Life just before FIRE

[Scuba]

DH and I are looking forward to ER later this year. We are not announcing until shortly before the ER date given certain financial incentives which would likely be at risk if we did. As time goes by, although we are both busy at w*rk, it is getting harder and harder to stay the course. Have others experienced this? What tips do you have to stay (or at least appear to be) focused and motivated at w*rk?

 

[rodi]

Oh yeah - I had senior-itis.... very hard to stay focused/work overtime/etc when you know you'll be walking out the door soon.

 

[Sunset]

None, call in sick

Seriously, think about using some sick time unless they are going to pay you the unused sick time.

 

[DrRoy]

I have 8 months left, and will announce in Aug. I am pretty much ready to go but DW wants to hoard some more cash first. I thought it would be easier at w*rk when I got this close but it is really about the same. I try to think about the even shorter time to the next vacation (like Norway in Sept) instead of the last day.

 

[samsterdog]

I was in a situation where I needed some actions to take place before I could announce. They were taking longer than I wanted and I was getting frustrated. Finally all were completed and I was able to give my resignation. It was one of the best days.

I was in a situation where I knew I wasn't going to get laid off which helped me to take a "whatever" frame of mind. I still did my w*rk satisfactorily, but didn't take on additional w*rk when asked (not that I needed any, which of course was a primary reason why I wanted to leave). I believe my supervisor knew I was on my way out - I think he thought I would just be looking for another job. While it didn't completely help - I would lapse into my normal "I have to succeed" mindset - but I would catch myself and try to go back into my "whatever" mode.

 

[CaliKid]

None, call in sick

Seriously, think about using some sick time unless they are going to pay you the unused sick time.

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

 

[MuirWannabe]

8 months to go for me. Wrestling with the same issues. On the one hand, 8 months is not much time left. On the other hand, 8 months is a long time to go when you lack normal motivation. I'm just trying to keep up appearances and do a decent job while not getting stuck in the old ways of getting sucked in too deep. But time is going slowly.


Muir

 

[euro]

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

Hear, hear! I'm old-fashioned in that way too. I left all my sick days on the table when I FIRED, because it's the right thing to do.

 

[BigBob]

Down to less than a month here. Absolutely, I am getting senioritis. Compounding the problem is that I am working mostly on a really bad project that I am not really interested in. Days go faster when I am working smaller projects (which I am occasionally able to work). They say it will go fast, and I don't want to wish my life away, but I am really looking forward to being done!

 

[neihn]

Something likes 5 months to 17 months for me (OMY syndrome) - I am ready but work is not bad either - people in the office know that I am close to RE, they are cool with it.

For next year, I will commute between FL home and OR home - work remote half of the time, probably 4 or 5 trips. I will see how do I like it.

 

[Aerides]

It will drag, no way around it. The only things that I can say helped (and not much) are:

Saying "no" to assignments you don't want
Openly laughing at things that really are ridiculous when no one else has the nerve
Spending more time talking non-shop with people you actually like
Mentoring or helping out others that will still be there after you've gone

And then when that doesn't work, remembering that no one should wish days away, even if they are working.

 

[HFWR]

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

Does being sick of w*rk count?

I had a sh!tload of sick time. Was not cashed out; just disappeared...

 

[SumDay]

22 months (422 w*rking days) for me, and it's getting really, really hard. My PC filter has disintegrated. For example, when I'm on a call and someone suggests something really dumb, I have no opinion expressing my opinion. I'm really lippy with my boss, and if something is "make w*rk" I tell her so and announce I don't have time to squeeze it in. I'm taking really long lunch hours, and never quite seem to start working on time (telecommuting is grand). I almost wonder if I'm hoping they lay me off. 6 months severance would be sweet. If I hang on, I will get two more bonus checks which will be enough to re-do the kitchen. That's what's keeping me going. For some reason, I want THEM to pay for it.

 

[ABQ2015]

Hear, hear! I'm old-fashioned in that way too. I left all my sick days on the table when I FIRED, because it's the right thing to do.

My sick days can be tacked on to my years of service and count toward my pension. Those 9 months of sick leave will net me an extra $60 a month! ;-) I'd much rather use them (if not seriously ill) but agree with you that it an unprofessional thing to do. I have 14 months to go so may take a few mental health days at some point.

I have a couple of high priority projects to keep me busy for a few months and there is a lot of end of fiscal year junk coming up but I definitely have senioritis. Once I finish these projects, my plan is to keep my work load reasonable, spend time cleaning out my files and on retirement paperwork, and to use most of my ten weeks of annual leave.

 

[Bobw235]

I was up front with my manager about my intentions to retire, telling him more than a year out. It was the right thing to do given my situation and knowing they would need time to adjust. I eased into retirement, arranging a 60% PT schedule starting in July 2015, kept that until our busy time of the year, went to 80% for Nov. and Dec., then back to 60% for my last two months of work. For my entire last year I also worked from home for the most part, only commuting into Boston once or twice a month. It was great! I had some real incentive to not let my foot off the gas heading into retirement as a big portion of my income was a performance based bonus that was decided towards year-end. The last two months were the toughest because things really slowed down for me after our year-end madness.

 

[rodi]

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

PTO is treated like vacation in CA. Even salaried employees got it paid out upon separation from the company. In CA (other states may be different) sick time disappeared upon separation for salaried employees... but I think it was paid out for hourly employees.

 

[akck]

For those of you who have some time to go, I broke time down into tasks. For instance, that was the second to last quarterly report I had to do, or only three more month-end closings to go. Small numbers mad the time seem shorter. It also felt good that I retired at the end of a quarter, so I didn't have to do that last quarterly report.

 

[whatnot]

20 mos remaining. It is hard to stay motivated - but I am keeping busy. It was cool when I could say 1 year and xx months. I am looking forward to less than 18 mos. mark. Then the less that 12 mos will be a big milestone and it will seem more of a reality!# Can't wait..

 

[2017ish]

Yeah, DW has either 11 months and 4 days (if June 30), or 12 months plus (if July 31 or early August), depending upon whether group manages to hire replacement and if that person is fresh out of residency or not. (Me, I'm trying to leave same time as her--depending on workload for matters I'll be working on.)

It is finally starting to feel real over a year after she first gave notice. Luckily (?) we've both been too busy to have the days drag.

 

[martyp]

I had about 3 months between deciding to ER and announcing. Not much changed or felt different for me because without announcing it it just wasn't real. However, once I announced my ER I had the longest 3 months of my life. Fortunately they didn't care what I did at that point. I got in late; left early; and too long lunches.

 

[Koolau]

Related elsewhere, I left rather abruptly when I decided I didn't want to be there anymore. My w*rk assignment was about to be changed and I didn't want to do it. But, in all my 36 years, I don't recall ever taking a sick day that wasn't at least mostly needed. My Megacorp allowed sick days for those who were sick (or had significant doctor/clinic/dental visits, etc.) Early on, average sick-time usage was 4% corporation wide which was actually better than average for the industry at the time. But mgmt. kept pushing empl*yees to take less and less sick time - to the point that many took vacation days instead to preserve the possibility of raises and promotions. Average sick time was approx. 1% as I left. That's actually not possible if people take their illnesses and doctor visits, etc. seriously. 2% typically caused some form of disciplinary action (lack of raise/promo.) 4% could lead to probation if it weren't a one-time thing such as heart attack, stroke, etc. It was an interesting time to live through and just one more reason to bail out when I did. Still, I could never NOT try to do my best and never NOT show up if I were able. Just my personal view of the world I suppose. YMMV

 

[big-papa]

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

My company separates PTO (aka vacation time) from sick time in terms of tracking.

 

[ponyboy]

Isn't sick time for people that are, I don't know, ummmmmm sick? We switched to calling it PTO so our employees don't have to be liars anymore.

We get 10 sick days per year...any unused sick time expires at the end of year and another 10 days is given..rinse and repeat. We're not allowed to carry them over. Im "sick" 10 times every single year.

 

[jcretire77]

I have to change my corporate passwords one LAST time as they expire Friday.

19 days of work left. Using every vacation hour available because even though they are paying out 100% it does get taxed at a hefty rate.

Still trying to be productive, but still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. I will be glad when that stops.

 

[samsterdog]

...but still wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. I will be glad when that stops.

It's WONDERFUL...