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A Sixty and Me contributor describes reviewing her calendar and finding that coaching tasks were crowding out art, friendships and other priorities in retirement. She recommends scoring activities from the previous week to identify what felt energizing and how the order of tasks affected time for those activities.
A contributor to Sixty and Me says reviewing an ordinary week helped her see that coaching work was crowding out art, friendships and other retirement priorities, and she proposes a week-scoring exercise for readers. The advice is aimed at people already retired as well as those planning for retirement, though it is a personal account and not evidence that the exercise will produce the same results for everyone.
The writer says she retired from a university the previous year and chose to include coaching women through retirement in her own retirement plan. She values that work, but found that tasks around it—rewriting newsletters, editing blog posts and adjusting her website—were taking more time than intended. In a journal entry, she wrote: “I’m constantly finding ways to improve and it’s exhausting me.”
A few days after listing what she wanted retirement to include—friends, art, nature, writing, family and health—she recorded a day she enjoyed. It included coffee with her husband and cat, a walk and breakfast with a friend, knitting, art, one newsletter, gardening, a bath, television, errands and dinner. She says the key difference was the sequence: she made time for activities she enjoyed before doing her coaching task.
Her suggested exercise is to list five to seven activities from the previous week, including both chosen activities and obligations, then score each from minus five to plus five. She advises looking for patterns among the highest-scoring activities and considering whether any tasks took more time than intended. The source presents this as a reflection tool, not a validated assessment or a guarantee of greater happiness.
How a Weekly Review Can Guide Retirement
The article addresses a practical challenge for people making plans for retirement: knowing what they want more of is not always the same as making room for it in daily life. The writer’s account suggests that the order of activities, as well as the activities themselves, can shape whether valued pursuits happen before work or chores fill the day.
For readers still working, reviewing a current week may offer clues about interests they want to carry into retirement. For people already retired, recording small events—such as a phone call or a short walk—can make the exercise usable even when a week feels uneventful. Those are the author’s proposed uses; the report does not include independent research measuring the exercise’s effects.
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From Retirement Plans to Daily Habits
The writer says she made her list in early September after noticing that her calendar did not reflect the priorities she had written down. She had chosen coaching as part of retirement because she enjoyed helping clients, but the administrative and promotional work surrounding those conversations expanded beyond what she intended.
She describes one enjoyable day as a way to identify what she calls a “recipe”: familiar activities arranged in a different order. Her account is specific to her own schedule and preferences. It does not claim that coaching, paid work or any particular activity is a problem in retirement; the focus is on noticing whether a person’s actual week matches their own priorities.
““An intense feeling of deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation.””
— Brené Brown, as quoted in the Sixty and Me report
What the Exercise Cannot Establish
The account is a personal reflection, and the source provides no study or data showing whether scoring a week improves wellbeing or predicts satisfaction in retirement. The method’s usefulness may vary depending on a reader’s circumstances, health, finances, responsibilities and preferences.
The report also does not give a publication date or describe a formal evaluation of the exercise. Its main suggestion is to notice patterns and consider time use; it does not set a universal standard for how a retirement week should look.
The Writer’s Next Calendar Changes
The contributor says her first week home after vacation includes client sessions, while she plans to block time for art lessons, hiking, the gym, a women’s group and friends. She may also make a short checklist for the following day when she senses she is losing the balance she wants. The report does not say how long she will track her schedule or whether she will publish a later account of the results.
Readers following the exercise can start by recording several activities from last week, assigning each a score and reviewing which ones felt energizing or draining. The next step, as framed by the writer, is to check whether the timing and amount of those activities reflect what the person wants from retirement.
Key Questions
What is the week-scoring exercise?
List five to seven activities from last week, including enjoyable choices and obligations, and rate each from minus five to plus five based on how energizing or draining it felt. The contributor suggests looking for common features among the higher-scoring activities.
Is this advice only for people who are already retired?
No. The contributor says people who are still working can review their whole week, including time outside work, to identify activities they may want more of in retirement. She also suggests that retirees include small events, such as a phone call or a walk.
What did the contributor learn from her own week?
She says coaching-related tasks were taking more time than intended. On a day she enjoyed, she did activities such as seeing a friend, knitting and making art before writing her newsletter, and found that the order helped keep work in proportion.
Does the exercise guarantee more happiness in retirement?
No such guarantee is established in the report. It offers a personal reflection method for noticing patterns in time use; it does not cite research showing that the exercise increases happiness or works for everyone.
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