Everyday decisions; Just how do we make them?

 

Over the last couple of months my posts have mostly focused on big decisions we make in life.  Topics have included retirement planning (mostly financial), choices we make with our money and different technics on how we make decisions.  Weekly posts have ranged from academic to moral.  All that deep thinking is a bit too much for my brain.  I have spent the last week or so focused on the day to day decisions and how we go about our everyday lives.  A handful of encounters lead me to these thoughts.

The first is retirement and how it differs from working.  When employed a lot of your time is consumed by said job.  Sure you are free to make choices about where you work and by extension how and how often but your daily efforts are dictated by the demands of your job.  You would usually wake up based on your work hours,  dinner would be based on the time you arrive home from work.  Boy sounds very depressing when you write it down LOL.  In retirement that framework no longer exists.  I have to make decisions about how to spend my time each and every day.  What to do with each and every minute within the day is flexible.  Now it is starting to sound scary!

Along with this was a catching a clip from the movie Office Space.  For those not familiar with this movie it revolves around the day to day drudgery of working for a living.  An artistic view of my thoughts in the paragraph above.  The clip I saw had the main characters discussing the thought exercise of "What would you do if you had one million dollars".  It was explained in the movie that this was an exercise that high school guidance counsellors used.  So if you had a million dollars and you said you would fix up old cars (the example in the movie) you should become a mechanic and possibly work in a shop that restored older cars.  the main character Peter had a unique answer to this million dollar question.  He said that he would do nothing.  He would sleep in and do nothing.  The funniest part in this whole story line was his neighbor who replied that you do not need a million dollars to do nothing.  The neighbors brother in law did nothing all day and he was broke.  This million dollar thought does parallel the day to day decisions we make in retirement.  It is entirely up to me how I spend my time.  Well actually I still need to do what my wife says.  So some of my time is spoken for.  

As for my response to the million dollar question I look at the way I have spent my last 18 months or so.  I have my finger in a number of pots so to speak.  I read, I write and I ride my bike.  What else does one need?  I also work around the house.  I fixed a leek in the sprinkler system yesterday and fixed the bathtub today.  I also spend time working at the church doing odd jobs and basic repairs.  If I had to answer the question what would you do if you had a million dollars the answer seems self evident.  I would goof around do things and chill.  Basically what I am doing now Ha Ha.

Another set of decisions we are making is how to spend time on our upcoming vacation.  My wife and I are celebrating 40 years of marriage this year and we saved for and planned a special trip to Europe.  We have been making decisions about were to go and what to see.  These decisions have probably given me the most insight into day to day decisions.

The first criteria are absolutes.  On this trip we had a small number of absolutes.  My wife wants to to see the Eiffel tower.  That is here number one goal of the trip.  Me I want to ride on the high speed train.  That is our absolutes.  so if we are going to see the Eiffel tower we are obviously going to Paris.  You also need tickets to go up the tower.  So while in Paris we also what to see other sights as well.  This is where a "theme" comes into play.  We will not have near enough time to see every major sight in Paris.  Our theme will be "Encounter, Experience and Enlighten".  Rather than kill ourselves trying to see every sight we are looking to see a few sights and fully experience the environment.  So for example we are looking at water taxi along the Seine.  A daily ticket gives you hop on and off at about 9 stops in Paris.  So we will spend one day seeing the sights this way letting us encounter many sights and allowing us to pick a few to fully experience.  All the while learning as much as we can about the environment and being more enlightened.  This also addresses another factor when making these decisions, constraints.  As I have we are not wealthy like bill gates so money will always be a factor.

Also neither of us are spring chickens anymore.  Health and mobility are issues to deal with.  so after Paris we will be on a Mediterranean cruise.  The cruise departs from Barcelona and we will spend a week visiting ports within the French and Italian rivieras.  This will also allow for a little down time and relaxation.  How do we get from Paris to Barcelona.  Well Duh the train!!!!  My absolute, it also gives us a little down time as well.

So there it is all you need to make daily decisions; your absolutes (must do's) your themes (how to fill in the gaps) and constraints (so you don't get in over your head).

I will be taking a couple of weeks off for vacation.  I cannot fully experience this trip with my laptop by my side.  I do have a journal prepared to keep my writing up while away.  

Cheers