Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hi. I'm wondering what you guys think you need to work on most right now. For me it's probably having more consistent jobs and income streams at least right now.

I need to work on putting more physical exercise in my daily routine. I am 45 years old, and also on blood thinners for a blood clotting condition. I often mentally hide behind my age and my condition as excuse not to exercise, when if anything these are reasons to get MORE exercise.

Your personal health is your best asset, imo.

Improving my mental health, and finding a more flexible source of income.

And making more time for the stuff I enjoy.

I agree 100%. Health is the most important thing. Plus then you're in a good position to take on other problems.

Making better use of the free time I already have.

Felix in what sense? Do you want to use that time for ERE type things? Or simply living life and enjoying yourself and stuff?

Need a new hobby or need to get out more or something?

Well, I want to write a few books, start building robots, start growing my own food. I mostly read about it, and it is what I plan on doing when retired. I should just start doing this right now in the free time I already have. Why wait?

Analysis paralysis. I have a hard time "pulling the trigger" on investment decisions, and I often miss good opportunities.

It's an obvious one, but even though I've reduced some expenses dramatically (eating out everyday for lunch as an example for $7 - $8 for 16 years), I still have a long way to go. My wife and I used to eat out 6-7 times a week in addition to my lunches. We've cut that back to 2-3 times a week, but I'd like to cut it back more. I'd like to start by shifting from the higher priced restaurants to lower priced ones. My wife loves to eat out, so it's been a little slow going in the transition but we've made steady progress.

We've also dramatically cut back on electrical usage by reducing the A/C use this summer.

Stop drinking alcohol. (already doing it)
Cut back time spent on the internet. (starting this week, wednesday will be internet free)

With these two i'll see how much free time will be avaible on my schedule and i'll start to find new hobbies and things to learn.

Balance. It's really important to me that at the end of the day I can see something I've achieved. Which means I concentrate on one thing most days eg cleaning.

I have to learn to switch off.

I'm thinking about creating a to do list with a range of activities each day.
colour coded to include 1. active 2. household 3. look after me time. 4. family. 5. brain (puzzles)

Now that I've written this I think this is the solution. By checking off things my day is not wasted.

Felix wrote:Making better use of the free time I already have.

This is me. I'm not as efficient or proactive as I should be with my free time. I procrastinate a little too much. I have actually been focusing on this the last month and have made some steady improvements.

the impulse buys on trips and going out.

i'm great at during the workweek, i can start monday with $40 in my wallet and still have it on friday; but on a friday night out or a trip, i'll just buy this or that as needed or desired and wouldnt be able to say what i sopent it on a month later.

My investment skills. I've been procrastinating on that like crazy due to feeling overwhelmed because of the massive amount of stuff there is to learn + pressure to become a good investor, which is essential to ERE...

Accepting uncertainty.

Being able to decide what is relevant, stick to my goals over the long term and become more quick-witted (again).