over the world visiting interesting places. Or something else less exciting.

Those all sound great (and most of the time they are), but most retirees complain about every single one of them at one point or another over the years. 

No matter what you think your retirement will be, it will change over time. Your interest will change, you won’t have the energy or money to travel all the time, your health will change, or you just get bored. Trust me, doing nothing and relaxing gets old quick.

Experiment.  Adjust.  Improve.     

Those three words are key to creating your ideal life and retirement. 

No matter what you are doing, you are always experimenting with your lifestyle. You keep the good things, throw out what you don’t like and make adjustments that improves your ideal life and retirement.

Do I really want this, or do I just think I want it?

 

Joe Hearn says in a blog post on Intentional Retirement, another way to ask that might be “Do I want this in theory or in practice?”  Ask it of every major item on your retirement “To-do” list.  The only real way to answer that question is to experiment with your plans.  In other words, you actually start doing things.  Shocking concept!  You need to take all the things you have planned for “Someday” and start experimenting with them today.

 

This is not a trivial exercise.  It turns out that we’re pretty bad at predicting the things that will make us happy.  Scientists like Dan Gilbert at Harvard have done research that proves this.  So, experimenting and doing the things on your list is a critical step to determine whether you’re on point or you need to go back to the drawing board.

Conclusion

Our retirement plans constantly change. And don’t feel bad if you don’t have things totally figured out. None of us do. That’s what experiments are for.

Here is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that sums up experimenting with life.

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.  All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.”