Читать книгу The New Retirement - Jan Cullinane - Страница 38

I love mnemonics and acronyms. They make things much easier to remember. As a kid, you may remember “ROY G BIV,” a clever way of remembering the order of the hues of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. I took many, many science classes as an undergrad and grad student, and remember the taxonomic hierarchy of organisms by making up this crazy sentence (can recall it decades later) … Keep Putting Cheese On Fresh Gravy Soup … which represents Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order Family, Genus, Species.

SMART is an easy-to-remember acronym describing the characteristics of goal-setting: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Sensitive. So, when coming up with your goals, be SMART. Rather than saying “I want to continue to learn new things,” say “I will sign up for a European history class at my local community college for the upcoming spring semester.” Rather than “I want to exercise more,” say, “I will walk from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” Writing out your goals and posting them where they are visible will help reinforce them. Creating self-imposed deadlines can be very motivating.

You may already have a list of goals, or you may be open to suggestions. Let's take a look at some possibilities in the areas of education, sports, hobbies, volunteering, the world of work, and travel. The next chapter will address working or starting a business after leaving your primary career. The last chapter in the book will address leaving a legacy, financial or otherwise, so that will be addressed later.