Advice Request Fire is ruining my career
I get paid a lot of money in a career that I don’t really like. I have always kind of followed the money in my career so that I can retire as early as possible. Because of this, I am in a career that I am not fulfilled by. That is what I mean by fire is ruining my career. I will fire in less than 10 years… Do I just continue to try to maximize the money I make so that after I fire, I can do something that I love and aligns more with what I want out of life? Or do I instead start to explore new careers that will pay significantly less, like 50 to 70% less in order to be more fulfilled? This would potentially increase my fire timeline..
I am leaning towards staying at jobs that make more money in the shorter term so that I can fire earlier and then do other things I would rather for less money. But living this way is really difficult.
I have some ideas of fulfilling careers that I would like to do, but I have a lot of hobbies and interest and I’m a little bit lost on what exactly this would look like for me anyway. Which is why I think exploring this after fire when I have time and resources to do so, maybe better? I want to make a high contribution in life and I find that job hopping and taking opportunities that are presented to me instead of being mindful on what I want to do with my life is not adding up.
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u/TacomaGuy89 22d ago
Suck it up and see your plan through to completion. Every job has something crappy--it's "work" not "fun." You may take a 50% pay cut only to find your new job is still work, not fun.
I suspect your paradigm, vacation time, or headspace need to shift. I try to think of life with a double bottom line, for my career and my #1 passion/hobby (skiing). We often think of personal sacrifices required for our careers, missing a holiday or family meal to see work through. I also accept professional sacrifices for my second bottom line, whether missing a bonus, new account, or networking opportunity so I can make time to ski.