This summer I learned it is possible for me to rest too much and feel adrift. This all changed when I made my bucket list, and decided to instead treat it as a 9-10 year plan.
I have realized that when I am mini-retired, or even fully retired, I will be happiness if I mind these two lessons:
1.) I should at least one purposeful thing to do every week.
I have discovered that I much prefer to look at productivity in terms of a week than any day. From now on, I will be keeping a list first of weekly goals. During a work week, I will then make a to-do list every day. It's the only way I can keep track of everything that I have to do.
But next summer, I know some days will be days with a to-do list and some days will be resting and playing games. But somewhere in every week, I will be happiest if I am making real progress on something amazing.
2.) Measurable goals are my best friend.
If you can measure it, you can make progress in it. If you make progress in it, it will become fun, even addictively fun.
It feels great to be able to say I am 15 pounds lighter than I was at my maximum. Also, I have doubled the weight I can lift on virtually every major lift. That's fun.
My spin off goal from getting my royal flush is to get a million play chips on PokerStars under my current account. Well, I am now 1/10th of the way there:
(It says I have over 100,000 chips)
For the purposes of fun, it doesn't matter how mechanical the goal is. For example, the way I have crossed the 100,000 chip mark is by playing a bunch of hands of Zoom poker, but as tightly and uncreatively as possible. As long as you are "improving your score," the process is fun, at least compared to doing nothing all day.
And, when self-employed, I can always take a break whenever it gets dull.
