They say that the euphoria after retirement lasts roughly 6 months to 1 year. Then, the boredom and depression set in. Or at least that’s what an acquaintance told me recently.
Well, six months in to early retirement, and I’m still ridiculously happy, not the least bit bored, and definitely nowhere near depressed.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though.
I’ve spent some time beating myself up for not being “productive enough”, for not working on all my projects and interests; for still feeling like I still didn’t have the time to do the things that I want to do, which is bananas!
It took a dear friend to pull me out of self-flagellation mode. To help me see how unreasonable I was being. To remind me that I was supposed to be in my Victorian era, not tied down to my laptop all day and trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once!
To make matters worse, I still couldn’t figure how to structure my time and create a daily routine post retirement. I needed to figure out how to stick to “office hours”, which for me is the time I spend on my writing projects, as well as on my blog and Substack, and attending to any admin related to my websites and courses; to set up routines and structures to make sure I get to spend time on my “projects in focus” and at my painty table; and to also have some time to just be — to read, play with the cats, soak in the winter sun, and enjoy this retired life!
I found myself, on most days, spending hours on the laptop — not to write, but to browse YouTube or go down multiple rabbit holes. These are things I usually do on the phone, with my coffee, when I have an in-built timer that ensures I don’t get lost in rabbit holes for hours. Spending all that unchecked time on the laptop left me frustrated, because it meant less time to devote to the projects and ideas that were calling my name.
It was my friend Ishieta’s mother who came to my rescue. Sitting in her garden on a winter afternoon, with the sun sparkling through the trees, balancing mugs of hot chocolate fudge on our knees, Neera aunty helped me see the in-built structures I already had in place, and gave me some ideas on how to create daily routines and structure my days without being overly rigid or planning each minute down to the T.
Since that afternoon in early December, I’ve been on a roll!
I’ve used Neera aunty’s ideas along with some of my own strategies and systems to ensure that I have enough time to devote to my varied interests, while also enjoying stretches of unstructured leisure time.
Three systems to create daily routines for a fulfilling retirement
If you’re retired, on a sabbatical, or just want to plan your weekends or time off work better, I have three tips for you. They’re simple systems and strategies that you’ve probably heard of before, but if you’re used to living your life based on external routines, these tips could be just what you need to create your own daily routines that work for your life and circumstances.
Befriend timers and alarms
One of the biggest problems with creating a self-imposed daily routine post retirement is keeping track of time. When you work a corporate job, your timing and routines are in-built. You’re following a structure imposed on you by your organization.
But when left to your own devices, how do you ensure you don’t go down rabbit holes that eat up your day?
Enter, alarms and timers.
First, look at the routines that exist in your household. For example, in our household, we have set timings for when we have lunch and the husband has a pretty fixed routine on week days. I use that in-built schedule to structure my mornings and early afternoons.
If you live alone, or if the people in your household have varied timings, you can set up alarms on your phone to signal when it’s time to end one activity and begin another.
Next, use timers for focused work. You can use a Pomodoro timer {this is the one I use} to keep you on track if, like me, you tend to go off on tangents when you should be working. I find the Pomodoro timer particularly helpful while I’m working on the laptop, where distractions abound {hello, 50 open browser tabs}.
A number of Pomodoro apps combine timers with task management and can be a helpful tool to help you design and structure your daily routines, especially your daily non-negotiables.
Create triggers {or routine stacks}
Routine stacks are somewhat similar to habit stacks, in that they both rely on triggers. When you’re trying to build a new habit, for instance, the best way to do it is by using a trigger — i.e., add on a new habit immediately after something that you already do every day. For example, if you want to read more and you have a cup of coffee every morning, that morning coffee can become your trigger. When you sit down with your cup of your coffee, you will also read a book.
This is a pretty good starting point when it comes to building a routine or schedule for yourself too. But since you probably don’t want to live a fully regimented life, especially if you’re retired or on a sabbatical, it does require some tweaking to make it work.
Start by identifying your daily routines {like brushing your teeth, having your first cup of coffee}, and try to figure out how you can use some of those as triggers. Then map out how you can fit in your areas of focus around those triggers.
Let me explain with an example of how I use this system: I have a few areas of focus — writing, creating art, my spiritual practices, learning and depth work. I don’t necessarily do each of these things every day, but I do know that I would like to finish writing {and any admin or other work for which I need to use the laptop} in the first half of the day. This is what I refer to as my “office hours”, which are usually from Monday to Friday. I prefer to stay off the laptop on the weekends.
This is a pretty straightforward routine to maintain. After a leisurely morning coffee, I come into my studio-cum-office, pull some tarot cards and then sit down to write. {Can you see how this is a routine stack?}
I’ve set up an alarm that signals the end of office hours, though I sometimes shut down earlier or continue writing for longer. Remember, this is all about marrying structure with flexibility.
Once I shut down the laptop, I have a little ritual to signal the end of the “work” day, and then I move into whatever I want to focus on next, be that art or depth work or journaling.
The other trigger I have is around my evening coffee — I usually watch something on Netflix with my coffee, and after that, I move into another of my focus areas.
Essentially, I have one kinda-sorta non-negotiable part of my routine, which is my writing practice on most weekdays, but then my day is wide open. To structure that effectively, I rely on…
Checklists as guideposts
I generally plan out my projects and writing goals for the day every morning, or sometimes the previous night, just before bed.
I prefer to keep this simple, and use the Reminders app on my phone. I usually list out the main projects that I want to focus on that day, along with making note of any appointments or meetings.
As someone with eleventy billion interests and projects, I find it helpful to have this checklist to rely on every day. Until this piece of the puzzle fell in place, I would often find myself either unable to decide what to do next, or jumping between projects and feeling like none of them are going anywhere, or spending all my free time reading. And while I am an avid reader, I really don’t want to read all day, every day!
I’m still tweaking and refining my daily structures, though these three systems are the key building blocks that are helping me build routines and rituals that, I hope, will move me closer to completing my projects and staying true to my intentions for this year and the ones to follow.
Do you have any tips and strategies to share around creating nurturing daily routines? Do share in the comments!