Everyone in the modern world deals with constant distractions. But one of the benefits I expected from retirement was the concept of being able to focus on a task, or to set it aside and come back to it later without nagging guilt. I was, sadly, wrong to expect this.
My day is full of interruptions, and few tasks get done to completion in a given day. The nagging guilt part is pretty minimal, but I still feel bad some days when it feels like nothing I set out to do was finished by day’s end.
A typical scenario
Most days start with some kind of plan. I have several different “To do” lists, and my usual daily objective involves putting a dent in some of those lists each day.
I might start the day with a cup of coffee, and a task that requires several steps in the garage or in my den over the garage. I exit the house and find an Amazon package on the stairs. Irene doesn’t like those things sitting around so I try to make them ‘disappear’ quickly: to that end I carry the package back into the house and open it up.
Inside the package might be three or four small items. Inevitably one of those items relates to a completely different task that wasn’t on my list for the day. At a minimum I have to find safe places that are easily recallable for the items that arrived that are related to other tasks. Half an hour or more later and I have unpacked the Amazon box.
But it might be an hour or two, or even a day or two later before I get back to my original task. What if the Amazon shipment includes something for a higher priority task than I had planned for the day? For example, some replacement knobs to repair our outdoor heater that we use by the spa are more urgent to deal with than the parts for the weather station I’m assembling.
Memories…
I am likely going to start to forget what it was I had on my task list for the day somewhere between unpacking the Amazon box and tackling more ‘urgent’ to do list items. Irene will want my help with laundry. Dinner will need to be made. And of course there are the often daily medical appointments Irene and I now have between the two of us.
A day or two later I’ll hopefully come back to the original “to do” list, and realize I never finished the task I started. By that point I may have realized there are actually several additional sub tasks for that item. I’ll have my coffee and make a new to do list, walk to the door, and there will be another distraction sitting on the steps.
The end result is not unlike back in my pre-retirement days. The “to do” list never truly gets emptied, and there are always a few items that persist for days or weeks longer than they should. I wish I could tell the folks out there looking forward to retirement as a time of unbridled productivity and freedom. In my experience, it is neither of these things.
Retirement is definitely better than working, and I absolutely feel less stress. But the endless “to do” list remains, as do the equally endless interruptions and distractions. I’m definitely not accomplishing more, but I’m happier about what I do.