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“Does any part of your busy schedule stem from a feeling that you need to be busy?”
That sentence is part of a question posed by Edmund Marsh to Dr. Lefty. It ties in with an article I began to formulate a while back.
Should I Start a New Business?
The obvious answer is a resounding NO. Still, there’s a little gremlin inside me who sometimes shows his ugly little gremlin head; you should buy that building, you should start this business? Then I beat that little monster over his head until he goes away.
I’m 73 and comfortably retired, still, sometimes, I feel like I should be doing something constructive. Then good sense reminds me that committing myself to a new venture would require me to show up someplace. Oh the humanity.
Are you at all haunted by some need to be productive?
Dan, thanks for an interesting post. I’ve thought about this quite a bit over the last 9 years. I’ve read, and believe, there is a difference between productivity and being productive. Productivity is a measurement; being productive is how we behave and act – engaging in things we value and want to accomplish. Another way I think of it is that I want to be useful – to my family, friends, community, and greater society. I’m lucky enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement and I get to define how I want to be useful. Jonathan wrote frequently about continuing to do work he loved and that he felt helped people. I believe that HD is full of smart, experienced, and good people. I enjoy hearing how many of them have found ways to be useful.
Dan, “Productive” is an interesting word choice; I suppose it depends how you define it. Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring three groups of seniors through a racket sports development and fitness course. A portion dropped out along the way, but plenty finished and are still playing.
Every one of them, I’d say, has picked up a noticeable boost in vitality, most have shed some weight, and quite a few have ended up with a bigger social circle than when they started. All the hours I put into it are pro bono, so by the strict, spreadsheet definition of “productive,” I suppose my first year of retirement failed miserably…I’m happy with that!
I’m retired now and sometimes I’m haunted by the idea of being productive. I think most Humble Dollar readers suffer from this same affliction. My solution: take a nap. A good nap cures just about everything including a poor night’s sleep, boredom, general crankiness, etc. After the nap you are rejuvenated so you can now read a book, watch the World Cup, plan dinner, wash the car, get some exercise, you know important stuff. 😅
Sweet 16!