May 17, 2024

ELLI-Q – A Companion for Older Folks

senior lady with dog
Photo by Ryan Reinoso on Unsplash

ELLI-Q is a cute little robot-like device designed to assist older folks.  It is especially helpful for older adults living alone.  And I’m all in favor of anything that allows older adults to stay independent and n their homes as long as possible.

ELLI-Q looks like a little featureless robot attached to a base with an integrated tablet.  It is kind of cute and inviting, which is kind of the point.  It doesn’t look like intimidating high tech, so it is much more likely to be used.

Simple Conversations

ELLI-Q incorporates proactive AI, which means not only does it respond to verbal conversation, it actually initiates it.  It can greet you and ask how you are doing, just like a human companion.  It will tell a joke, play music, play games, or give you the news and weather.

Assistance With Daily Tasks

The device can help you keep track of taking your medications.  It can set reminders for your appointments.  It can even help with finding local professionals or arranging transportation (looks like that is through a partnership with UBER.)

Keeping Up With Your Health

Besides keeping you up to date with your medications, ELLI-Q will proactively ask you how you are doing.  It can track things like blood pressure and heart rate for you.  And with your consent it will contact trusted loved ones with any health concerns.  One note the company does emphasize however is that ELLI-Q is not an emergency device.  It will not call 911.

To help keep you healthy it can encourage exercise by playing follow along videos on the tablet and keep encouraging you along the way.

Connections With Others

We read everywhere that keeping connected is the most important thing as we age.  ELLI-Q encourages keeping connections in several ways:

Video Calls

The device allows you to easily make video calls to friends and family.

Messages

ELLI-Q makes it easy to send and receive messages.  And of course that includes images so it’s easy to share memories.

Notifying Loved Ones

As mentioned the device can inform loved ones of even minor health concerns.  This way they can hopefully be addressed before they become serious.

Again, it’s all proactive.  One thing I noticed in the demo was how ELLI-Q encourages you to stay in contact with others.  After receiving and hearing a message ELLI-Q immediately asks if you want to reply.  This encourages the back and forth conversations with others that are so vital

Affordable

A device like this is only useful if it is affordable.  Looking at the company’s website it looks like the cost is about $50 a month, plus a $250 setup fee.  While this isn’t nothing, at least it isn’t thousands of dollars and available only to the rich.  The company says they work with several aging agencies to assist with the cost.

I’m excited to see new tech coming out that helps older adults.  I can’t wait to see what else the future may bring.  If you want to learn more about ELLI-Q the company’s website is:  

https://elliq.com

Additionally you can search YouTube for some good videos showing the capabilities of ELLI-Q.  Seeing it in action is really interesting!

Filed Under: Health, Personal Development, Things To Do, Uncategorized Leave a Comment
April 27, 2024

Second Brain for Retirees

Human Brain on Purple Background
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

This post talks about the book “Building a Second Brain” by Tiago Forte.  Specifically I want to talk about how it is useful for retirees.

The book is popular these days but I have to confess I first considered it by accident.  Being a bit of a computer and programming nerd when I first heard of this book I was thinking of AI, big databases, and building a computer program as some kind of helper.  So I was a little disappointed when I discovered the book was about note taking.  Hadn’t I been doing that since my school days?

But after reading some good online reviews I stuck with the book.  I’m glad I did.  As I read through the book I began thinking that this guy is really on to something.  A habit of note taking really can make projects, your ideas, and your life run smoother.

We are talking mostly about digital note taking here, although the author makes clear the choice of an application is much less important than the habit of actually taking notes.  He does provide a website resource that lists and compares the popular note taking applications.  Examples include Microsoft OneNote, Google Keep, Apple Notes, Notion, and Evernote.

CODE

Tiago uses CODE to describe the note taking process.  This stands for Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express.

Capture is the process of capturing notes on anything that is of interest to you.  You then organize those notes in ways that make sense.  Distilling is pulling out the important points of whatever you have captured.  For example, maybe you have a link to a relevant article.  When you refer back to that note months or years later you want to read the important points initially, not the whole article.  Finally expressing is how you make use of your notes and share them with others.

PARA

The author suggests a framework for organizing information called PARA.  PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives.  If you think of PARA as four big folders almost any piece of information would fit into one of these folders.

I think this framework is really useful for us older folks.  As retirees we finally have time for all kinds of things.  The PARA framework is a way to keep track of them all.  Doing so makes it more likely that we follow through on some!  With a little more time to think I find myself having all kinds of ideas these days.  Some I actually work on, others have a way of getting lost.  Using your “Second Brain” for note taking means this doesn’t happen.  It doesn’t mean you will complete everything, but it does mean you won’t lose the ideas and will have a choice as to which ones to pursue.

Projects refers to any project you are currently working on or considering.  The author recommends you make a list of your business and personal projects.  Areas are just that and are for items that don’t fit into a particular project at this time.  Resources are important items that may assist you in the future.  And archives are simply a place to store items that you no longer have a need for.  Of course if you ever need one of these items a simple search will find them again.

I thought enough of what I learned in this book to start taking note taking seriously.  For the time being I’m using Microsoft OneNote and Google Keep as my primary note taking software, mostly because I already use both.  I’ve been using OneNote to keep outlines of my writing ideas.  And Keep is great for keeping assorted “To Do” and idea lists of all kinds.  I’ll have to keep you informed of my progress.

In the meantime I heartily recommend “Building a Second Brain.”  As retirees we have just as much or more need for the “Second Brain” as any working stiff.  You might just be as pleasantly surprised as me! 

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Personal Development, Uncategorized Leave a Comment
August 3, 2023

No Excuses

Making Chanes spelled out in blocks
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Lately I’ve been feeling kind of like my progress is blah.  Nothing I do seems to be too meaningful and everything, even fun things just feel like additional tasks.  So I decided to step back and look at what we have going for us as retired folks.  And then look at our typical problems, and possible “no excuses” solutions.

What We Have Going For Us

More Time Than At Any Time In Life

We are supposedly at least partially retired (this article is being written for RetireReal after all!)  I will fully admit that time seems to fly.  Many times I remark to my wife “How can it be that late already?”  So we should at least have more time than we did when we were working.  Back then some boss or management dictated how you spent your time.

Now we have more control over how we spend our time.  So let’s manage it better and use our time for our priorities.

Some Money Maybe, And Ability To Find More

Hopefully you have at least some savings and some Social Security coming in.  And I’m well aware that circumstances may have made that savings much less than we wanted, or nothing at all!

But Social Security is something you didn’t get when you were younger, so it is a good base to start from.  Some of us will need to work in some capacity to fill in the gaps as best we can.  And that’s not all bad at all as studies show working helps your social connections and may even allow you to live longer.

In many parts of the world, and even in the US prior to the 1930s there was no retirement.  Most worked their whole lives, not that I’m saying that was a good thing!

In today’s world many people work and start and run businesses into their 70s, 80s and beyond.  I am inspired by all the older folks doing just that.

Some Wisdom

Hopefully as we get older we gain a little wisdom.  We may have made many mistakes but hopefully we have learned from them.  So we should in theory make a few less mistakes, waste less time, and generally be more efficient in how we do things.

We Have Minutes

Only God knows how long we will live.  But we hopefully have some more minutes so let’s make the most of them.

Common Problems And The No Excuses Way To Address Them!

Not Enough Money

Make some – Get a Part Time job.  Many businesses love hiring retired people, and many retired people actually enjoy the part time work.  Start a small business.  Many retired folks do!.  For little bits of money sell something that you no longer need.  Many of us have accumulated all kinds of “stuff” over the years.

Bored

Find hobbies.  There are hundreds of possibilities.  Do some research.  Many are free or low cost and some might even turn into another source of income.  Here are some articles to get you thinking:

Unusual Hobbies
10 Quick Setup Hobbies
10 Hobbies that can make you money
10 Mini Hobbies that can be done in 1 hour a week
10 Hobby Ideas for Car Buffs
Electronics as a hobby
Coin Collecting
10 Hobby Ideas
How to find a hobby

Lonely

Join something.  For many of us our social connections revolved around work for most of our careers.  Making new friends can be daunting.  Try joining a club or volunteering with like minded people.  And a part time job can help.

Lack of Goals

For much of our careers some boss or manager set many of our goals.  Now it is time to set some of our own.  There is lots of good information out there on how to set and achieve goals.  Do some research and pick up a well reviewed book or two.

Lack of Skills

Learn some.  What a great time to learn new things.  The Internet has opened up so many opportunities.  Many are free.  Pick some classes or tutorials and get started.

Lack Of Time Left

Make the most of every minute.  What can you do in the next two minutes that will have some lasting effect?  Make a kind comment.  Read a good quote.  Write a thank you note.

I hope this article leaves you thinking.  If you think you need a little kick in the butt, give it to yourself!

Wishing you the best in your efforts!

Filed Under: General, Personal Development, Uncategorized Leave a Comment