Once you reach your 60s, you are often told by people much younger than you that “age is just a number.” Then there are others, usually closer to your age, who remind you that you are now in the “youth of your old age.”

My take on life in the 60s is slightly different. I like to think of life as four quarters—much like the quarters in business. Just as every quarter in a financial year demands a different focus and strategy, each quarter of life requires a different approach.

As I look back at the first three quarters of my life, I realise that those years were largely about accumulation. I accumulated experiences, possessions, friendships, responsibilities, commitments, and achievements. In this phase, I  had to work hard to juggle my personal and professional goals.

Along the way, I took on responsibilities and commitments as they came, often without questioning whether they truly deserved space in my life.

The last quarter feels radically different and my focus has gradually shifted from asking:

“What more can I add to my life?”

to:

“What deserves to remain—and what no longer deserves space in my life?”

This is where learning the art of editing and deleting enters the picture and for me,

  • Editing means retaining what is valuable but modifying it to suit this phase of life.
  • Deleting means letting go of what no longer adds value and is unlikely to do so in the future.

I began this process by asking myself three simple questions:

  • Am I doing this out of choice or habit?
  • Is this worth my time?
  • Does this deserve my energy?

Once I started reviewing my life through this lens, two lists gradually began to take shape—an edit list and a delete list.

My Current Edit List

  1. Reduce possessions by keeping what adds utility or joy and release the rest.
  2. Reduce the size of my social circle while making relationships deeper and more meaningful.
  3. Increase investment in relationships that add value and bring joy.
  4. Reduce commitments - I have done my share and now I need to choose only those that truly matter.
  5. Set more realistic expectations - from my daughter, family, and friends.
  6. Set reasonable goals - not every mountain needs climbing now.

My Current Delete List

  1. Let go of the need to please everyone.
  2. Let go of activities that neither create value nor bring joy.
  3. Let go of relationships sustained purely by history, with little investment from either side.
  4. Let go of guilt-based obligations.
  5. Let go of old resentments - this may well be the highest-return delete.
  6. Let go of versions of myself that no longer fit - this is perhaps the most important delete of all.

Over the last couple of years, I have quietly stepped away from a few commitments that I had continued largely out of habit. What surprised me was that very little changed after I left—but I gained back time, energy, and mental space that could now be invested elsewhere.

It is still early for me to comment on the long-term impact of this approach, but one thing is already evident.

The gain thus far has not been a smaller life, but a lighter one. That, in turn, has reinforced my belief that the last quarter of life is not about having less—it is about making room for what matters most.