Type A personalities may not take easily to retirement

[W2R]

I made a list of things to do in RET. There's about 25 on the list.
It will require, time, money, energy. There is a doubt I can accomplish all of those and be good in everything. Type A folks may do better working on all the 25, and a laid back guy may do well in 5 of 25, but, who knows who is going to be happy in the end!

My list had 22 activities or hobbies that I wanted to tackle in retirement. But now that I have retired, I find I don't really have time for all that stuff. I haven't even started one of them. I almost started learning Spanish a few weeks ago (one of the 22), but have been procrastinating.

So, if Type A folks do 25, a laid back guy does 5, and I do 0, then I guess I am the very definition of mellow!

 

[Nords]

I can think of a few examples of extreme Type As I have known who retired. The seemingly successful retirees all had some kind of project (or multiple projects) that they worked on, like writing a book or building a lake cabin or planning and planting a huge garden. I cannot think of any Type A retired acquaintances without a focused project or two who seem happy with their retirement.

Present!

I might agree with the rest, but status-driven? I'd substitute just "driven". I don't think Type A personalities are driven by status; often they are driven internally rather than externally.
In fact, I suspect they may appreciate ER even more than most, once they have settled in. In retirement, they can use their considerable energy and drive to accomplish goals that THEY set, rather than goals that are set for them. No more spinning the wheels and twiddling the thumbs at work, because they can use their considerable energy and focus towards productive progress on their own projects and related to their own goals.

+1
Type "A"'s aren't driven - they do all the driving. Retirement should be no different, just an opportunity for them to set their sights on new targets.

What W2R said.

Type "A"s are not only driven, and are driving themselves, but we can't even find the "OFF" switch. And if we could find it, we'd just figure out a way to overclock it.

I tremendously enjoy surfing, a skill I didn't learn until "Day One" of ER, but one of the reasons that I enjoy surfing so much is because I don't find it necessary to show Kelly Slater his rightful place in the hierarchy...

 

[NW-Bound]

My list had 22 activities or hobbies that I wanted to tackle in retirement. But now that I have retired, I find I don't really have time for all that stuff. I haven't even started one of them. I almost started learning Spanish a few weeks ago (one of the 22), but have been procrastinating.

So, if Type A folks do 25, a laid back guy does 5, and I do 0, then I guess I am the very definition of mellow!

A really mellow guy/gal would not even make up a list, but just does whatever he/she likes on a daily whim.

 

[HFWR]

A really mellow guy/gal would not even make up a list, but just [-]does whatever he/she likes on a daily whim[/-] have a Twinkie.

FIFY

 

[NW-Bound]

If I keep that up, I guess I will get mellower and mellower as my BMI gets higher and higher.

I'd rather stay mellow with my tried-and-true method, which is even healthy as discussed in the following thread. It keeps my BMI at 25.

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...ually-terrible-for-you-63763.html#post1249759