What do you do all day?

Well, when I was 15 I was chasing girls and goofing off,
but that's just me.

It took me a while to find out that I wasn't really suited to working for others and that I had a strong
entreprenuerial streak. Although I was quite
successful working for others, once I was out on my own
(completely starting in 1987) I knew instinctively it
would be diifficult if not impossible to go back.
Subsequently, I found that (having run my own show)
even working part time for "cushion cash"
was problematic. I then decided that if I had to continue to work it would be something in real estate
which I knew, understood, and liked. Fortunately
that never was necessary so now I just dabble.
Owning my own businesses was certainly a major key
to being able to retire, and more enjoyable working
until I did.

John Galt
 
And another thing...............

I can see (with hindsight) that working for other folks
was not where I belonged. Over 20 years I was
President/CEO of 4 corporations. Two (2) I owned
100% and 2 I had a board and other officers/stockholders to contend with. I ended up
getting myself fired from both companies where I
did not have 100% control. Not because I wasn't
doing the job, but because I wasn't getting along
with my partners. Or, maybe I was just an S.O.B.
to work with :)

John Galt
 
Good morning GDER! I know that you could find a
bunch of people who worked for/with me who thought
I was an S.O.B., but you won't find many who
would say I did not get results. Anyway, I enjoyed
a lot of my early days (working for others) and I enjoyed
a lot of working for myself. However, having sampled the delicious fruits of ER, I would never want to go back.
Truly though, even when I was enduring terrible
stresses the work still had its rewards and I was never miserable. Just lucky I guess.

John Galt
 
Hi GDER! Well, I guess I never thought I "had to be an
S.O.B. to get results". It just came naturally :)
Seriously, I am naturally confrontational. Does it get me in trouble? You bet! But, I like me the way I am and
that's what's important.

Time for a story (collective groan). Back when I was
dating, between marriages, I was e-mailing a young lady
I met on line. Before we actually met, but after
corresponding for a bit she wrote "Your personality
is just overpowering. Good grief!!!" However, upon
actually meeting face to face, she opined that I
"was not so bad after all."

John Galt
 
Good Morning John. I worked for alot of different bosses in my career and I can't say I enjoyed working for any of them who thought they had to be SOBs to get 'results'. Sure wasn't a motivator for me to make them 'look good.'
Click to expand...

Whats that old saw? There are three kinds of horses in the workplace, show horses, work horses and horses asses. Management seems to be evenly split between the first and third types.

I took a straightforward approach to management. Told them the rules, told them the benefits of following the rules and doing a good job (and followed through with giving the benefits), the consequences of breaking the rules (and followed through with that). Be predictable and explain your decisions. Keep explaining that life, and life in the workplace isnt always fair. Give the people working for you all the credit while I took all the blame. The latter caused me some trouble with peers and managers who kept looking at the blame and failing to see the big fat pile of credit, but I lived through that.
 
Well, of course not everyone who worked for me
thought I was an S.O.B. I like to think my myself as a
deep thinker and very direct. I can no longer claim to be a hard worker though :)

John Galt
 
That's the kind of question many early retirees get. Even when I was just talking about retiring early, people though I was nuts. It seems to break down into 1) you have no "right" to be "unproductive" when other people (read, the person you are talking to) have to work and 2) what could you possibly do all day without being bored.
arrete
Click to expand...

I made the mistake of letting someone hear through the grapevine that I plan to be done by 50 or, if my luck holds, 48. (I'm 33.) I know that this kind of plans tick people off, so that's why I never bothered talking about it except to a couple of friends at the office. It turns out that the guy who overheard my plan is 43, recently divorced, and is putting his kid through college, so I suppose that could be why he doesn't approve.

As for what to do with all that time, hey, I enjoy the heck out of my weekends and vacations, and if it weren't for the fact that I have to get back to work on Mondays, I'd enjoy my vacations even more. I don't care how enjoyable the activity I do on weekends are, work's always hanging right above my head. When I'm reading, I think about the laundry that needed to be done so that I'll have work clothes to wear next week. When I'm pushing that extra 10 miles into a bike ride, I think that I'll hurt too much to get a good night of sleep, and without a decent night of sleep, I won't be able to work.

Those are the good weekends when nothing stressful happened at work. When some co-workers get on my nerve or try to play power games because they want to show it's their turf, then I can't help but spend the weekend stressing about the situation, mostly about how ridiculous and wasteful these urination contests can be.

I know that somebody wise supposedly said that work can be its own reward, and I agree, but just not when it involves other people.
 
A few months before I retired, someone on the old TMF REHP forum wrote, about early-retired life:

"I wake up in the morning with nothing to do, and go to sleep that night without accomplishing even half of it!"

I never expected it to be so true!

Dory36
Click to expand...


Hehe. Good quote, and there isn't a damn thing wrong with it. A lot of the "what will you do" expectations are a result of the Americans' Puritanical work ethic. Most Europeans don't have this complex. I have worked with German engineers, all smart, efficient, and highly dedicated, but when they go on vacation, they don't even leave a cell number because they expect their relaxation time to be THEIR TIME. They tell you buzz off for the month of August.

Whereas us Americans have to first screw up the courage just to ask for time off, and then have to feel all guilty about leaving work, so we bring laptops, cell phones, and pagers. Our vacations ended up being work + travel + trying to spent time trying to relax. Oh, don't forget, on our return, we have to hear about some SOB who has no personal life about how he worked all through Christmas and New Year's, and we are expected to nod in admiration of his dedication.
 
I

Although it sure works for me, I guess retirement isn't for everybody. If people can't figure out what I would do with my time or how I could avoid getting bored, then they probably shouldn't retire themselves. They are not likely to understand how I spend my days or value what I'm doing as highly as I do. And all I can do when they ask is smile and say, "Oh . . . I keep pretty busy." :)
Click to expand...

Salaryguru, I don't care about being bored, at least when I'm bored on my own time, I can freely admit it and don't have to look busy.

Besides, I was really into marathon bike rides of 100+ miles and also racing short circuit races. To do either activity really well, you have to devote 3 hours of bike time a day, plus all the time you have spend napping, trying to recuperate from all the training. I couldn't do that anymore after work started to get really serious in my late twenties.

I have seen an 88-year-old man try to finish the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon. I'd like to try that race someday, hopefully before I'm 88 years old.
 
I made the mistake of letting someone hear through the grapevine that I plan to be done by 50 or, if my luck holds, 48. (I'm 33.) I know that this kind of plans tick people off, so that's why I never bothered talking about it except to a couple of friends at the office. It turns out that the guy who overheard my plan is 43, recently divorced, and is putting his kid through college, so I suppose that could be why he doesn't approve.
Click to expand...

Sounds like "someone" needed a little visit in the parking lot along with something serious to actually complain about later.
 
Whereas us Americans have to first screw up the courage just to ask for time off, and then have to feel all guilty about leaving work, so we bring laptops, cell phones, and pagers. Our vacations ended up being work + travel + trying to spent time trying to relax.
Click to expand...

Do you think its guilt or is it self expectation, or perhaps ingrained routine? I was in this rut, believe me. Laptop, cell phone, pager, blackberry. I was working about 18x7. Some jagoff actually called me in the middle of the day on memorial day to talk about a presentation and was substantially ticked that I said NO. I didnt feel any guilt, it was more a sense of responsibility and bravado. I remember feeling pride when a senior VP called me "Mr. always available". How sad.

Its a sorry world we created. All this time and energy and very little to show for it. The big fat company I used to work for was pretty decent when I went to work for them in 1992. By 1997 it was "meetings", "powerpoint presentations", and "getting 50 people together to nod agreement".

Imagine my spending 8 years in that environment. When I was a sales manager for a high tech company in the late 80's, I remember walking out to the sales floor in the late morning. On seeing almost all my sales reps sitting at their desks, I loudly proclaimed "I dont think any customers are going to walk in here and ask you nicely to buy some product. Get the @^%$@# out of here!".

Clearly meetings and powerpoint werent my strong point.
 
Well, I was "on" 24/7 for most of my working life, and it
made very little difference whether I was running my own company or working for others. A typical Type A
workaholic. When I owned my little manufacturing co.,
I went in EVERY day, if I was in town. If on vacation,
I would habitually be trying to work it so I could
visit a customer, prospect or vendor who might be nearby
(my ex-wife loved that). Once I was on a motorcycle trip
to Sturgis, S.D. for the annual rally. I was actually to the S.D. border when
I got a call from someone who needed blueprints.
I aborted my trip and went directly to the office
(which was located in Michigan!!!!!). Now, I'm lazy as sin and not a bit guilty about it.

Loafers of the world unite!

John Galt
 
Only a few months to go before I retire.
Why am I retiring: I have grown to hate my job over the last 10 years or so. It's not interesting anymore. I have to carry a pager as I am "on call" 24/7. My department here thinks they own me (and everyone else).
There are too many people here, doing nothing productive for the company, but causing headaches for the rest of us. Stress ? Yeah, way too much.
So what will I do after retiring. Manage our money for one thing. I like that. I'll have lots of internal projects (home work) that I want to tackle. There be no time limits for completion of these projects. No bosses (except my wife). And best of all, more GOLF.
No more getting up at 6am to rush to the office.
No more performance reviews, no more Objectives Forms to fill out. No more Change Management forms.
No more Safety sessions. No more fixing of other people's Problems. The company can begin paying me for doing nothing - I like that. No more middle of the night calls from the Service Management Center (Help Center) to fix problems that if don't get fixed the world will come to an end.
Ben
 
I like the Dory36 post about "I go to bed without having accomplished half of it". Reminds me of: "I started out
with nothing and I've still got some of it left!"

John Galt
 
I'm in my late 20's and would love to be FIRE'd before 50. The problem I face is appearing lazy or unmotivated when it comes to my "career." I just think there has to be more to life than worrying about the 'ole 8-5.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm ahead of the curve with my frugality & wishes to be FIRE'd or wonder if there is something wrong with me because I'm going against the popular grain of spending freely & living for today. This forum has helped me tremendously both financially & mentally. 8)

To me, being FIRE'd is not about being lazy. It's more about having control over your life. Well... enough morning rant sitting at the office computer :eek:
 
I'm in my late 20's and would love to be FIRE'd before 50.  The problem I face is appearing lazy or unmotivated when it comes to my "career."  I just think there has to be more to life than worrying about the 'ole 8-5.  

Sometimes I wonder if I'm ahead of the curve with my frugality & wishes to be FIRE'd or wonder if there is something wrong with me because I'm going against the popular grain of spending freely & living for today.  This forum has helped me tremendously both financially & mentally.   8)

To me, being FIRE'd is not about being lazy.  It's more about having control over your life.  Well... enough morning rant sitting at the office computer  :eek:
Click to expand...
That sounds very healthy to me, FIRE5soon. Best of luck to you.
 
Hope you haven't mentioned your plans to anyone at the office, fire5soon. I did, and like bunsofveal attested, there's nothing that will inspire dislike more then the knowledge that you plan to be out by 40-45 rather then working until you're 67.
 
I never encountered any animosity about retiring so early, only surprise and envy. Of course, I didn't have
a bunch of co-workers at my level when I quit.

John Galt
 
Hello! I need some help. I am 47 and have found an at home business that will allow me my dream of early retirement - in two more years. Where is the best place to retire:confused: I am in New York City Now. I have to wait two more years because I have a daughter in High School. Any suggestions? ;) Laurie13RN@msn.com
 
Hello!  I need some help.  I am 47 and have found an at home business that will allow me my dream of early retirement - in two more years.  Where is the best place to retire:confused:  I am in New York City Now.  I have to wait two more years because I have a daughter in High School.  Any suggestions? ;)  Laurie13RN@msn.com
Click to expand...

Try this web site as a starting point:
http://money.cnn.com/best/bpretire/bpretire_form.html

You probably don't want to just take the results and move, but if you play around with the inputs, it might give you some ideas. :)
 
Just curious...what does having a daughter in HS have to do with your being able to retire or not? What changes in those two years? Of course paying for college is an obvious answer, but if that is it, she certainly won't be done with college in 2 years??

Second, what is the home business that will allow you to "retire"? Just wondering....

Also, and this is just a general comment, a lot of people say I am "retiring" and starting up a business to do xxxxx...imo, that is not retiring, its changing jobs. Undoubtably working for oneself is better than working for someone else, but it IS still work isn't it? Even if you enjoy it?
 
I am a naturally curious person and like to look being
the curtain on lots of things.... investing is just one.
Whenever I start following my nose it leads me down
many interesting paths. Also, I am an omnivorous
and prodigious reader, usually with 2 or 3 books in
process at one time. I have to confess that I am not
completely retired as I spend 10-12 hours per week
on a small business I own and I make wood products
for my daughter's arts and crafts business. In the
morning I have a long and leisurely breakfast and
read the paper cover to cover...... after which my
nose takes over.

Cheers,

Charlie (aka Chuck-Lyn)
 
Hey, Charlie, you've just described my dream retirement. I'm still trying to improve my wood-working chops, though. Have you ever heard of an interesting little device called a VersaLaser? It takes some of the art out of wood-working, but has some small-business applications:

http://www.versalaser.com/english/index.html
 
You will be surprised at how your day fills up, once you retire...that is unless your job is your life...We are comstantly busy..and infact look forward to "down time" when there are no projects in the works...of coarse about that time is when the ole world map comes out, and the plans start once again...

We often state "that we wake in the morning with nothing to do...but by the end of the day, we only have half of it done."

Follow your dreams...
Billy
web-site http://www.geocities.com/ba264
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Vacation home/cabin use?
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
kgtest
K
F
$15 to drive into new york city
3 4 5
Replies
114
Views
4K
RxMan
R
S
Monthly Grocery Expenditure
4 5 6
Replies
136
Views
5K
audreyh1
audreyh1
A
Thanks for pulling me through
Replies
21
Views
2K
Koolau
Koolau
Qs Laptop
Do You Have a Mini PC? Looking for Feedback...
2
Replies
26
Views
769
Qs Laptop
Qs Laptop

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom