In the past several years, as I’ve been adjusting to my Fourth Quarter of life, I’ve coined the phrase “Ratchet Down.” It’s the idea that I simply can’t do all the things I could do when I was younger and had more energy. I’ve found I can pretty much stay active in most things I enjoy, but at a lesser level.

While that seems logical, it’s something many people find hard to accept and implement. One of the reasons for that is that we can get caught in a binary trap, and our thinking becomes stuck between two things: Keep doing what we’re doing, the way we’ve always done it, or drop the activity in question altogether.

But ratcheting down isn’t an either/or. Rather, it’s doing a little less — in all areas of our life — a bit at a time. Hence, we’re “ratcheting down” and adapting, not dumping the activities we’ve enjoyed doing.

This concept may especially be helpful for those of us who are baby boomers, although I believe it applies in a slightly different way — and could be equally useful — for those of you who are still youngsters. (Especially those with a Type A/Take the Mountain personality.) I’ve written a little about this in my book, “The Last Life Marathon,” where I highlight my transition from Plante Moran to Doescher Advisors. Along the way, I’ve discovered that the truth is this: More isn’t always better.

For those of us who are baby boomers, it’s important to accept the fact that our energy level diminishes with time. We just can’t do what we used to be able to do. To remain healthy, we need to accept that and learn to say “no” more often. Equally important is the ability to learn to do less of a certain thing. In other words, we need to learn to rachet down.

If you’re still counted among the younger folk, it helps to realize that you’re in the “Perfect Storm” of life — you’re likely to be married, you have young children who require a lot of your time, you have more responsibility at work or you’re building your own business, your spouse is assuming more responsibility at work or building their own business, you’re trying to maintain a certain level of fitness, and you’re answering leadership requests at church or your club. I think you get the point.

Time is a fixed commodity, and each of us only gets 24 hours a day. My advice is to invest in those hours wisely, and try ratcheting it down a notch or two. Just because you may be approaching the Fourth Quarter of your game, there’s no reason to completely give up on the things that bring you joy.