Thursday, January 1, 2009

HarvilleQuarters - One Dozen Examples

If you've read the preceding posts, you now understand the whole HarvilleQuarter concept. But if you're like me, a few examples always help. Since I'm not retired yet, I haven't actually done a HarvilleQuarter, but I have thought about some that appeal to me. I've listed them below.

I've included a range of ideas from no-cost to low-cost to expensive, and from the physically demanding to some that can be done sitting at home in your most comfortable chair.

  1. Live in a city you've never lived in, exploring both its daily life and its cultural treasures.
  2. Go to yoga, tai chi, meditation and other similar classes daily.
  3. Visit all your living relatives down to second cousins and record their remembrances.
  4. Learn to create crossword puzzles and submit some for publication.
  5. Help an elderly or disabled person with a significant household task each day - painting, cleaning, repairs, upholstering, gardening, setting up a used computer - whatever you have the skills to do, and they can't do for themselves or afford to hire someone to do.
  6. Memorize a new poem every day.
  7. Attend an event in your town every day - from sporting events, to visiting a museum, attending a concert or a jazz club, a poetry or book reading, a high school theater production, a civic meeting, a religious service - the possibilities are endless but you must get out of the house every day and many of them should be events you would not otherwise have attended.
  8. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture, including the director's comments.
  9. Research and write your family's history and distribute it to all your relatives.
  10. Spend three months with one of your children immediately after they've purchased a house, and remodel or redecorate it for them.
  11. Take a writing class and write at least one short story a week.
  12. Walk or bicycle (depending on the distance) every block in your town. Take a camera and record interesting buildings, landscapes and people. Create a photograph album with detailed captions to document your experience.

Well, that's my first list of a dozen. Anyone like to add his or her own list?

1 comment:

  1. Bruce, This is a great idea and a great way to schedule retirement time that can easily become disorganized without regular work hours. I would add take an art class and create a drawing, painting or sculpture each week/month. Also, read a classic novel or 2 or 3 that you haven't read before but always wanted to.

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