Did you ever have something huge explode from the simplest of things? Maybe a life change from some small occurrence. Maybe a new friendship from crossing paths accidentally. Maybe a new job from a chance meeting. Maybe your relationship from a little spark? Sometimes acting on that one simple thing may lead to something great. Maybe.

So, one morning while I was sitting in my spa (as others commuted to work—it’s a rough life, I know), I was thinking about my upcoming day—my items of focus for the day. I thought how my “schedule” was just “sketched” out to give me a rough plan for the days/weeks/months. I thought, “I have a schetchle.” My schetchle allows the flexibility to shift most everything I have to do to fit my mood/energy level of the day. It’s not only small tasks, even some trips can be shifted by days or weeks if I feel different than when I placed them on my schetchle.

I cannot tell you how many times my very organized wife wants to strangle me when trying to schedule a joint appointment. If you recall in the “FIRE to me” post, I stated first and foremost I wanted to get away from the formalized, structured schedule of the 7a-5p work life.

I maintain a VERY detailed calendar. I’m super organized. However, I love my flexibility each day/week. This flexibility requirement of mine is what leads my wife to hate when I shift things around on my schetchle. Say I don’t feel like going to the gym on Monday, I just shift it to Tuesday. That seems logical to me. Of course, there are “real” appoints, often with others that I cannot change—and that is perfectly acceptable.

I feel I can optimize my time better while still being flexible. Imagine taking on the tasks that you only WANT to do—if possible. Each item it performed with a much more positive attitude, hopefully resulting in a more optimal result. A schetchle is so much lower stress than a schedule.

The crazy thing is, the hardest part of this schetchle has been trying to figure out how to spell is and not overlap with other internet/urban dictionary terms. Sketchle, sketchdle, sketchdule, schetchle, schetchdle. What a waste of 2 or 3 hours!

I felt my schetchle idea had to be published because so many people get stressed over their schedules. This one word—schetchle—lead me to start this blog. How is it that one word, based on the principle of flexibility lead to such a large amount of effort? Sometimes a little idea can produce an exponential result. Not that this is earth shaking, but extremely valuable to me.

Do you wonder what your next idea will be?

What is retirement? The end of your life? Shutting down? Wrapping up? Vegging out? FIRE is not the end of your life. FIRE is the beginning of an entirely new chapter of your life. It should—could—be the start of an amazing adventure or simply, time for you. I currently believe my definition of “retirement” is “leaving the structured schedule of a career in order to enjoy—or even pursue— other interests and opportunities.” Will this be that adventure, or just time for me? It will be both. For my past two years, it has been both, and should continue as both into the future as I determine what I want to do.

I can now plan what I want to do each week and overall each month of the year. Wait, you might wonder “each week or month” what about each day? That is the magic of FIRE. Daily decisions are YOUR daily decisions. Your day is not set in stone but rather a flexible plan of action. You get to do things for yourself, for family and for others. You can change your schetchle to push things out, or get motivated and take on something immediately you hadn’t planned. Flexibility is powerful and liberating.

I have worked on hobbies and interests while finding new passions to focus my energy on throughout the weeks. I’ve learned new skills, improved other skills, even figured out things I just never want to do again. I’ve learned about the web/WordPress and created some sites. I’ve tried new sports like stand up paddleboarding. I read more books-many on personal finance and made progress on catching up on past magazine subscriptions.

These first two years of FIRE have shown me that I have so much to learn, so much to do, so much to enjoy. I am so thankful I don’t have any formal work schedule interfering with my time—right now(?).

Most mornings I make sure I have a list of things I want to work on during that day, items of focus. Sometimes I want to complete specific tasks, yet some items only require progress towards a bigger goal or longer project. However, by setting a target/focus for the day, I often feel a sense of fulfillment each day when I go to sleep at night. Which by the way, is some of the best 10-15 minutes of every day. It’s a feeling of happiness about the past day and the looking forward to my tomorrow.

How often do really you look forward to tomorrow’s activities?

I want this blog to allow me to explore thoughts leading up to FIRE, thoughts in FIRE, activities, lifestyle choices and options.

Let my thoughts, experiences, opinions/ideas and mistakes give you another perspective on retirement, pre-retirement and possibly your FIRE.

My interests are Personal Finance—I consider this my new/lifelong job, Technology, Health, Fitness, Weight loss/management.

So much of what I’ve accomplished in life is relate to goals, clearly identified, measurable goals. I’m really not an overachiever— type A person. I believe I’m a type A- person. I knew what it took to earn an A in school—generally 91% — and used the other 9% of my time to do things I enjoyed. Some call this the “good enough” mentality. This mentality has served me well. I definitely meet my goals, yet truly enjoy so much of my life. I tend not to overstress about much, except maybe the 91% getting in the way of my 9% time—but that’ not real stress at all.

My plan is to alternate posts between pre-FIRE and FIRE if possible. That will allow those preparing for the future (pre-FIRE) and those living LifeInFIRE to get ideas that may help give another perspective. One interesting note that I’ve learned over the past few years is, pre-FIRE people should understand what LifeInFIRE is like to not only plan for the financial Independence activities, but also for the lifestyle and attitude of being FIREd. One thought is that even while living LifeInFIRE, you still have to plan for the future with regards to spending, tracking investments and cash flow, spending wisely, etc. pre-Fire and LifeInFIRE are not mutually exclusive. If done correctly, there is quite a bit of overlap in planning and attitude, the main difference is your available time for all activities.

Never forget that your planning and controlling your existence do not end even if you reach your goal. New goals emerge every time. That must be the nature of goal seekers.

Retirement!     I love my wonderfully happy LifeInFIRE.

FI/RE, for many people, can be simply defined as living the wonderful life—or a future goal—of Financial Independence/Retire Early.

The date of “early” can simply equal being able to retire.

• It may be to retire at 60 with enough financial independence to not be dependent on Social Security’s determined retirement age/options.
• You may be a great saver (and of course a great spender) allowing you to leave the working world in your 50’s.
• You could be an extreme outlier who’s a super saver finding financial independence in your 40’s, some people even FIRE under 40.
• Many people now have the great idea of mini-retirements. Maybe taking a year off every few years. They save with a plan that allows them to travel or volunteer or learn something new.
• Maybe even being able to retire at all, at say 70 or 75 even when you didn’t think retirement would be possible. This does not have to be the same as the 19^th century, when you worked your entire life, until the day you die.

To be sure, the Retirement Early half of the acronym gets most of the attention, but it’s the FI half that really makes all the difference. Consider that many people in the past decade+ have been laid off, left work for medical or family reasons, or had a drastic employment change. Of these people, many had a hard time finding comparable new employment in the very tough economy. It goes without saying that a large percentage of older workers were targeted in these cost-saving moves, in which their age amplified their struggle to find new employment. Many of these people may have thrown in the towel and decided to abandon the job hunt and “retire.” Now for the hard question, did these workers build some FI prior to this stressful forced “retirement?”

If you’ve been in the jobless—no matter how temporary—situation, you know the stress. The stress is lessened by having an emergency fund. Actually, working and living with an emergency fund lessens stress even if there is no employment change. Savings gives you freedom, power and the ability to set your own path whether in FIRE or while working.

I often think about the saying “he who has the gold makes the rules.” Every little bit of additional savings, the little bit more of control you have.

Get some “gold,” and make some rules for yourself. It’s a wonderful goal to enjoy each day in your own way.