I Never Want to Work Again (For Someone Else)
One of the great ironies of the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement is that anyone capable of retiring early is incapable of enjoying it.
Retiring early is hard. You need a lot of planning and discipline to make it happen. Anyone who pulls it off isn’t going to be happy sitting on a beach sipping frozen margaritas for the rest of their life.
Personally, I plan on working for the rest of my life.
This work might not always look like work. In fact, if everything goes according to plan, sometimes it will be indistinguishable from play. But I will be active, not passive. I will be producing, not merely consuming. I will be disciplined, not lazy.
So what’s the point of even trying to retire? Why am I so desperate to walk away from a job if I plan on leaving work to do more work?
While I believe that work is good, I have no such romantic attachments to the rat race. Work isn’t the problem. Toiling away in dehumanizing conditions is the problem.
Let’s look at what makes the rat race so miserable, then talk about three possible escape routes.
The Rat Race is Dehumanizing
Following a dress code. Sitting in a cubicle. Putting in exactly eight hours. None of these…
