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> It is difficult for me to imagine someone who has so little they want to do outside of work that they can't easily find ways to fill up the 8+ hours a day the

> It is difficult for me to imagine someone who has so little they want to do outside of work that they can't easily find ways to fill up the 8+ hours a day their job takes from them It’s not that simple. I felt the same way before I crossed the FIRE threshold and took some time off (mini-FIRE, I guess). It turns out, most of the things I had been putting off weren’t as time consuming as I thought. I found myself regretting not doing many of them sooner, such as putting a few hours in on weekdays and weekends or scheduling a 1-week vacation to make a trip happen. It’s hard to truly understand until you’ve crossed the threshold and tried it, but there’s a certain aspect of FIRE discussions that divides life too much into pre-retirement and post-retirement activities in a way that isn’t always necessary. In retrospect, there was little stopping me from doing most of the things I wanted to do while I was working, and plenty of people do manage to accomplish a balance of work and other things just fine. I’m not alone in this. Even the author of this blog later returned to work after his interest in his writing hobby slowed to a crawl, his friendships started dwindling, and his relationship came to an end at least in part due to the FIRE lifestyle: https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-update/ https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-u...

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
I think there might be a component here of people able to reasonably achieve FIRE level wealth are already predisposed towards functioning well in the work place, and therefore maybe not so well suited for a life outside of that institution. When I say I have projects I know I'll never do, I'm talking about the kinds of things that range from "will probably take several years" to "might not be completable in the lifetime I have remaining". Even if each of those things takes an eighth of the time I think they will, I still easily have enough to fill up the rest of my life even if I never do anything purely for the enjoyment of it.
driverdan 5y ago
> It’s not that simple. It is. I took about 18 months off a few years ago. It was great until I ran out of money. My main motivator was a very big project (converting a bus to live in) that took a lot of time but after that was done I still did lots of other projects, played video games, and traveled. In some ways I missed contributing my skills to a team but, other than needing money, I wasn't strongly motivated to go back to work.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > It is. I took about 18 months off a few years ago. It was great until I ran out of money. I also took a lot of time off, albeit after crossing the threshold of FIRE. My comment was coming from a position of someone who has achieved FIRE.
  - driverdan 5y ago
    How much time did you take off? I have more projects than I would have time if I FIREd. I think the main thing is you have to be some form of maker, you can't be just a consumer. I have so many things I want to build (eg my next vehicle conversion) and a lot of software projects. Then there's the list of things I'd like to learn and places I want to visit. When my dad retired he actually got busier than when he worked full time. He literally has enough projects to last the rest of his life.
sershe 5y ago
I dunno, I am in the GP camp. I find even the most wasteful pastimes enjoyable, like videogames; recently, I noticed I don't enjoy them as much (compared to e.g. college days or even when I had more relaxing jobs) and after some reflection, realized it's because I have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I could be spending time better, like working, or training, or reading, or cleaning, or whatever. I.e. I definitely don't find these stale even after 25 years, it's just that I have a tech job, a wife and hobbies, so I don't have time. And e.g. in college/HS, my results were pretty mediocre (ok, I still got mostly As, but just barely ;)) because I used my "genetic privilege" and built-up "capital" from SOME hard work, I guess, to do the minimum for an A/B, then maximized the time to pursue my own projects or just goof off. I could have probably been a straight-A student but it just never motivated me. In a twisted way in college, it actually helped me professionally, I spent so much time goofing off I realized I have enough time to have a job at the same time :) I understand not everyone is like that (my wife instantly gets antsy and/or sad without some purpose or if she has a lot of free time), but I'm pretty sure I could fill a few decades at least with each of the things I want to do more, ranging from outdoors to cooking to playing ironman roguelikes to coding... with all of them I could fill centuries if I had the cashflow ;)

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

I think there might be a component here of people able to reasonably achieve FIRE level wealth are already predisposed towards functioning well in the work place, and therefore maybe not so well suited for a life outside of that institution. When I say I have projects I know I'll never do, I'm talking about the kinds of things that range from "will probably take several years" to "might not be completable in the lifetime I have remaining". Even if each of those things takes an eighth of the time I think they will, I still easily have enough to fill up the rest of my life even if I never do anything purely for the enjoyment of it.

driverdan 5y ago

> It’s not that simple. It is. I took about 18 months off a few years ago. It was great until I ran out of money. My main motivator was a very big project (converting a bus to live in) that took a lot of time but after that was done I still did lots of other projects, played video games, and traveled. In some ways I missed contributing my skills to a team but, other than needing money, I wasn't strongly motivated to go back to work.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> It is. I took about 18 months off a few years ago. It was great until I ran out of money. I also took a lot of time off, albeit after crossing the threshold of FIRE. My comment was coming from a position of someone who has achieved FIRE.
- driverdan 5y ago
  How much time did you take off? I have more projects than I would have time if I FIREd. I think the main thing is you have to be some form of maker, you can't be just a consumer. I have so many things I want to build (eg my next vehicle conversion) and a lot of software projects. Then there's the list of things I'd like to learn and places I want to visit. When my dad retired he actually got busier than when he worked full time. He literally has enough projects to last the rest of his life.

sershe 5y ago

I dunno, I am in the GP camp. I find even the most wasteful pastimes enjoyable, like videogames; recently, I noticed I don't enjoy them as much (compared to e.g. college days or even when I had more relaxing jobs) and after some reflection, realized it's because I have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I could be spending time better, like working, or training, or reading, or cleaning, or whatever. I.e. I definitely don't find these stale even after 25 years, it's just that I have a tech job, a wife and hobbies, so I don't have time. And e.g. in college/HS, my results were pretty mediocre (ok, I still got mostly As, but just barely ;)) because I used my "genetic privilege" and built-up "capital" from SOME hard work, I guess, to do the minimum for an A/B, then maximized the time to pursue my own projects or just goof off. I could have probably been a straight-A student but it just never motivated me. In a twisted way in college, it actually helped me professionally, I spent so much time goofing off I realized I have enough time to have a job at the same time :) I understand not everyone is like that (my wife instantly gets antsy and/or sad without some purpose or if she has a lot of free time), but I'm pretty sure I could fill a few decades at least with each of the things I want to do more, ranging from outdoors to cooking to playing ironman roguelikes to coding... with all of them I could fill centuries if I had the cashflow ;)