Goal Setting for a Post-FIRE Lifestyle

Today I want to share a few thoughts on how you might begin deciding what to do once you achieve the time freedom — and sometimes location freedom — that comes with reaching FIRE.

Even if you’re still years away from that point, it’s probably worth beginning to dream about it now.

I wish I had spent more time doing that.

Or maybe more accurately: I wish I had spent more quality time doing it.

Oh, I definitely had ideas about what I thought I wanted my life to look like after leaving the corporate world. But over the years, I’ve realized I’ve also waffled quite a bit. “Waffled” may be too strong a word, though. It’s probably more accurate to say I’ve felt overwhelmed by possibilities, half-formed visions, and too many interesting doors.

For example, at one point I thought I would become a professor, consultant, counselor, or some combination of all three after leaving corporate life.

In other words, I imagined some kind of Barista-FIRE existence.

I had this vision of living in a cool college town, teaching classes, playing in a rock & roll band on the side, traveling extensively, drinking coffee late at night while discussing philosophy and music.

Honestly? Still sounds pretty good.

But eventually I started questioning the premise itself.

If I had achieved complete time freedom and location freedom… why would I immediately structure my life around having to “show up” somewhere nine or ten months out of the year again?

And I slowly realized it wasn’t really academia I wanted.

It was the atmosphere.
The lifestyle.
The feeling.

Not the academic pressure cooker.

Ironically, while finishing the PhD program I had enrolled in partly to support that vision, I reached Lean FIRE — and that changed something psychologically.

It lit a creative spark that I’m honestly still trying to fully understand.

Music came roaring back into my life.

The idea of songwriting, performing, touring, building a musical life — maybe even traveling the country around it — suddenly became very alive again.

And that launched about fifteen other ideas.

Lee and I got the band back together as best we could. We released our first album. We launched the website. Started this blog. Began building something creatively.

And all of that has been meaningful.

But where is it really going?

Honestly?

I still don’t entirely know.

There are possibilities. Directions. Threads that are interesting. But many of them are still floating around in that half-formed realm between dream and decision.

That period also sent me tumbling down several rabbit holes simultaneously: I investigated:

Starting YouTube channels.
Exploring the idea of Podcasting.
Embracing the Van life.
Creating a Lifestyle business.
Touring ideas.

At one point I became convinced:
“That’s it. We should start a YouTube channel documenting the band getting back together and our adventures on the road.”

And honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea.

I bought courses.
Studied how to build channels.
Set things up.
Mapped business plans.
Researched and bought some production gear.

Then eventually I realized:
“Nope. That’s not quite right either.”

Same thing happened with the van-life and full-time nomadic living idea.

I have spent a large amount of time researching Class B vans and other types of RV’s. Floor plans. Solar systems. Internet setups. Tiny mobile lifestyles. Costs. Practicalities. Dreams.

And again…

Nope, it felt forced, like I am pursuing someone else’s vision.

Now, I could keep going here because this has happened in multiple areas of my post-FIRE life, but let’s come back to the larger question:

How do you actually decide what to do with your freedom once you have it?

Because I think this is harder than many people realize.

One framework I’ve heard discussed on productivity and time-management podcasts goes something like this:

1. Gain clarity on what you want

2. Prioritize what matters most

3. Plan how and when you’ll execute

4. Understand your natural rhythms

5. Maintain momentum

I like it. It’s simple and pretty intuitive.

When I compare that framework to my own experience, I initially thought my biggest mistake was obvious:

I’ve spent far too much time on Step 3 — planning — before achieving “real” clarity around Steps 1 and 2.

In other words, I often put the cart before the horse.

But after thinking about it more, I realized something else may be even more true.

I tend to flip the entire script upside down.

I’ve always done this.

Sometimes I read books backwards. I always skip to the last diagram in the instructions and reverse-engineer from there without reading the details. And I think I have unconsciously approached post-FIRE life the same way.

Something more like this:

1. Get distracted

2. Overcommit and ignore natural rhythms

3. Research obsessively without clear objectives

4. Keep pushing even when something feels wrong

5. Finally stop and ask: “Wait… what do I actually want?”

That sounds more accurate.

Now thankfully, FIRE gives you something incredibly valuable:

Time to reflect.

Time to experiment.
Time to recalibrate.
Time to discover what is merely a shiny object versus what genuinely feels alive and meaningful to you.

When I worked in the corporate world, I rarely had that kind of space.

Most of the time the focus was simply:
Get it done.
Get it done faster.
Move to the next thing.

It takes a while to unwind that conditioning.

Bottomline, I still don’t think I have a perfect answer to any of this.

I can’t give you a fail-safe blueprint for building the ideal post-FIRE life.

But I can share what I’m learning while stumbling through it myself.

And what I’m learning now is this:

Freedom alone is not enough.

You also need clarity.

And a sense of what actually makes you come alive.

And that’s part of what getting on the Highway to YEAH is about.

Not arriving at a perfectly optimized lifestyle…

…but gradually building a life that feels like your own.