How can I make time accelerate?

[ER Eddie]

I mean aside from developing super-powers or a time machine. I'm getting obsessed with retirement -- I'm reading about it every day, and I just checked 9 books out from the library on it -- but it's still a year and a half away. It seems like forever. It seems like time (which was moving along swiftly before) has suddenly slowed to a crawl, now that I want it to speed up. I guess it's that old saw about "a watched pot never boils." The good part of this is that I'm really excited and enthusiastic about retirement. The bad part is that I have to wait a year and a half. I'm impatient. I feel like I'm doing time.

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.

 

[braumeister]

Work on your bucket list.

 

[Walt34]

Read the thread What did you do today? That could take a year and a half.

 

[Alan]

I feel your pain. With me it was like running a long race and just as the finish line comes into view you find that you have a bungee cord around your chest pulling you back and slowing you down.

However, it is all an illusion, and the next 18 months will pass at the same rate as the last 18. Keep on trucking

 

[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

 

[Gasdoc]

I feel your pain, my man! I love my job, my life and my family, but I am in the same boat as you as far as being obsessed....and I have about 20 years to wait!!! Maybe I'll go back to the very first post on ER.org and begin there.

 

[heeyy_joe]

Make a long list of things you need to do now. Make a second list of everything you need to do to get ready to retire. Make a third list of things to do immediately upon retirement. Make a fourth list of things you want to do in retirement.

Begin working on checking things off those lists. Once you make these four lists you might decide that there is barely enough time to get the pre-retirement stuff done.

 

[Lcountz]

You may not believe this but you will look back some day and be shocked at how fast this time goes....

I thought it would NEVER end the last few months of work, but now it's almost 3 months since I'm out and that time has flown too!

 

[Brdofpray]

Just remember, time flies like an arrow. Fruit Flies like bananas!

 

[ER Eddie]

Good advice and jokes here, thanks guys (and gals). I'll keep on truckin, make some lists, and stay busy.

 

[Onward]

What always helped me was reviewing my portfolio, running FIRECalc, browsing this forum, or reading books like the Terhorsts', Kalderlis', or ESR Bob's.

Anything to keep me in close touch with my eventual, glorious escape.

 

[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.

 

[Delaney]

If you aren't already, track your expenses closely so that you are certain what your costs will be in ER. (Subtract out any work-related expenses such as parking at work that won't apply later.)

If you plan to change any of your habits in ER (being more frugal, for example), do that now.

Since it doesn't really impact you anymore, you can enjoy observing the BS at work from a distance.

 

[tinlizzy]

I'm right there with you Eddie! 7 yrs for me and I can hardly stand it now.

 

[ls99]

First you get a DeLorean.
Then you spend so much time geting it and keeping it in shape and running great.

Next thing you know 10 years has passed.

Then you get a second DeLorean.

 

[bo_knows]

I'm 31, and have been obsessing over the idea of FIRE for the last year or so. I'm probably 10 years out, in a moderately optimistic scenario... but I wouldn't wish for time to go by faster. I'm just trying to enjoy my time, and have been considering cutting back on my employment (maybe going 80%?) to enjoy my family more.

 

[omni550]

How can I make time accelerate?

Retire! I can't believe how fast the past 6 years have flown by since I retired.

omni

 

[Midpack]

Take it as it comes and enjoy each day, one day you'll be asking how to make time decelerate.

The third and second month preceding retirement dragged by slowly for me. But for whatever reason (I still don't know, or care, why), the last month before retirement seemed to fly by. Weird...

 

[marko]

Accelerate time!? I no sooner finish breakfast and it's bedtime! Seems that way anyway.

 

[Lisa99]

Take it as it comes and enjoy each day, one day you'll be asking how to make time decelerate.
...

+1. I found myself wishing the days away as well. 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!

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

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.