Retire Before You Retire?: Part 2 of Building Your T.E.A.M. (Time, Energy, Attention, Money)
Recently I posted an article called The Uber Goal of FIRE: Build Your T.E.A.M. It was based on a YouTube video by a woman whose channel is called This GenX Life.
It’s ironic to come back to that article now, given that I am currently escaping the algorithm for the next year (i.e., zero passive YouTube watching)—the very platform that led me to the video in the first place.
In the last article, I covered how I “retired” my considerable debt before reaching FIRE. I also promised I would come back and discuss the other four things she recommended.
The basic idea is this:
If you begin doing these five things before your investment portfolio grows large enough to replace your paycheck, you’re already stepping into the FIRE lifestyle long before leaving your employment.
Besides retiring your debt, the other four are:
Retire Wasteful Spending
Retire Bad Habits
Retire Stuff (particularly the hidden costs and maintenance of stuff)
Retire Your Work Identity
I went into a lot of detail on eliminating debt because I think it’s perhaps the most important of the five.
Ironically, though, it wasn’t the first one I accomplished.
The first thing I really nailed was retiring my stuff.
Around 2011, I went from owning and storing more than 2,800 items to fewer than 1,000.
Even today, though, I still find myself needing to prune. Decluttering isn’t something you finish once. It requires ongoing values-based decisions about what deserves a place in your life and what doesn’t.
In fact, all four of these areas have been much more iterative than paying off debt.
I’ve tackled them…
Then let up…
Then returned with renewed energy and new goals.
Retiring Bad Habits
Some of the biggest changes included:
Working to stop living lies by bringing my life into better alignment with my values.
Beginning a regular exercise program.
Significantly improving my diet.
I’m still working on retiring bad habits.
One of my current One Hit Wonders—my year-long commitments—is escaping the algorithm.
Another is changing my identity from someone who “can’t resist sweets” into someone who chooses to enjoy dessert only occasionally—perhaps once a month, and usually only on special occasions such as birthday cake or pumpkin pie during the holidays.
When I say I worked on stopping living lies, let me give you a simple example.
Back in the Stone Age, I paid bills with an actual checkbook.
I’d write the check, put it in an envelope, and mail it.
After reading Your Money or Your Life and taking seriously the idea of exercising the highest possible integrity, I noticed something strange about my own behavior.
If a bill was due on the 15th and I happened to mail it on the 14th, I would sometimes backdate the check to the 10th.
Why?
The only explanation I could come up with was keeping up appearances.
Ridiculous.
Who was I trying to impress?
When I caught myself doing it, I stopped immediately.
I’m not even sure I had been fully conscious that I was doing it.
But once I noticed it, I realized it was a needless leak of integrity.
Little things matter.
In 2007, I went from being almost completely sedentary to running twice each week.
Every Saturday and Sunday I would head out and run about a 5K.
I put a pause on regular running in 2018, but I still exercise far more today than I ever did before 2007.
Then, in 2017, I experimented with eating six small meals a day.
I had been told it was a great way to lose weight and get into shape.
That wasn’t my experience.
Whether it was the meal frequency or simply my food choices, I gained almost 30 pounds in three months.
Yikes.
Not long afterward, I discovered Dr. Berg’s YouTube channel.
He recommended a combination of intermittent fasting and a ketogenic diet, along with a structured 12-week transition plan.
I followed it.
I lost the 30 pounds I had gained.
Then I lost another 15 pounds beyond that.
Since then, I’ve maintained a modified version of that approach and have become much better at making healthy dietary choices.
Today, I’m in excellent physical condition.
I have the physique, weight, BMI, and muscle mass of someone roughly twenty years younger.
Once again, I’ve gone into more detail than I intended, so let me summarize the remaining three areas.
Retiring Wasteful Spending
Eliminated credit card interest.
Eliminated unnecessary fees and memberships.
Became much more intentional about what I buy and allow into my home.
Retiring Stuff
Set a goal of owning 1,000 items or fewer—and achieved it.
Let go of countless “just in case” items filling my junk drawers and garage.
Hired a lawn service and house cleaners. In this case, what I retired wasn’t physical stuff—it was spending my own time doing tasks I simply don’t enjoy.
Retiring My Work Identity
Retired the version of myself that was always looking for an escape route at work. Instead, I became someone who tried to operate with as much integrity as I could muster. I stopped looking for shortcuts or ways to coast unnoticed. I leaned in and worked hard, in alignment with my core values.
Started and completed a Ph.D. in Psychology.
Returned to music, writing more than a thousand song demos and eventually getting the band back together with Lee.
There are still many things I’m working on retiring—and replacing—as I continue building my radically designed lifestyle.
But these are some of the biggest changes I made before reaching FIRE.
And looking back…
I’m not sure I would have ever achieved financial independence had I not retired these things first.