Cindy sent us this message:

“I definitely need some assistance on organizing myself with my job. I’ve been in real estate for 11 years (part-time/full-time) and raising 3 beautiful boys. All my children have left the nest now. I’m in my early 50’s. It’s time to have a career and make some real money! Mommy hood is over and I would like to start my new life in real estate and my newly married life. I would appreciate any help you can direct me in.”

This spells out new life to many.

Although it’s an emotional rollercoaster at times, it opens up lots of possible adventure for new empty nesters.

How To Be a Happy and Organized Empty Nester

So here you are! Your children have left home to start their own adventures.

How are you feeling?

For some, the emptiness can be overwhelming.

Others jump right in and embrace this new found freedom and use it to their advantage.

While this can be a bit of a cliche, it is true. Are you ready to hear it? Here it is! This phase of your life can be put in good use by finding time to reconnect with yourself. Book that vacation, practice yoga or build that dream home overlooking the sea that you always wanted.

Here are some more ideas for our adventurous empty nesters out there:

• Remodel your home
• Schedule regular dates with your spouse
• Start volunteering
• Learn new craft and hobbies
• Start a business
• Restart your career

After all that hard work rearing children, now is the time to make yourself a priority and find your happiness.

We know you’re sad inside that this time has come to an end. There will be moments where pangs of loneliness might kick in. These longings will be manageable if you have started focusing on yourself and what you are going to do with your lifestyle change. Being a happy empty nester can be a bit of work, it’s a whole new phase of your life, but it can be done.

Here’s my top tip for plain sailing these unchartered waters.

Set SMART Goals and Be a Happy & Organized Empty Nester

To make everything happen smoothly you need to plan it well, just as you have planned your education, family and career life before. Start with establishing goals and asking yourself these questions:

1. What do I want to get out of these new venture?
2. How do I manage it and still make time for myself and my spouse?
3. What are my goals?

Take some time to answer these questions, it will make the next step a lot easier.

Once you have planned the big picture of what you would like do, let’s take some actionable steps to making sure you attain those goals.

You can do this by establishing a goal that is set it to the SMART guideline.

SMART simply means:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attainable
4. Relevant
5. Time-bound.

For example:

My old free-standing wardrobe will be repaired and repainted  – which is relevant to my goal of revamping existing furniture to update my home – by Dec 1, 2016.

Download our free Goal Planner Template which will guide you through all the 5 SMART steps above. It’s fully interactive too – you can enter your text onscreen, save, print, and re-use. Simply save the PDF or open it with Adobe Reader.

Let me know what you think!