@Cynthia – thanks for this insight. I definitely think that planning in retirement is critical precisely because time is so open. People are used to planning all the things they have to do, and for a while it’s exciting to not have to plan anything…but then one comes to realize that it’s good to plan the things you *want* to do or otherwise time just disappears into nothing particularly enjoyable.

As I sat down to plan on Friday afternoon it was straightforward to schedule the handful of tasks and appointments coming up, but then I had to face the challenge of planning what else to do. No clients making demands, no children with schedules of their own, no parents to look after. So it was actually a bit unnerving and showed me I needed to take my vague ideas for projects and activities and make them more specific and actionable.

I will definitely keep working on this habit. After my moment of angst last Friday, I now have a couple of specific projects. I’m looking forward to using Friday planning to track what I’ve accomplished and to make specific plans for further progress.

@Coree- yep, plans help when life doesn’t go as planned! We know what has to happen, so we do that first, and know what can have some more flexibility. It reduces the flailing.

@Julie – glad you are finding it helpful! I think like any habit it just takes time. And yes, looking forward a little ways can help make sure that whatever needs to have time devoted to it has time devoted to it.