Why Time Management is important when you’re old……..

 

 Sometimes people ask me what I do all day.  They don’t see me in action so, in their mind’s eye, I am just sitting around doing nothing.

 

Well, for me anyway, this couldn’t be further from the truth.  When I was in business, years ago, I had to be self motivated, as I worked alone most of the time.  And now that I am in my eighties , you might wonder when ‘older’ becomes ‘very old’.  I certainly do.

 

And what does Time Management mean to some of us oldies?   You have a reason to get out of bed every morning, after you have loosely planned the first six hours or so of your day .After a lifetime of having to be somewhere on time  or do something every day,  having  no time structure is what really does you in when you retire.  You are floating around at a loose end with the prospect looming of having nothing to do all day.

 

 I have found that allocating my time into what I call Automatic Pilot Time Structure is a good way to get myself going in the morning.  If my mind is a bit cloudy some  days , I just slip into the self maintenance routine, which gets me out of bed, dressed and ready to go.

 

 I used to begrudge the self maintenance time, I was used to getting stuck into
what-ever work I was doing, but now I realise that self-maintenance is a very important part of an older person’s life.  After all, you wouldn’t expect your vintage car to run if you didn’t look after it lovingly, wash and polish it, and tune the engine.  So I allow the hours from six to nine each morning  to be consumed by small tasks, like feeding the animals, having breakfast, etc and I count each one of these small tasks as a useful activity. I also regard the time I spend walking around the house as my exercise programme. After all, I don’t really have the physical energy to undertake any strenuous activity like going for a walk.  That’s my excuse, anyway.

 

The hours from nine to twelve are my “mental workout time”.  I work on the computer, send some emails, do some writing, listen to my audible Italian lessons, have numerous cups of tea and make a few phone calls.  Then its lunch time, and nap time.  After I wake up, I am not much good for anything except my jigsaw puzzle, but hey, I have to keep my brain maintained, too.

 

Not an exciting life, I must admit.  Still, as the BeeGees’ famous song says,

  I’m Stayin’ Alive.

 

 

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