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Taking Advantage of TimeFrom job to retirement: looking forward to free timeMost of us picture retirement as a period when we will have a lot of "free time" — time to do what we choose. Most retirees enjoy their leisure time, but some find that it takes months or years before they learn how to do so. Many people both fear and look forward to leisure time in retirement. One survey of employees age 40 and over in seven large companies found that:
Your job. It's time-consumingConsider how many hours you devote to a job each week. It's not just the 40 hours on the job, but also the commuting time and the amount of thinking time a job consumes, even in off-hours. Instead of 40 hours, it's more likely that a job consumes 45, 50 or even 60 hours of your time each week. In fact, probably no activity in your life uses more time than your job, with the possible exception of sleeping. Most people recognize that this is true. As a result, most people are a little concerned about retirement, wondering how to put all those hours to good use. Retirement can and should be a time to do the things that make us happiest. By planning ahead, you can throw away fears about boredom and forget about "vegetating." You can arrange an exciting life for yourself and have something concrete to look forward to in retirement.
Can you relax and enjoy life?Many people are workaholics. The belief that work is good and not working is bad can be traced to our cultural past. The early settlers of North America considered work a virtue and not working sinful. In often subtle ways, this notion has been communicated from generation to generation down through the years. Although beliefs about the virtue of work may not be as strong today as in the Pilgrims' time, they nevertheless may be obstacles to really enjoying leisure time. Some people are better than others at overcoming the urge to work too much, whether it's in paid or unpaid employment. But you shouldn't feel guilty about leisure. The "all work and no play" approach to life is not healthy physically, mentally or emotionally. Everybody needs time to "re-create" themselves, to refresh the body, invigorate the mind and stimulate emotions. Leisure time and enjoyable activities help people function at their best and get the most out of life. Focus on What You Enjoy Most Sometimes, people develop a pattern of activities that keeps them busy but provides relatively little enjoyment. To help you avoid this syndrome, here's an exercise designed to focus your attention on the activities you enjoy most. Ideally, it will help you plan the amount of time you'll want to devote to these activities in retirement. The exercise has three steps. STEP 1 — List the ten activities you enjoy most. STEP 2 — Your spouse (or another person you may be retiring with) should list the ten activities he or she likes most. Next, number the activities in their order of importance to you. STEP 3 — Consider the amount of time you are now devoting to the activities you value most. Married couples and others who will retire together should compare lists and priorities. Evaluate Your Approach to Leisure When you are finished with Steps 1, 2, and 3, consider the following:
Compare your activities list with that of your spouse. Are there some activities that both of you have listed? In general, do you enjoy the same type of activities? If you were to retire tomorrow, which of these activities would you spend more time on? Worksheet 3: Leisure Activity Evaluation The benefits of leisure activitesAs stated earlier, leisure activities can renew and refresh — physically, psychologically and emotionally. But let's get more specific about the potential benefits of well-planned leisure activities in the retirement years. Leisure activities can meet basic needs that are important to everyone. These include the need for recreation, for recognition and self-esteem, for being loved and being needed and for expressing creativity. Self-Esteem Everyone has a need for self-esteem. Self-esteem is how people regard themselves, how important and valuable they think they are as individuals. Often, self-esteem is tied closely to a job. Retirement from a job makes some people feel that part of their identity has been left behind. They lose their sense of achievement, of being appreciated and respected for their accomplishments. Don't let this happen to you. Fortunately, there are numerous opportunities for achievement, recognition and respect through leisure pursuits. These can prevent or cure the "nobody" feeling. In fact, there are many cases in which major accomplishment and recognition were first achieved after retirement. The value of knowing yourself — what you like and don't like — is that it provides the basis for planning leisure pursuits that can maintain your self-esteem. These pursuits also can be richly enjoyable in other ways. For example:
As with these retirees, you may need to plan specific retirement pursuits that will likely produce the feeling of achievement and recognition that is so important to every human being. Fulfilling Social Needs Each person has a need for love and affection, too, and a need to belong. These needs can only be met through others. In this regard, spouses, children, friends and relatives are vital. But just as a balanced diet is necessary to meet nutritional needs, a diversity of activities with others is essential to meet social needs. No one should rely exclusively on a few friends and relatives who, with time, may move away or die. Although it's only natural to feel the loss when a close relative or dear friend is no longer there, your personal happiness is apt to be threatened less if you develop additional rewarding relationships. Joining and actively participating in community organizations, AFSCME retiree chapters, religious groups or other activities can be an important means of accomplishing this. You will not be confronted with a constantly shrinking number of friends and relatives as time passes if you make a point of continuously building new social relationships. Other Benefits Self-esteem and fulfilling social needs are important, but they are not the only benefits of leisure activities. Here are some others:
In planning for retirement, you will need to identify leisure activities, that (a) provide benefits for you now, and (b) will or could provide them to you when you retire. Keep Your Options Open One way to better enjoy retirement is to include new activities, perhaps experimenting with some things you are not sure you'll like. A comprehensive list of potential activities would resemble a large city telephone directory in size, so the following list includes only a sample of the possibilities. Look over these activities and think about which ones might meet your needs. Try to be open to some experimentation. You'll never know which activities you'll enjoy until you try them.
Adult EducationIn recent years, there's been an explosion of educational services for older people. Adult education courses are offered in every community and more than one institution or organization may offer them. Community college rograms are among the most popular. Also, some universities have extension programs that may blanket an entire state, with courses available in communities that are hundreds of miles away. County governments often have adult education departments that sponsor courses at various county locations. Senior centers, community centers and religious organizations may offer classes as well.
Volunteer and community servicesRetirement is also a good time to become involved in volunteer or community service activities. Nationwide, millions of older persons are active in some type of volunteer work. If you would like to share your knowledge and experience as a volunteer, you probably can find opportunities right in your own neighborhood. Community activities can meet some of your own needs as well as the needs of others. For example, if you help a school child learn to read, you'll get a lot of satisfaction from hearing the words read back to you. And if you help a person get a job or obtain needed medical care, you'll feel pride in your accomplishment. Everyone has some knowledge or skill that would be valuable to a volunteer or community service organization. Here are a few examples:
Many communities have a central clearinghouse for nonprofit groups in need of your help. Look in your telephone directory or check with your local government or library. AFSCME Retiree ProgramThe AFSCME Retiree Program, launched by the International Union in 1980, is a nationwide network of retired public-sector workers. AFSCME now has over 200,000 retiree-members, organized in Chapters and Subchapters across the country. And we're growing every day. AFSCME retiree-members are dedicated and fun-loving older people who have united out of friendship and common concerns. Members get together at regular meetings of Chapters and Subchapters and socialize at a variety of events throughout the year. Retirees also participate in Chapter-sponsored educational programs and community services. Most important, however, is the ongoing fight for dignity and security for retired public employees. To achieve this goal, AFSCME retirees are working together to increase public-sector pensions and improve health care coverage, and are continually doing battle with Federal budget-cutters in order to protect vital programs such as Social Security and Medicare. AFSCME retirees lobby Congress, appeal to State Legislatures, even fight City Hall — all with the full support and ready assistance of AFSCME Councils, Locals and the International Union. AFSCME has made a firm commitment to the Retiree Program because the union values the experience and wisdom that AFSCME retirees have acquired over their lifetimes. Retired members still have a place in the AFSCME family, and can still make important contributions to our union, our communities and our nation. If you think you might like to join a Retiree Chapter, get in touch with your AFSCME District Council or Local Union to see if there is a group in your area. If no Chapter or Sub-chapter now exists and you would like to help start one, contact the AFSCME Retiree Program at 1625 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, or call (202) 429-1274.
Creating retirement work optionsIt's not always possible to get paid for doing the things you enjoy most. Sometimes, though, if you look hard enough, you find an enjoyable leisure activity that also increases income. Here's an example of a couple who are a few years away from retirement. Pete works at a public hospital; Meg has a job as a school secretary. Pete also works Saturdays at a bicycle shop, where he is learning to repair and maintain 10-speed bikes. Meg spends Saturdays in class at the nearby community college. She's learning sign language for the deaf. In this example, Pete and Meg are exploring retirement work options on an after-hours basis. If Pete decides he doesn't really want to work on 10-speed bikes when he retires, that's fine. It's better to find out in advance, so he can continue to explore other possibilities. Right now, he can take his time. There's no pressure. He's not in a money bind, since he has a fulltime job. Similarly, Meg is hoping to work with deaf children when she retires. She loves children and thinks she will be able to get a part-time job at a local rehabilitation center. What if she finds out she doesn't enjoy signing after she learns it? It's still been an interesting experience. She can easily move on, with no regrets, to a new opportunity. As with Pete, Meg is using the pre-retirement period to find out what she likes and does well. That's a great way to create retirement work options. Getting Started Are you interested in creating your own job possibilities? If so, there are a number of steps you can take:
Pursuing the Job You Want If you have followed the preceding steps, you should have a better idea of the types of jobs you like and perform well. But how do you get such a job? The reality is that good jobs — the kind most people want — become tougher to get with age. To get the job you want, with an employer you like, in a location that fits your needs, paying what you desire — this requires a few more job-seeking skills than many people have used in the past. So, let's say you've zeroed in on one of several types of jobs you might want to try. What do you do next? At a minimum, you will need to:
Setting short-term goalsSince it is so easy to put things off when it comes to planning free time, it is usually worthwhile to establish some means of monitoring your actions. An excellent device for doing this is setting short-term goals. This can help you stay on target and keep track of your progress. Experience shows that as you begin to achieve your objectives, your early success will motivate you to set even more challenging goals for yourself. What is a short-term goal? Here are some examples:
As you can see, these are very concrete actions with a definite time for their accomplishment. Moreover, the actions are "bite-size," that is, you can accomplish them successfully without a superhuman effort. Success tends to breed success. The key is to establish a pattern of success now and have it carry over into your retirement. Resources
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