Being useful does motivate me. When I retired, I filled the usefulness bucket by volunteering for a bunch of town committees, taking on a lot of home chores and repairs, plus those of my aging mom, and some other random activities. It’s different, but it still feels useful (and appreciated).
That is true of many retail outlets.
To some extent that is NOT true of where I work. We have any number of people who work part time who can’t work Sundays, or can’t work nights, or can’t work mornings, or can’t work more than X number of hours a week, some of whom have been there years. They do, however, make it clear that you will not be able to advance up the corporate ladder unless you have an “open schedule” (always available) and they can’t accommodate all requests, just some.
We have sufficient employee turnover, for a variety of reasons, we’re always hiring, but that doesn’t mean we’re always hiring a lot of people.
Well yeah… but would have been much more usefull for us to all be able to share our screens. I’m talking code, and results of the code. Things like maps and spatial analysis results. Some of it is very, very visual.
I put yes or no. I’m getting used to retirement. I’ve lots to do. But I don’t have to rush to get it done anymore.
Useful can be -
- Mowing the yard
- Learning to play piano
- Buildind a landing for our stairs
- Playing chess with my wife
- Cooking dinner
- Helping people. I try to take care of my cousin, as much as I can. My wife may volunteer at a horse rescue ranch. I may also, but my wife and I want different ‘hobbies’. I understand that.
Even if I had grandchildren, and being a doting grandfather I will be if ever the chance, I just don’t see it, or town committees, or a host of volunteer work, as as useful? I already cook dinners!
That’s a thing. I have something that I am very useful at, that I do good by doing, more good than I could do spending time on a committee or volunteering somewhere. Would I feel as useful showing up at some volunteer organization asking for someone to give me something to do? Even providing childcare for a grandchild when if that being exists? I dunno. I am honestly afraid I wouldn’t. I have ideas of new things to learn. But none hit that itch.
Ah. Your work is probably more useful than mine. Teaching English to a refugee was more obviously useful than my work. So is organizing a dance weekend that 60 people enjoy. I mean, people use the stuff i do at work, but it’s kinda abstract.
Well we have a different idea of ‘useful’ that’s for sure. I’m retired now. I try to have and get one task done a day. Today, I’m going to Lowes to buy the lumber for a small landing that I need to build. It’s unsafe without it IMHO. It will be very nice to have that landing. That, in my opinion, is being useful. Very useful since it will help us avoid a fall onto concrete.
I think maybe it’s the difference between “useful” and “productive” - for example, I wouldn’t necessarily consider learning something new “useful” but it is “productive”. I don’t really care if I’m useful, but I also don’t want to sit on the couch watching TV all the time.
Me too. We have two dogs that get walks every day. And my wife and I average 12 games of chess a week, and 10 games of darts. We play every afternoon/night. 3 games of chess is not unusual at all. We once played 5. I haven’t made a spread sheet about it or anything. It’s competitive, but we don’t want it THAT competitive. It’s fun, and I think is helping keep us sharp.
I bought a chess clock/timer for us for Christmas. We’ll see if we like to play that way.
My wife was an Ironman. I think this satisfies her competitiveness. Me, I like to play. I taught my wife how.
We play Cribbage too, but not that often. Once or twice a week.
I think I mentioned up thread that we bought a piano, and are very slowly learning to play. So that takes time.
We do watch some TV.
Definitely. I could definitely find ways to be productive. I could possibly find things as useful as what @puzzlegal does, but I already have it at work.
No. Hardly at all. It feels nice and/or satisfying when I’m useful in a way that I helps someone. But I don’t need to feel that way, it’s just nice if it happens. I’ve never really reveled in accomplishments and I’ve always lacked a bit in terms of ambition and competitive drive (not quite none, but relatively little). Which suits me fine, since I tend to regard those things slightly negatively 
.
To the extent I’ve been successful at life, it has been as a reasonably intelligent (but not brilliant, I’ve met brilliant and I’m not that), mostly sane (occasionally quirky), generally agreeable (generally), kinda competent (at some things), financially solvent (middle-class relative to area), functional cog in society. That is sufficient self-validation for me to be content in life. I don’t need regular boosts to my self-esteem by doing useful stuff.
However I am well aware that I’m built a bit differently than many and my particular mental makeup comes with its own drawbacks and limitations. Some of which have “held me back” in small ways.
FWIW my read of you from your posts here place you as underestimating your self assessment, but be that as it may, the relevant bit is that I suspect with your attitude retirement once financially a safe choice is an easy choice for you.
For me, I don’t think it’s just about being useful. It’s more about having a profession I enjoy. I wish I had something I was passionate and successful enough at to be doing it in my 80s like @hajario 's Dad. Maybe not to the extent of everything else in my life. Look at Clint Eastwood. That guy is in his 90s still making films. He did a lot of his best work after his 60s.
Once again I’ll be the bad example.
Like @Tamerlane I’ve never been driven. I’ve done my duty, and been well-compensated for it.
I spent 40 years trudging along like an obedient mule hauling that cart of stuff. I have no desire to ever trudge to someone else’s specifications again. Nothing about that kind of “usefulness” is useful to me. It’s highly useful to somebody else.
Well … screw them; it’s time for me to be useful to me, and my agenda, and the people who really matter to me. For a change. Finally. Before it’s any later than it already is. And it’s critically late already.
Yup. I spent decades helping the public in my job at the County it felt good, but now it’s me time.
Today, I’m going to build a landing for the stairs into the garage. It will be on top, not the bottom. So I have to remove the stairs, build the landing, and put the stairs back on. This is a safety issue. Convenience too. If that ain’t useful, I don’t know what is.
So @LSLGuy and @enipla I am trying to parse if your data points argue against or for my hypothesis, and I am thinking against.
You seem to both be people who do value being “useful” and who are thrilled to be retired: I’m not gonna count being useful to yourself as part of what I am referencing but you have your “usefulness” drive instead filled by being useful to others who really matter to you, by having skills that are useful for making the house safer, etc. If anything working got in the way of the usefulness that you want to prioritize.
While I maintain that those us who do not plan on retiring despite being of or beyond the typical age and being financially able are more common than often thought, I recognize that those more eager to stop working once they can comfortably do so without worry are the majority - the default mindset.
That mindset needs no defending, and rarely gets questioned.
I’m more trying to explore the commonalities of us in the minority, who frankly are frequently questioned. We are not a tiny minority but we are still the different ones. And have different anxieties.
I and a bunch of my cohorts have retired over the last five years, all of us were mid50s to early60s. To my surprise, most of them consulted back to the company on a part time basis. This is anecdotal obviously. This is a group of engineers who are financially comfortable.
It can be difficult to turn down consulting money, especially if you can earn it working from home. I retired at the end of 2019, but then in mid-2020 was offered a consulting gig (20-35 hours a week) that ran seven months, and never went into their office once. It was kind of a nice way to ramp down at the end of my career.
I had some visits with cousins over the holidays and, of course, I was asked about when I am going to retire.
This time instead of trying to explain my reasons for still working I just agreed with them and gave an approximate date for later in the year.
They were having some drinks so I don’t think anyone will remember.
(Ellecram slaps head with rotting trout from last month’s adventure … of course they will remember and have probably marked it on their calendars by now.)
Nothing easier for me although we’re manufacturing engineers so we kind of have to be in the factory even though it’s like a ten minute commute. When I left I told them that feel free to contact me anytime with a quick question and I will be happy to assist but there is no way I am going to consult so don’t bother asking.