How can I make time accelerate?

[Jay_Gatsby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI How can I make time accelerate? Maybe Jeannie can help.... Ahhh...but if not, I imagine you'll have some pleasure in your life between now and retirement day. Just think...tomorrow you'll be one day closer. Don't wish your life away...enjoy the ride.

A picture of Barbara Eden with the "veiled" suggestion that I enjoy the ride.

[YoungSaver]

I have 5-10 years to go and I think about this every day. I'm literally waiting to get old. I think this is one reason I want to retire even earlier.

Wait 10 years, go to work every week, and retire when I have more grey hairs OR wait 3 years, and live frugally after that.

[ER Eddie]

The wait seems harder lately because I'm not enjoying my work. I'm finding it really disappointing and sad to be there. I'm going through a rough patch, and hopefully it will pass, and I'll feel better about work. I usually enjoy my work, but the last couple months have been very hard. So that makes it hard to just relax and enjoy the present, like some of you are advising (although it's good advice and something I remind myself of, now and again). It makes the wait for retirement, which means bidding the job goodbye, harder.

I'm trying to stay busy and hoping that things get better at work. They will. It's like that old thing about the Wheel of Fate. One day you're up, one day you're down. Don't get attached to the Wheel... easier said than done. I'm looking foward to becoming a sage in my old age, but I ain't there yet, that's for sure.

[omni550]

ER Eddie,

When I was about 5 years from RE, I counted up all the remaining workdays and wrote that on my calendar. So I effectively created my own count-down calendar. It really helped me see how much progress I had made/was making.

omni

[David1961]

A year and a half is really not that long (although I know it seems like that now). Think of how you want to spend your time in retirement, and incorporate some of these things into your life as much as possible.

[Delaney]

ER Eddie,

Work got harder and harder for me--especially in the year before I retired. To make it a little easier, I tried to fix the one or two things that bothered me the most. I made it a little better for myself by getting our of a particularly annoying and pointless project and by arranging to work from home one day a week. This was easier for me because I was no longer concerned with promotions, etc.

I think a big part of my problem was that I was still invested in my workplace. I had spent so many years really trying to make the place work. It was hard to get it through my head that once I had escaped, it really wouldn't matter to me what happened at my MegaCorp.

[martyp]

Sorry ER Eddie. It only gets worse. Time gets slower. I only had 6 months to wait between pulling the plug and actually leaving. It was excruciating. Started getting in late, long lunches, and leaving early.

If you do a countdown time then make one visible to everyone else. Like REALLY big and post it on your office window. It will annoy everyone who passes by.

[ER Eddie]

More good ideas, and some funny ones too. Thanks, guys.

[Helen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ER Eddie So, any advice for killing the time between now and then? How do you help the time pass? How do you cope with having to wait it out? Try not to pay attention to it? A countdown calendar? Preparation? Fantasies? Help me out here.

A year and a half is not so bad. I have 7 weeks yet to go. Look at my join date. Before I came here, I frequented the Motley Fool early retirement forum... I have been planning to retire early for a long time.

For the last year I broke it up. Instead of thinking I had 12 months to go, I looked at how far I had to go to the next 3 day weekend or week long vacation or holiday. That seemed to help. It was like swimming to little islands and resting instead of swimming across the bay all at once.

[traineeinvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Just keep busy at home and at work; I find there's always too much to do, and not enough time to get it done. As a result, time flies even when I'm not having fun! Count-down calendars motivate some, but I can't personally see much difference in "365 days left" versus "one year" or "twelve months." Amethyst

+1

As I handed in my notice several months in advance, I have already started the process of relinquishing some of my responsibilities at work even though my last date is not until 30 September. I'm already enjoying the extra time.

[comicbookgujy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen A year and a half is not so bad. I have 7 weeks yet to go. Look at my join date. Before I came here, I frequented the Motley Fool early retirement forum... I have been planning to retire early for a long time. For the last year I broke it up. Instead of thinking I had 12 months to go, I looked at how far I had to go to the next 3 day weekend or week long vacation or holiday. That seemed to help. It was like swimming to little islands and resting instead of swimming across the bay all at once.

That's what I do now. Count the day till Friday and count the day till next Vacation.

4 more days till Friday!

2 more months before vacation!

Otherwise, I can't bear another day at work...

[traineeinvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen For the last year I broke it up. Instead of thinking I had 12 months to go, I looked at how far I had to go to the next 3 day weekend or week long vacation or holiday. That seemed to help. It was like swimming to little islands and resting instead of swimming across the bay all at once.

Having a succession of little milestones to look forward to certainly helps:

• hit my number
• hit next round number
• last self appraisal (my shortest ever)
• hand in notice
• submit MFA application
• agree exit date with firm
• hand over management responsibilities
• etc etc etc

[Tree-dweller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI [I] Don't wish your life away...enjoy the ride.

I didn't grasp the truth of this saying until later in life. If you appreciate the journey as much as the destination, it helps you - and those around you.

(Whewww, that was heavy...)

[ER Eddie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delaney I think a big part of my problem was that I was still invested in my workplace. I had spent so many years really trying to make the place work. It was hard to get it through my head that once I had escaped, it really wouldn't matter to me what happened at my MegaCorp.

That's a good point. I've been pondering that, after your post. I appreciate you putting it that way. I think that is part of my problem, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen For the last year I broke it up. Instead of thinking I had 12 months to go, I looked at how far I had to go to the next 3 day weekend or week long vacation or holiday. That seemed to help. It was like swimming to little islands and resting instead of swimming across the bay all at once.

Ah. That's a good idea, I will start looking at things that way. It's the same strategy you would use in running a long race. You wouldn't focus on the finish line -- that's too far away -- but on reaching the next mile marker. On my desktop screensaver right now, it says "17 months and 1 week," and that just seems like a long ways away. I need something closer on the horizon to focus on. I need to develop little markers or milestones to look forward to, like the ones you, comicbookguy, and traineeinvestor are talking about.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. They are helping.

[inky]

I feel your pain. I am four years away and it feels like an ETERNITY. On the bad days at work I find myself obsessively checking the stock market every 15 minutes even though I am a buy and hold investor, willing it to go up since that will shorten my wait that much more.

Four years is a long time to wish away, so I try to live in the moment as much as I can. My daily Tai Chi Chih moving meditation practice helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa99 I've made myself be more present in my current day by starting a 'grateful' habit. At the end of every day I write down three things that went well or that I am grateful for. By starting this habit I really pay attention to the day that I'm in...even though I still really want to retire!

I do this too every night. I've noticed enumerating my blessings really helps me keep a more positive attitude.

[Kantosam]

Wow. I haven't even logged on in about two or more years until I saw this thread. I remember when my daughter was born and I caught myself yearning for one phase in her development or another to be over (I remember loathing the idea of changing diapers . Changing diapers!) ... And then I brought that thinking to a screeching halt. I realised that, no matter the phase, no matter the difficulty, no matter the challenge, no matter -- in the greater scheme of things -- how formidable the moment or period in life -- I would never, ever wish any part of my life away or to bypass the moment if I thought for one instant I could grow from the experience. When our daughter was born, I knew, when an inconvenient stage was over -- whatever it was -- it would be over. Forever. Every day in life is a gift of immeasurable value -- galactic value -- and that remains true whether changing diapers, or recovering from a brain tumor.

I just can't help thinking that the more succesful we are at wishing one period or another to hasten, then -- when we reach a period where we would like to slow it down -- that same period will hasten along just as quickly. Once you hit the accelerator, it sticks.

Spoke to ny grandmother recently at age 94, shortly before she passed away. I will never forget her saying, she remembers youth as if it were yesterday and how she could not fathom how quickly her life passed by.