Since you asked- my retirement so far

Many people have asked me "How is retirement?" and I to their question i ask "What is not to like about this?"

I reflected on my walk today about how it is going. I have re-joined the YMCA and am going to yoga at least three times a week. Every other day I lift weights and every day I do some cardio, so I am taking care of myself in the exercise arena.

I have a few regular groups that I attend, knitting, quilting, beading and a women's group so I am taking care of myself in the social arena.

I have read at least 15 books which is a huge increase. I often walk to the library to read the daily newspaper.

I am over halfway scanning our 80 boxes of 35MM slides and syncing them to my iPad.

We only eat out once a month so I am cooking lots of healthy food, and not so healthy food, but good anyway, e.g. Cornmeal biscotti.

My sewing machine has been very active, and my sewing room has about 5 current projects laid out.

I have some great trips planned, Brooklyn this weekend to spend Easter with Bee, England to meet two great nieces in May, Nebraska in June for Uncle Chuck's memorial service, General Assembly in Charlotte in June and two weeks on Star in July. Most of these I might have done anyway, but it feels like I can do them since I am retired.

Mostly, I am more relaxed, am taking better care of myself, and I am really happy. I am just a wee bit anxious about not making money.

There are down sides. I miss the people at Intuit. I miss the company and the people there. That is about it.

I am re-inventing myself and what my answer is to "What do you do?"

I am getting trained to be a tutor for WATCH in Waltham and am narrowing down other places to put my energy.

How would I be able to work with all these trips and all these groups?

Life is very Good to me!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just wondering - did Outlook change the way we work and think?

As I set here on the plane, I can see the person across the aisle and he has his outlook calendar open. It looks pretty much the same as mine, full. Is he sitting there as I have been sitting here, wondering where I might have a free 5 minutes tomorrow? Is he contemplating how to solve for the double bookings?

That picture of an Outlook calendar is how many over 50% of working folk, organize their day and go through their day. I don't even need to see his details to understand what his days look like.

A senior executive at that great company I work for, keeps 30% of his calendar free. I think this is a wonderful effort, because he is then available when people need to drop in. I don't think many of us do that.

So, I wonder if we should stop relying on Outlook to drive our days? I wonder if we have gone overboard with calendaring and on the hour meetings? Microsoft has an incredible influence on how we work. I am not sure this is a good thing. I'm just saying.

Have I told you Lately that I Love my Job

This week, I had the opportunity to head out to Mountain View, CA for the second time in three weeks. This is the Intuit Epicenter so when I get out there, it is usually a really great experience. Tuesday we had a wonderful Extended Staff offsite. The last few days, I spent some time with the group that I support and with my HR colleagues.

At this time of year, all managers receive their Annual Employee Survey scores. I thought last week "This is one of my favorite days of the year at Intuit." Managers take these reports so seriously. They were pouring over the results and trying to figure out how to attack the opportunity areas. I am sure there are not too many companies where MOST managers are so serious about the results. The first year I worked here, we actually moved a manager to an individual contributor role, because the scores for that gorpu were so low. We don't tolerate "not great" managers.

I also participated in a couple of brainstorming conversations with colleagues which got my juice going. We are trying to demystify Talent Planning, trying to make it something that we actually do, and measure our results. Our question is "Why don't we do Talent Planning?". I think we are getting to the bottom of this answer.

So as I fly back to Waltham, not feeling exactly up to par (that is NOT going to be a blog topic or a Facebook entry, I will spare you those details), I reflect on the great company I work for and the current great boss I have. I am grateful for both of those, and I am grateful that just over 3 years ago, I started working for a Great Place to Work.