If you are lucky enough to live full-time, free time as I talked about in my last post/thought, how do you organize your time?  Or do you even need to manage your time?

There’s a lot of discussion in my $lackers group about purpose and passion.  Over the years we pretty much decided that as a group we don’t have, or require, an overwhelming sense of purpose required in our daily lives.  We have been successful.  Some of us have been very successful.  We had been hard workers, smart workers, hard drivers, smart planners, and deserve the option(s) of doing whatever, whenever, or never.

JD Roth had a saying “What takes two hours to do, can take 2 WEEKS in retirement.”  He’s 100% correct if we do not have a deadline and it’s something we aren’t thrilled about doing.

Here’s a strange trait I’ve noticed in myself.  When my wife is away on a trip, or even out of the house for many hours on a given day, I tend to get a LOT more things done around the house. 

When I’m alone at home I just start knocking things off my Don’t Forget list.  Sometimes I crack up the receiver and shake the house.  Sometimes I listen to podcasts with an earbud or bluetooth speaker.  It’s the strangest thing, that I get more done when Kathy’s not around.  Maybe it’s because I was an only child and did things on my own.  Maybe it’s because I’m not the greatest teammate?  It’s strange to me, why.

But back to the act of doing. 

I think a lot about Structure.  Do you prefer structure in your days?  Kathy always has structure and a calendar all lined up.  She thrives on the schedule.  I don’t want to even get into what happens if I suggest changing our pizza lunch to tacos!

I, on the other hand, am TOTALLY independent.  I hate structure and schedules, and appointments.  I want to do what I want when I want.  I’ve always been that way.  Give me the task, and the due date and I will get it done.  Sometimes early, sometimes on time.  I’m not usually late in my delivery.

I talked about my work life in the past and how I crafted jobs to meet my desired schedule.  I don’t know how it worked out all the time, but I believe it had to do with delivering for my boss, on time, and with good quality.

I still to this day, even with typing these thoughts in this post, I shift everything around on my Google calendar ALL THE TIME.  I am full-on Schetchle driven.  There are multiple things on this week’s schetchle that have a ? or ?? at the end.  Drives Kathy CRAZY. 

I think my schetchle is in many ways is my Don’t Forget grid more than anything else.

When you hear a retiree say “I did THREE things today.”  Man, let me tell you that’s a success for most.  Here’s what just hit me as even funnier.  That same person will probably say “I’m so busy being retired, I don’t know how I found time to do anything when I worked.”  Well, which is it?  Too busy, or is three things the benchmark for crushing it on any given day?

I’ll just drop the mic there!

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.