The Retirement Newsletter: Fighting 50 years of programming

Issue Number: 181 (34) — can we break the program?

Photo by Markus Spike on Unsplash

Welcome

Welcome to Issue 181 (34), where I explain why we should fight against 50 years of programming in our retirements.

The program

Have you struggled to break out of your old routines and habits in retirement? I have. A lot of it is due to our education and programming.

So what do I mean?

Many years ago, I was reading about teaching methods and techniques when I came across Sugata Mitra’s work. Sugata had developed a “hole in a wall” approach to teaching, where a computer terminal was left available for children in an Indian village. The children were left to explore the Internet and learn. There was no or very little guidance. There were no teachers. This approach was called minimally invasive education.

Sugata claimed this approach to teaching significantly impacted student learning, and he argued that students were quite capable of learning and didn’t necessarily need to be led by a teacher. It is an interesting idea that has been tested in various ways since and has not always been proven true.

Anyway, his approach to teaching got me thinking about my teaching and why we teach a certain way. Did I need to be there in the lecture theatre? Or could I leave my students to get on with it and put myself out of a job?

I taught in the way I did because it was, with some modifications, how I had been taught as a student and how I had been taught to teach. But where did it come from? Why were we teaching in this way? And did it impact or dictate what we were teaching?

A cog in the machine

After more reading, I came across an interesting and slightly alarming idea about the basis of education in the UK.

Education, particularly in the UK, was initially rooted in the demands of the government and the British Empire. It aimed to prepare a “cog” for the machinery of government and Empire. The idea was to mass-produce workers with the same skill sets who could be quickly assigned to any job or task required by the British Government. A prepared worker could be dropped into the machine and perform as expected.

This is an interesting idea, suggesting that education is programming.

As pupils and students, we are programmed to tackle specific tasks and think in particular ways. Part of this programming is the standardisation of the school day and holidays, how material is taught, and what is taught. Our brains are being treated like computers and programmed. We are being prepared to be cogs, and the problem with cogs is that they are not very creative and are designed to perform one task.

However, when we retire, we no longer need the program, we are no longer cogs, and we need to break the programming.

Do we need to break the program?

I would argue that we have to break the program in retirement.

We have served our time as cogs in the machine, and it’s time to become ourselves. We must develop our own programs and systems, our own ways of doing things, and make the most of our retirement.

If we stick to the routines and programming instilled in us at school, we will not make the most of our time.

But how do we break the program? How do we move away from it?

How to break the program

In terms of breaking the program, I’m not talking about abandoning our knowledge, understanding, and what we’ve been taught to make us part of society; I’m talking about the routine of what we do and how we do things.

Breaking this programming can be challenging, and I’m struggling with it.

I’ve now been retired for seven months, yet I still get up at the same time in the morning as if I were going to work. Consequently, I go to bed at the same time at night. I still do my main grocery shopping on the weekend because I work during the week, but I’m not. I could do my grocery shopping at any time. But I’m so used to 40 years of shopping at the weekend I can’t break the habit — I can’t break the program. I still go out with friends (some of them retired) at the end of the working week on a Friday or Saturday night. We retired folk could go out any evening as we don’t need to go to work the next day. I still view Wednesday as ‘hump day’. I still get the TGIF feeling.

I still think I have a working week. On Sunday evenings, I sit down and watch the forecast for the week ahead, wondering how that will impact my commute. However, I don’t commute, so why do I watch the forecast on a Sunday? I also plan for the working week ahead, but I have no working week.

The program is still impacting my life and, therefore, my retirement. I need to question my current methods and ask if they are the best or if there is a better approach.

It’s tough, and it’s a struggle.

Do you recognise any of the above in your retirement life, or have you broken the program? Please let me know in the comments, particularly if you’ve broken the program and have any tips on how I can move forward.

This week in the Retirement Hustle

This week in The Retirement Side Hustle, I look at a survey about setting up side hustles that involve producing content. You can view the video at — Building a Retirement Side Hustle as a Content Creator.

In the video, I review the report and discuss its findings, how they impact me, and how they help me understand setting up a creator business. I also highlight what I consider to be the key data in the report, the take-home messages, and how I can act on its findings to improve my chances of success.

The Retirement Side Hustle Newsletter is subscription-based. However, each video comes with a free minute or so to confirm the content, and if you subscribe for free, you get full access to one edition.

Travel — Nostalgia Corner

Arriving in Thailand — and things didn’t go as planned:

• Thailand — Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ, 999 Moo 1 Bang Na-Trat Rd., Bang Phli, Samut Prakan 10540 — Arrived in Thailand

• Thailand — First night in Bangkok, Thailand — Not a great start. Time to change my plans.

• Thailand — Driving out of Bangkok, Thailand — Time to hit the road — driving in Thailand

• Thailand — The Bridge on the River Kwai (สะพานข้ามแม่น้ำแคว), Maenam Khwae Rd., Mueang Kanchanaburi, Changwat Kanchanaburi 71000, Thailand — The bridge that doesn’t exist.

• Thailand — Bamboo House, Vietnam Road, Muang Kanchanaburi, Changwat Kanchanaburi, Thailand — My base for the night

Next week, I will share more stories from Thailand and start to explore stories from World War 2.

Next week

Next week, in issue 182 (35), I will continue my theme of breaking the programming and examine what I consider an essential part of retirement: the work detox. Or, I might be sharing some exciting news with you!

Thanks

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Until next time,

Nick

PS: If you would like to contribute something to the newsletter — a story, advice, or anything else — please get in touch.