Keeping my Mind Sharp in Retirement

Eight months into retirement, I'm settling into a good routine and pace of life. Keeping both my mind and body sharp is key. Here’s how I keep my mind engaged:

For me, keeping my mind sharp means staying mentally active and challenging myself in different ways. These areas often overlap.

I stay active mentally:

I actively read.

I vary genres to make reading interesting and challenging. For example, I’m reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, an epic fantasy novel that's new to me. I’m also reading Ryan Holiday’s Wisdom Take Work and Sketching in the City by Toby Haseler.
I try to vary the genres to challenge myself and to have a different, new experience while I read. Currently, I'm reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, which is described as an epic fantasy. Something different for me.
To build the reading habit, I set a low daily goal of reading just two pages. It’s easy to achieve and helps me read more without pressure.
I keep each book with a pocket notebook for ideas, concepts, and new words to look up.
Right now, they are all three physical books, but I also use a Kobo to read. Typically, I read Fiction on the Kobo and keep a small notebook for quotes or thoughts.
To keep the habit easy, I set a low reading goal of only two pages a day. This makes it easy to start, and I usually end up reading more once I get going. 

I challenge myself mentally:

Developing a Robot in Claude Cowork.

To challenge myself, I’m learning to create a robot using Claude Cowork. The process of building markdown files and programming tasks keeps my mind engaged and reminds me of building Excel macros in my working days.
The robot now handles routine tasks, tracks my plans, and challenges how I manage projects. I always review its suggestions myself.
I have the robot doing routine tasks that used to take me a fair bit of time, and it also helps me keep track of tasks and my plans, and challenges me on what I'm working on.
I never let the robot decide; it just presents options to me.
Learning Claude Cowork and finding robot tasks reminds me of building Excel macros during my working days.

Creating art daily.

Creating art daily is enjoyable because I focus on the process rather than the outcome. My aim is to simplify complex subjects and express my interpretation, not pursue realism.

I fed it all the books I have, the courses I own, and some of the key artists I follow on YouTube, and it presented a first-pass daily art curriculum. It's a first pass, and I modified it to work exactly for me, but it gave me prompts and skills to think about building.

I started making art just a few years ago and have enjoyed it deeply ever since. It’s an activity you can begin at any age. I stay clear about what I want to achieve, and I measure my progress against my own goals rather than others’ work. 

The key to a sharp mind is to choose activities that challenge you, keep you active, and encourage ongoing learning and growth.
I just started this a few years ago and really enjoy it. Something that you can pick up at any age. I'm clear about what I want to get out of it, and I'm intentional about it. That way, I compare what I've done against what I wanted to achieve, not other artists. 

The keys to a sharp mind are to intentionally challenge it, keep it active, and continue learning and growing.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

How I Actively Read

Reading is an active sport! 

I always have two books going, one print and one Kindle. I have recently read and follow along with How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens and Adler’s How to Read a Book. I follow their guidelines in how I actively read.

For me, the key to reading is turning it into a habit. Here is my post on how I use Tiny Habits to successfully achieve this.

To make reading a habit, I have set a low daily goal of reading one page. I describe my aim low to overachieve thoughts in this post (LINK). 

This has helped me build a daily reading habit.

 My Workflow

 My workflow is a combined digital and analog system. I use the Kindle, print books, the Readwise, and Evernote apps, along with a notebook and 4x6 cards.

I engage with my books by taking notes, documenting my criticisms, agreements, and disagreements with the authors, along with highlights. Thus, I am constantly engaging with the author.

 My workflow is slightly different based on the book type.

 Kindle book 

I read on both my Kindle Paperwhite (link) and the Kindle app on my iPhone. They seamlessly sync, so I am always at the exact location on all my devices. I ready and actively highlight and enter notes on what I read. As I read, my highlights are automatically synced to Readwise and are served up to me daily based on the algorithms I set. I have set Readwise to automatically sync my highlights to Evernote. 

I have a separate Readwise notebook with all my highlights in Evernote.

 Print Books 

Print Library Book 

If the book is available from the library, and I have not done my pre-book review, I will get the library book to see if the book is worth purchasing. If the book is a book I will read, I’ll eventually buy my own copy.

 I use a notebook for library books to capture my notes, highlights, and thoughts as I read. I capture my ideas about the author’s points and then note the book’s page number.

 After completing the book, I prepare a 1-page summary of the book and my three actions or takeaways. 

This is all done in my Book notebook – currently, a Minimalism Art B5 Dotted softcover notebook. 

I review my physical notes and distill the best ones down and add them to Evernote. Along with my book summary, I add my three Take-Aways to Evernote and my Book Actions Pages document.

 Print book – Owned 

For these books, I am highlighting and writing notes in the book during reading. I am folding pages for critical sections; I highlight words I want to look up. I am physically interacting with the book in the book.

 After I completed the book, I set the book down for a few weeks.

 It’s been two to three weeks, so now I go back and review my highlights and transfer the key thoughts, ideas, and quotes to Evernote. I also write out the summary of the book and identify three takeaways/actions from the book for me.  

 All Reading Notes

 After I have everything distilled down in Evernote, I take one more pass, identify the key, foundational notes, and physically write them out on 4 x 6 index cards.  

 I write the highlighted note out in my own words; I add 3 – 4 theme words on the top line on the back of each card. Next, I note the author and book or article. I then note the page from the book on the front of the note. 

I then transfer the themes to a Numbers database with the book noted. I then note any other notes related to (manual backlinking) and finally add the note to my box. Filed alphabetically by the first or key theme.  

How do you capture and process what you read? Share it below in the comments.