Optimizing Your Time, Maximizing Your Life

Emily Bron sits down with David Buck, a business development expert and author of ‘The Time Optimized Life.’ They discuss the challenges of balancing career and personal life, especially in midlife, and introduce practical strategies for time optimization. David shares his journey and insights into creating a life of intention and joy.

TIMESTAMPS:
02:55 Meet David Buck: A Journey of Time Optimization
04:26 David’s Transition to Time Management
06:52 The Birth of Infinity Lifestyle Design
10:30 Understanding Time Optimization vs. Time Management
12:48 Six Categories for Post-Career Success
14:17 Common Misconceptions About Retirement
16:22 Crafting a Purpose-Driven Life
18:25 David’s Personal Journey and Budgeting Tips
22:01 Evolving Approaches in Time Optimization
25:28 Challenges and Opportunities for Couples
29:18 Planning Activities and Setting Goals
32:44 David’s Personal Life and Strategies
37:14 Final Thoughts and Resources

Emily Bron: Welcome to another episode of Age of Reinvention, where we explore the art and science of redefining freedom, lifestyle, and purpose in midlife. I’m your host, Emily Bron, and today we are diving into a topic that is close to the heart of anyone looking to craft a life of intention and joy. Time optimization.

In a world that is busier than ever, finding the balance between a successful career and a meaningful personal life is a challenge many of us face. But what if I told you it’s not just about managing your time, but optimizing it? Joining us today is David Buck, an inspiring figure in the realm of business development, lifestyle design, and author of the transformative book, The Time Optimized Life.

With over 35 years of guiding professionals to not just be productive, but to live truly optimized lives, David is here to share his journey and practical advice on crafting a life of ease and tension and joy. So whether you’re looking to reinvent your midlife chapter or simply find more quality time in your day, you won’t want to miss this conversation with David Buck.

Hello, David. I’m really happy to see you in my studio.

David Buck: What an honor, Emily. so much for the invitation. I’m looking forward to talking back and forth.

Emily Bron: Yes. And this topic. Even I was spoken with you before, I’m still looking forward to explore again, because we know each other and we exchanged our approach to the life in this time period of midlife stage.

And still, when I’m listening to you I discover something new. So let’s start again from David with your over 35 years of experience in business leadership and productivity. What was the pivotal moment that led you to transition into the focusing on time management?

David Buck: I would say first on the time management, it began real early in my career, and I’m going to be very sarcastic here, these amazingly stunningly good looks and charisma never really got me anywhere in sales.

So what I had to learn is what do I need to do to be successful? And I found if I was better prepared than my competition. Then I was in a position to probably get that sale. And that became defined my success. And then I found as I used my time well, but also helped my clients use their time. I made it much easier to do business with them and them with me.

And therefore I developed long term relationships. So as I’m navigating through my life, I found, okay, this is what I really am passionate about. So I began to start my own business about four or five years ago, focusing on helping people in career. Be more productive individuals, teams, and even entire businesses.

But then I also found as I get closer to retirement age, what would be the traditional retirement age, you begin to start to think about what is life going to be like. And about two and a half years ago, my wife and I were meeting with our financial advisors and I didn’t know this. My wife asked this question.

She said what if Dave retired tomorrow? I don’t want to retire tomorrow, but she asked the question and our financial advisors told us, we would prefer you wait, but if you absolutely wanted to life would be lean for a while, but yes, you could. And that was another milestone for me because I was like, what am I going to do with my life?

If I chose to stop working or had to stop working. And so I use the principles in my own business to go on a personal journey to discover this and found, as I asked other people in my age group, I’m 60, we found there was a lot of other people like me who were like, what are you going to do with your time?

Emily Bron: Okay. So you’ve mentioned once that the infinity lifestyle design program, actually your main service product was born from a personal journey. Could you share more about the challenges and realization that inspired this shift?

David Buck: Yeah, there, there was a few of them. I think the first one on my realization was.

Looking at not only family and friends, but neighbors. I live in the state of Florida in the United States, which is one of the bastions for retired people to come and live because it’s a temperate climate. And what I found was there was people that did retirement really well and do they live.

Very active, productive lives, but there’s a big percentage of those who don’t. So I have a few neighbors who are retired and literally every week I look to see. If their trash cans are out because they have chosen to self isolate and socially they don’t interact with a lot of other people and me being an introvert, that scares the living daylights out of me.

So that was one area where I was like, what am I going to do to stay engaged in something meaningful if I choose to leave work? Then the second element is going back to time. How am I going to spend my time? And if you look at it this way, if you’re working 48 hours a week, and for those of us who are business owners, we work a lot more than that, but just say to you, the average listener, if they’re working 48 hours a week and they’re sleeping seven hours a night, that’s 40 percent of your awake time is structured already.

And when you choose to then maybe move into. a retirement life or a post career life without working, you have to find out what to do with that 40%. And many people struggle with that. And those were two aha moments to me that said, I got to get myself laid out where, what am I going to do to socially engage with people?

And then what do I feel I want to do if I choose to open up that free time?

Emily Bron: So what was your decision? What was outcome from this?

David Buck: So that’s a great question. Where I have landed on is I’m going to probably continue to work in some form or fashion when I. Till it for as long as I can, but my difference is I seek flexibility in my life.

I’m about to become a first time grandfather. I want to be able to have the opportunity. To go spend some extended time with my grandchildren, eventually, that will be, so that’s one area I want to be able if my wife and I want to go on something extended to be able to do that.

David Buck: So I seek the purpose. And the enjoyment that work provides me, but I’m also trying to figure out how I can weave in more of those personal things that I wanted to do and want to do that I haven’t had time because I’ve been so immersed in a career. So it’s that, that ultimately it’s what I call work life flexibility.

Emily Bron: The time optimized life. It’s a title and compelling title for a book. What does time optimization mean to you and how does it differ from the traditional time management?

David Buck: Great question. Thank you for asking that. So let’s start with the definition of time management. So time management to people. In essence is a reactive process that they follow.

So somebody gets something that they have to do. And normally time management is a last in first out mentality. Something comes out your way and you work on it. And some people do that very well. But the problem is when you manage your time, you’re reactive to those challenges. And normally it means.

That you still may have had two or three, four things that you had to do that were important that day and you neglected to do that. So then now you got to figure out what am I going to do with that time? So time management to me is a reactive approach, whereas time optimization flips the script. It means that you’re going to be proactive.

That requires investing some time. To plan. I know that’s counterintuitive. You have to invest time to save time, but when people plan more, when they prepare for the things that are going to happen in their lives, and then they execute against how they prepare, and then they try to control the outcomes.

It’s an acronym that I use in the book called PEC. When you PEC, it becomes a continuous proactive approach to then you’re finding yourself being more continuously, more productive.

Emily Bron: Interesting. It’s we’re going as a people, as a professionals working, full time, many hours. We’re going to the point in life when we suddenly have a lot of free time and we are lost. We don’t know what to do with this treasure actually, because we used to the different lifestyle, to different rhythm.

Yes. So here I understand your expertise and your advices and How to organize this freedom which became burden for some people, yeah?

David Buck: Yes. And I do that particularly on the post career side. There are six different categories that I work with clients on, and the first one is they need to reconcile their career mindset. And that’s to decide what do I wanna do in and out of my life. Do I want to continue working or not? Then the second thing is the flip side of that coin or the yin to the yang.

If you want to use that term is your retirement mindset. How do you feel about retirement? Cause many people retirements. Bad word. You say retirement and they get triggered by it. So you have to come to some reconciliation between what does retirement look like to you. And then the third of what I call the mindsets are the financial is the financial mindset.

That is you have to believe what is reality. Not to be too pessimistic about what you have, but also not too optimistic. Those are the three mindset categories. Then that comes in the fourth one is time management, because again, how you’re going to manage your time in your career is going to be different.

If you go into retirement, then there is anticipated lifestyle. That’s all about the social connections, predominantly, how are you going to stay engaged with others? And then finally, the fun stuff that everybody’s pretty familiar with is the planned activities. What are you going to do? And those six, when you work through those, the six of those, you’ll be able to develop an adaptable lifestyle strategy that can change as your needs change in life.

Emily Bron: Yeah, many professionals struggle to balance career success and personal fulfillment, especially after retirement when they suddenly discover a lot of free or me time. From your experience what are some common misconceptions or mistakes people make when trying to achieve this balance and fulfillment?

David Buck: Is first and foremost, it’s a lack of reflecting on and planning what they think life is going to be like. Many of them think I can go into it, quote, cold turkey. So one day I’m working, Friday is my last day of work with a great career that I’ve been going 110 miles an hour. And then I wake up Saturday morning.

That’s it’s the weekend. But Monday morning hits them because they wake up and they don’t have anything to do. So the first and foremost is just understanding what that life is can be like. And it starts with me with what I call a purpose statement. I think too many people don’t have a purpose in life.

So for example back a couple of months ago, my wife and I went to a neighborhood party. We were the only quote working people at that party. So typically what happens when you go to a party, someone says, what do you do for a living? If you meet them. That’s not a concept that anyone talks about when they choose retirement.

So that’s why I try to tell people before you get caught in a trap of you don’t have anything to say, develop your purpose statement. And this can be anybody at any age. That purpose statement can involve Your work, but the idea behind it is if work went away and you were to wake up in the morning, you have a defined purpose that will drive you forward.

That then helps you decide what are all the activities that you’re going to want to try to do to fulfill that purpose. Could be work might not, but whatever you do, it’s built through that lens.

Emily Bron: Can you describe the process you use in the infinity lifestyle design program to guide your clients in crafting a lifestyle of intention, ease, and joy?

David Buck: So first they do, I have, and I, by the way, I really want. Couples to take this together. So if there’s a couple, both should take it together because there are so many aha moments that come up in that. But the first step that I do is people take what’s called the retirement time analysis. It’s an assessment that they take that then gives them their strengths and opportunities in the six categories that I talked about.

Then typically what happens is I come together with them in a one hour consultation, hopefully the couple. Because not only do they get their individual assessment, but they get a couple’s assessment. So they get to see where they are lined up side by side. And then through that, I try to work with them to identify one to two solid options that they need to focus on, whether that’s identifying and reconciling their career mindset, whether it’s coming to terms with their financial mindset, And maybe needing to go back to a financial professional to work through that.

But the idea is to get those one or two things. And then if they choose to, they can stop there if they want to and say, I’ll try to figure this out on my own, but then they work with me through a series of additional deeper sessions where we work through. Each one of their identified opportunities. The idea that I want eventually for them to do is that I have a blueprint for a lifestyle strategy on how I can create, how I’ve defined my purpose, how I can create goals to go tie back to that purpose. And then how do I hold myself accountable to meet those goals? So they have this strategy that’s adaptable throughout the rest of their life.

Emily Bron: Oh, your life changed over the couple of last years. What was your personal journey?

David Buck: So my personal journey for me has been how Would I live my life if work went away?

Even though I plan to work, I feel it’s important because at some point I may not be either physically or even cognitively able to work. And I think that’s something people need to be mindful of. You can probably look at, I know in my family, I’ve had loved ones who have suffered from dementia so that they had They aren’t able to do the things or something physically has happened to them that they can’t work as much or do as much.

So I still try to define my life to say, if you took what I did away from me, how do I live that life of purpose? And then the second thing that my wife and I continue to challenge ourselves on is how can we live on less? The reason being. The more that you, and we have what’s called a lean budget.

That’s basically what do we have to do to be able to stay where we live and pay our expenses? Because if the worst came to worse, that’s what we would do. Then we have. What we call our ideal budget that throws in all the activities and resources that we want to do, but we do both there for the standpoint to hold us in check and honest to say, are we going to live within our means?

And then also, if we want to do more, we have the funds there, but I think you need to do both of those. And there’s so many surprising how many of my clients don’t have any budget. And I say, how are you going to know? What you’re doing is right until we’ve told our financial advisor, we’re going to draw X amount per year.

Is that, does that tie to the life you want to live? So while I don’t do financial advice to people, I still push them. You got to have some type of budget because how are you going to be able to craft a lifestyle strategy without it.

Emily Bron: Absolutely correct. And with all this understanding, yes I didn’t get yet to the point, but I’m asking myself about budget and on what I can cut.

And actually, when you think about, Really, honestly, you can cut many things. No, and everyone is defined for himself, yes? What he can live without, taking into account the importance of health, family, dynamic, I would say, and our hobbies, which actually a big part, I think which make our life dynamic and For many people in retirement or close to retirement These hobbies are actually source of inspiration Or new projects they would enjoy and I have a lot of stories of this kind how people took from the some, forgotten, maybe times some hobbies or passions or something they didn’t have time to do while they were working and raising the family and suddenly working on it, improving the implement their ideas.

They change the life drastically based on actually implementing their dreams, childhood dreams, but going back to you. How has your time optimization and lifestyle design approach evolved since you first began? Kairos Management Solution, your company. So I believe you should have adjusted.

David Buck: It’s evolving and always evolving. So again, I started first the company and I still do. I still work with businesses, individuals, and teams in those businesses on the in career part of things. And that part again, probably represents right now the bulk of my business that I do. And it’s, and so I have a lot of fun.

Working with people to help them understand. And it’s not, it’s really starts with the individual because I try to tell people that as you struggle through trying to use your time well, and leaders of companies, I said, if you can just get your team to stay a little bit more focused on what they’re doing, you don’t have to change processes and procedures.

You don’t have to be over, overlooking their shoulders on it. Key performance metrics and things like that. But if they, if you can help them be more focused, then you’re going to simply find that productivity. So was, I was focusing in there. Then I’m also finding that not only in both elements of my business on the in career and post career side, it’s been hard for me to get people to want to invest the time.

They’re all and so I’m actually, as I evolve and move forward, one of the things I’m doing is moving more to an online class basis for people that want it. Meaning someone just buys the class and they take it. I have a series of courses laid out. They can do it when they want to do it. They, then if they want to come back to me for personal one on one coaching, that’s fine, but I’m actually finding that’ll allow people to get an idea of what time optimization is about with on their terms a little bit more.

Then if they want to, they can come back to me. And so I’m finding people struggle with the use of their time, even as I try to help them with that. So I’m continuously trying to evolve ways to make it easy for them to deal with me.

Emily Bron: So how long or average your course is or the process of people are, coming to to learn from you.

Couple of months.

David Buck: Yeah. So what I challenge people, if you’re going to take my course and I tell you, but I have one out there now on distractions and improving on your distractions. And I tell people before they even purchase, if you can’t devote 60 days to trying to figure this out, don’t buy the course.

Because I, you’re not going to be satisfied at the end. I don’t sell, and I know you don’t either. I don’t pitch quick fixes. We’re all unique. That’s the thing about time optimization. It is about you identifying what’s right for you that you can improve upon and doing those techniques or strategies that fit within your life to improve your time.

And so I am finding that’s probably the direction I’m going to go. On more classes and then offer, direct one on one coaching if they want it because it’s meeting the needs where the people seem to be at this point.

Emily Bron: With your extensive experience coaching individuals and couples, what unique challenges and opportunities do you see when helping couples harmonize their visions for post career lifestyle?

David Buck: So I have a favorite story that I tell. With a couple that I was working with and they’re both had taken their retirement time analysis. We’re going over their report. And I noticed that, they’re about the same age. And I asked the wife, I said, so when are you planning on retiring? She goes I’m at 65, another couple of years, I’m there.

I said, okay, great. And I asked the husband, I said, when are you going to plan to retire? And he said, I think probably about 75. And the wife’s head snaps to the right and says, oh, hell you’re not So what I find is. Couples who have been married for decades. And these cut this couple has been married for a long time is that they don’t talk about retirement life.

They talk about maybe we’re going to take trips. We want to do this and that, but they don’t get down. to what is life going to be like when both of us are together, particularly if both work. So if both of the couples are work of the couples are working, I go back to that 40 percent rule. They’re going to be spending 40 percent more time with each other.

And unfortunately, I haven’t had any On my own, but divorce rates for people 65 and over are some of the highest divorce rates there are overall. Because part of it is they get into this timeframe and their lives, they’re living pretty independent lives, and then they’re stuck together and either it can be an amazing time for them.

Or it can be a very frustrating time. And I find the ones that struggle the most are the ones who don’t do any discussions together about what’s important to them for each other and for themselves in return.

Emily Bron: So actually many people during the COVID different age groups discovered. New characteristics of the spouses or family members, when we were all confined in the kind of close apartment or home.

And yes, I thought about it and I know that when people suddenly have the free time. to think and live together and they’re not prepared for it. By the way, can you help with planning some activities? Or really, what is your approach in these cases? Because for many people in this age, it might be a shock.

And I believe one of the reasons is that I don’t know in the story you shared the gentlemen who were postponing his retirement to the 75, he was afraid to be with his wife all day long.

David Buck: So actually it was the fact that He enjoys working so much, but she had a plan for them. And that was, she was like, I was ready for both of us to retire at 65.

So we could go out and do stuff. The idea wasn’t they were going to do everything together because they both have also some, and she does a lot of Stuff independently, he does, but there was that expectation that he was going to be there so they could start to do some of these things they’ve been talking about for all their life.

So when it comes to planning activities or planning that out, I have a goal planning system that I encourage people to do first. It starts with that purpose statement. Like we talked about, you got to get that defined. Then I say you need to develop a bucket or a vision list. What are all the things, as crazy as it sounds, that you want to do in your life?

And you have to have fun with this. One of mine, still on my bucket list, is I want to hang glide. I don’t know if I’m ever going to do that or not, but that’s on my bucket list. So you put all these things down that you really have always wanted to do that interest you. That becomes the basis to then establish what I call long term goals.

Those are one to three or two to four years, depending on what you want to do. Those are where you’re going to say, I’m going to start to plan those, but I know it’s going to take me a while. Because some of those could be expensive. You may need to save money for, but the idea is you’re have these long term goals that you’re looking for.

Then eventually those long term goals, if you choose to move forward, become an annual goal. I’m going to get it done. So for example, I’m thinking about goals right now. I know it’s the end of August, but I’m thinking about what am I going to pull off my long term list to make it an annual goal in 2025.

What are one of those things that I want to do or two or three. Then once you have an annual goal, then you keep things in play. For short term goals. Those are three to six months. Something comes up, something you really thought that’s neat. You haven’t thought of before. And so you plug that in these between your purpose, your bucket vision list, your long term your annual and your short term goals.

You’re constantly working those through refreshing them, completing them, thinking of new things so that you always have something in place that you’re pursuing. Throughout your life that way your life won’t stagnant and you do that as an individual and you do that together as a couple. So you have your own alone goals together, your own alone goals that you want to do.

And then you have your together goals. And I think if you spend a lot of time like that, you’ll be able to find, you’re probably going to fill your time up with things you really want to do.

Emily Bron: Yes, a lot of valuable advices, and I understand how it can be hard for some people who don’t have such a, organized, I would say, structural mindset as you have, even to get to these ideas, because it’s I have all this time, I know I need time to relax, I need time for sport, I need to do this and that.

And at the end of the day, I’m looking where this old time is, disappeared. And I have not seen you for a long time. And I’m just wondering how your life with your wife is going lately. Because as far as I know, Your wife took some additional degree being after 50, you had continuous education and development.

Please update me and all of us how you design, define and actually implement your strategies.

David Buck: Let me first tell you a about my wife. My wife is the Reverend Dr. Susan Rose. So she in her fifties, got her doctorate in spiritual direction, in spiritual formation, and is also a pastor. She runs her nonprofit.

She has a nonprofit. called Diakonos Solutions. And she also is a what’s called a transitional pastor at a church. She’s helping a church find their long term pastor. So she’s got a lot going on in her life to begin with. But she is also, because it’s never ending, she is also on this journey trying to figure out.

What 2025 looks like for her because she wants to be able to invest more time in her nonprofit, but we have a grandson that’s going to be around. So we want to be able to say, how can we be a part of our, my son, my daughter in law and our grandson’s life? Not only just because we want to be around them, but how can we help?

So we’re navigating through that dynamic. That wasn’t on the horizon at the beginning of the year. Just wasn’t for us. So that was a real change there. And then for me, I am trying to also determine how much time am I going to have to put into my occupation, the work that I do, and how can I navigate through where I can have the time to be flexible.

Two step away from the business. And so I’m spending a lot of time right now. What can I do to automate my processes in my business? So I don’t necessarily have to be there so that if I choose to say for the next two weeks, I’m not taking any client calls because I don’t have to. I’m not scheduling any meetings.

What can I do to ensure that I can keep the business running, but not have it be all consuming as I try to enjoy that flexibility. So I go back to it. We’re seeking the right level of flexibility for us.

Emily Bron: And all this you shared with us, I believe you still have time to travel, to have some cultural activities. I don’t know exactly how you spend time. I understand that your wife is busier now probably than, before. But how you organize this fun side of your time together as a family.

David Buck: The organization occurs the same way that I organize my professional life. And I think that’s something that people don’t do. I find as I work with clients, whether it’s in their in career or their post career is that you’ve got to plan your entire life out. So for us, we list out, again, we have our group.

To do list. We have a chalkboard in the kitchen that we write ideas down on and we look at stuff. And now my wife, she’s a paper planner. I’m an electronic planner. So once we agree what we’ve decided we want to do, we then move that and put that in. Our method of how we’re going to track things. And I can’t emphasize enough that if you’re going to take if you say we want to go on three trips next year, then plan that out.

On your calendar, even if it’s not going to happen, but once you’ve put it someplace and you see it has a better chance of becoming a reality. Plus you begin to anticipate as you get closer to those events that you’re going to do, you’re naturally saying when someone says, Hey I need you to Work, I need to work with you on September 9th.

Can’t do that on September 9th. I’ve already got something planned. It’s only July. That’s right I’ve got it planned So the more you do that The more you’re able to negotiate when people want to use your time to help themselves Which that happens a lot. So we are Pretty much we talk about Every week about short, what are short term things we need to accomplish?

What’s our day going to be like, but then we constantly talk about the longterm things that are important to us. And it’s just an ongoing conversation. So I just challenge everybody. If you have a spouse or a partner, keep the lines of communication open, because. Great ideas come from that.

Emily Bron: So, what platforms people can hear you speaking your messages, how it works now on your side.

David Buck: If you want to learn more about me and where I’ve, I’m on, I’ll thank you again. Emily for letting me be on your podcast. I’m on a lot of podcasts, but I would just encourage you this. If you’d like to go to my website, Infinity Lifestyle Design.com again, infinity lifestyle design. com. Just at the front page there, it’ll show all of my services. I talked about the time management analysis. I talked about the retirement time analysis. If you want to get a free summary assessment on either one of those, take it and get a free summary assessment. The links there on the front page. If you want to learn more about this time optimization thing, like what does he mean by this?

You can download the first chapter of my book, the time optimized life. And if you like it, it’s available online where all the major booksellers, where all books are sold. I would just encourage you, take a step. But if you’ve got to invest time proactively in order to be able to use your time better,

Emily Bron: yes.

This concept, sometimes not sitting good with with many people. And for those which are at the, a crossroads of wanting to redefine their freedom. Lifestyle and purpose in midlife. What initial steps would you recommend to begin with the journey of reinvention?

David Buck: So there is a term in business called a SWOT analysis.

It’s an S W O T. It’s strength, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses. The strengths and weaknesses are your internal. Those are the things that you need to figure out the threats and opportunity are external. And so what you do is you simply go under, what are my strengths?

You list all your strengths out, I’m personable. I’m active, I’m healthy, whatever all that stuff is. Then you go to your opportunities and you say. What are my opportunities? And you list all those out. That opportunity might be, I want to get, feel better, get better. I want to get healthier or something like that.

Then you look at your threats. What are going to threaten my ability to have a good life? And in that you could say the economy, for example, for us, my wife and I, we track our food expenses. They’re up over 25 percent this year. If you’re on a tight budget, that’s huge. So you got to be mindful of what are the threats that can happen.

And then what are the weaknesses that are out there? What are the things that I’m weak in that I need to improve upon in my life? When you list all those out, that becomes a good basis for you to probably figure out what your purpose statement in life is, but it then begins to help you understand what are the, Areas I need to focus on in order to shore up any threats or weaknesses and what are areas I can spend on to improve my opportunities and my strengths.

Emily Bron: Thank you very much. It’s always clear, organized and Even like I knew about this method, but it make now completely new sense for me, I would say. And I believe that many people would reconsider the approach and actually to connect with you if they need the help. I’m very grateful that I have conversation with you today, David.

And I was always Amazed how you can make this topic, which is, optimization, time looks like very dry and business oriented actually apply to our life in order to make our life not only more efficient, but to have time for pleasure for all. For me, time, but quality time.

David Buck: Thank you so much.

It’s been an honor and a pleasure again, Emily. Thank you for what you do. And thank you to your listeners who will listen to this.

Emily Bron: Thank you very much. And I will touch base with you when I need advice. Thank you, David.

What a profound conversation with David Buck, his insights and advice based on experiences.

I believe inspire you as much as have inspired me. It’s clear that optimizing our time isn’t just about squeezing more into our days, but about creating spaces for what truly matters, our passions, our loved ones, and our dreams. If David’s message resonated with you, I encourage you to read his book, The Time Optimized Life and explore the Infinity Lifestyle Design Program.

It’s time to take the steps towards intentional living. Remember, reinvention at midlife isn’t just an opportunity. It’s a call to live our best lives now with purpose, freedom, and joy. For more inspiring stories and practical tips on how to redefine your midlife, subscribe to Age of Reinvention. I’m Emily Bron, and it’s been a pleasure sharing this time with you.

Stay tuned. for our next episode, and in the meantime, let’s keep reinventing. Until next time, take care, bye.

David Buck

| Time Management Expert | Revenue Catalyst | Driving Success through Strategic Planning & Execution | Author of “The Time-Optimized Life” |

As a Business Owner and Chief Time Strategist at Infinity Lifestyle Design, I have over 35 years of experience in leadership, sales, productivity, and time management. I am also a Certified Professional Retirement Coach (CPRC) and a contributing columnist for Rethinking65, a platform for senior professionals and entrepreneurs. My mission is to empower business professionals to craft purposeful and fulfilling lifestyles, whether they are in-career or post-career. I offer personalized coaching, assessments, and courses that help them rethink and optimize their use of time, align their activities with their values and goals, and enrich their mental and spiritual well-being. I also share my insights and strategies on how to live for today and prepare for tomorrow through my book “The Time-Optimized Life”, which is available wherever books are sold.

In a world where our days are busier than ever, finding a balance between a successful career and a meaningful personal life can feel like a monumental challenge. But David Buck brings a fresh perspective — it’s not just about managing time; it’s about optimizing it. With over 35 years of guiding professionals towards living optimized lives, David shares his journey and invaluable advice on redefining the midlife chapter.

The Pivot to Time Management

David’s journey towards focusing on time management began early in his career. Realizing that mere looks and charisma wouldn’t guarantee success, he learned the value of preparation. He discovered the true essence of productivity and relationship building by mastering his time and helping clients do the same. This passion led him to start his own business and later dive into how to spend time meaningfully as he approached the traditional retirement age.

The Birth of the Infinity Lifestyle Design Program

David’s realization of his neighbours’ varied retirement experiences in Florida sparked the creation of the Infinity Lifestyle Design Program. Fearful of a monotonous or isolated retirement, David set out to help others find meaningful engagement in their post-career lives. His program addresses six crucial aspects: career mindset, retirement mindset, financial mindset, time management, anticipated lifestyle, and planned activities. These elements collectively help individuals develop a flexible, enjoyable lifestyle.

Redefining Retirement: The Shift from Time Management to Time Optimization

Traditional time management is often reactive, dealing with tasks as they come. In contrast, David’s approach to time optimization is proactive, involving deliberate planning and preparation. His method encourages continuous productivity through a simple yet powerful acronym: PEC — Plan, Execute, Control.

Common Misconceptions and Mistakes in Post-Career Transition

One of David’s major pitfalls is the need for more planning for the transition into retirement. Many professionals believe they can stop working one day and smoothly transition into a new routine. However, this period can become overwhelming without a defined purpose and structured activities. David emphasizes the importance of developing a purpose statement and setting specific, actionable goals to navigate this new phase effectively.

Crafting a Purpose-Driven Life

David encourages individuals and couples to reflect and identify their strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses. This SWOT analysis helps craft a purpose statement and define goals that align with one’s aspirations. Whether pursuing hobbies, maintaining social connections, or planning new projects, having a clear purpose drives intentional living.

Unique Challenges for Couples in Post-Career Planning

David shares an insightful story about a couple with mismatched retirement timelines, highlighting the importance of joint planning. For couples, aligning on a shared vision and maintaining open communication is crucial. Couples can harmonize this life stage by setting individual and joint goals, ensuring that both partners’ aspirations are respected and fulfilled.

Embracing Flexibility and Continuous Evolution

David’s approach to time optimization is continually evolving to meet clients’ needs. Recognizing people’s challenges in investing time, he offers online classes that provide flexibility and accessibility. These courses allow individuals to engage with his concepts on their terms, further supporting their journey towards optimized living.

Taking the First Steps Towards Midlife Reinvention

David’s wisdom on time optimization and intentional living offers a pathway to redefining our midlife years. Embrace his teachings by starting with a simple SWOT analysis to reflect on your life. Whether transitioning into retirement or seeking a better work-life balance, David’s methods can guide you toward a more purposeful, joyful existence.

For those inspired by David’s insights, consider reading his book The Time Optimized Life and exploring the Infinity Lifestyle Design Program. It’s time to take proactive steps toward living with intention, purpose, and joy.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and practical tips on the Age of Reinvention. Let’s keep redefining midlife together. Until next time, take care and keep reinventing!