Success As A Retired Person -- Beginning Exploration

I have been retired nearly thirteen years.  It hit me yesterday that I do not have my "usual" gauges against which to measure me degree of success as a retired person.

When working, I had a salary when employed, annual performance reviews, informal and formal meetings with both my supervisors and those I supervised.  I had the predictability of going to work every day, and being on time.  I could work a little extra each day.

In my personal life I had feedback from my wife, my children, my friends, my acquaintances and my neighbors.  "How am I doing" got answers of many kinds, but mostly from inside myself.

• Am I prompt?
• Am I trustworthy?
• Do people seem to grow because of me?
• Am I solving problems as they come across my path/desk?
• Am I giving at least all that is expected of me at work each day?  

You get the idea.

After retirement I did contract work quite steadily for about nine years, along with service calls and some volunteer work.  The answers to the questions above still applied.

Today I do mostly service calls each week, but I have a lot of extra time to invest, spend, use and waste.  (Scrabble, Cribbage or Solitaire, anyone?)

So I am trying to figure out what gauges apply to me in retirement.  They may not be appropriate gauges for you.  My questions is:  how can you know reasonably well that you are still a useful, wonderful human person?

More later, but first:  what do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.