Goals at 67

 My perspective has certainly changed in the last 4 years of my retirement.  I tend to get “addicted” to my goals, and neglect other parts of my life that are not part of a goal. I thought I would live “goal free” as Harry mentions below, but I found my body began to rebel.  I was getting physically out of shape, my belly was getting bigger.  I have found that a certain minimum structure for my days is valuable for keeping fit and healthy, and to keep moving toward my current interests.  As long as I stick to my daily routine, determined by my weekly/monthly plans, everything works well and I feel happy with my life.

My current interests, (but not goals) are:

• to have a better understanding why people behave the way they do, so many people are their own worst enemies and they don’t seem to know it.
• To learn the mathematics that I need to know to understand modern physics books, i.e. number theory, analytic geometry and n-dimensional vector calculus.  These are topics that I covered in college, but I have found it very rewarding to revisit them.  
• To understand the role of concepts in my thinking by watching how my mind works when I work math problems out imaginatively and then formalize them via concepts.  I am amazed to find out how large the role of imagination is in thinking and understanding.
• To read good stories and essays, learn to appreciate good drama on TV or in books and improve my senses of smell and taste.  Compared to Amanda I am almost blind when it comes to smell, taste, appreciating drama, or listening to music.  I am beginning to desire to enhance my experience in these artistic arenas. 

My biggest distraction is the local library system.  I am limiting the number of books I check out at a time, so that I can get more of my own studies and home projects done.  Home projects are to clean out old files, photographs, floppy disks, and emails, (like this one).

My worst bad habit is not asserting myself in conversation with others.  I have an underlying fear I won’t be liked.

When I look back on my working life, I realize other things could have been accomplished if I had dedicated myself to those goals, but when I read my old files, and emails from those time periods of my life, I see that I made the best possible choices for who I was at the time.  So no regrets.  

Goals are given to us by the possibilities that we commit to.  We all have possibility via imagination, what is missing willingness commit. If I am not working toward my goals, I ask myself “what is stopping me?”  I write down the answers for clarity and post them on my bathroom mirror.