While life might be like a box of chocolates, I’d say it’s more like a garden box. We each have a specific and finite amount of time and space to grow what matters to us. There is often a work plant, a family one, friends, hobbies, or interests. At any point in time, each plant shares this finite resource of time, energy, and focus. 

This is an analogy I use a lot with clients who are aiming for financial independence, want to take a mini-retirement, or retire early. The trouble with those goals is that the work plant can start to overwhelm the other plants. It can become invasive, crowding out the smaller plants. For most people work is where we spend 40-50 hours a week. So it’s naturally a big plant. 

On the financial independence path, letting that work plant go wild is rewarded. You’ll probably earn more, get promoted, and be able to invest more money. Especially if your work is meaningful, enjoyable, or you are very competent at it. That work plant becomes a bit like mint. I love mint, it’s one of my favorite herbs. But left unchecked, it will take over my entire herb garden. It will push out or stifle all the other plants.

Staring at Dirt

The trouble comes when you are well on your way to FI and you are ready to make a change. Maybe it’s a year off or retiring altogether. You have this massive work plant, but there hasn’t been much space for anything else. The few other plants in there like friends and family are rather small plants in comparison. Other plants like hobbies or volunteering haven’t had any space for years. If you pluck that giant work plant out, you’re going to have a few small plants and a bunch of empty dirt. 

But you think, “Once that work plant is gone, I can start a bunch of new plants from seed! I’ll take up running, declutter my garage, make new friends, find some hobbies, and an exciting volunteer gig!” Except, if you have ever started plants from seed, you know it’s just staring at a big patch of dirt for a long time. It takes a lot of time to start things from scratch. 

I’ve probably had a hundred conversations with people who retired, stared at that patch of dirt for a few months, and then went out to find a new job. After 10 or 15 years of hustling to become FI, they just went back to work. Why? They gave up all that income, significance, and usefulness to stare at an empty garden box. Even if they didn’t like their job, at least it was paying them money. 

This path seems to be the norm, especially in American culture. But because the transition into early retirement is so difficult and more often than not fails, it’s not the path I recommend to my coaching clients. 

What We Do Instead

While there is a temptation to get to FI as quickly as possible, there is a more productive and successful approach. 

Prune It Back

I love mint. It’s one of my favorites in my herb garden. But it grows so easily and spreads so easily that it can become invasive. So in order to protect my other herbs, I aggressively prune back this herb. It’s okay to love your work. But if it’s stealing time, energy, and focus from other areas of your life, you’re going to have to work hard to keep it in check. 

A lot of my clients are in the prune it back phase. They are asking to work from home (to get back the commute time), they are leaving at 3 each day, or going part-time. They are pruning back the work plant in order to give their other plants the space, sun, and soil to grow and thrive. There are other things in life they value and they are ready to see those things expand and have a bigger role in their life. 

Mini-Retirements

Sometimes it’s not possible to prune back a work plant. So it gets removed temporarily. I have clients taking a few months off to a year or two. They are pulling out that work plant and giving other areas of their life some space. Mini-retirements are a great chance to add some new plants as well. Big health goals, declutter goals, travel, adventure, and rest. Mini-retirements are like a test run. They allow you to practice your ideal FI lifestyle.  It’s less daunting to take a few months off than to retire for 30 years. So while they might feel a little uncomfortable staring at a bit of dirt, they know it’s just a short season to do their best to fill up their garden with new things. 

When people have let their work plant overwhelm everything, I give them about a 20% chance of staying retired. But the more mini-retirements they have taken the better those odds get. When I meet people who have taken 4 or 5 career breaks over the last 20 years, they are almost guaranteed to be successful and happy in retirement. They have had lots of practice, mastered the learning curve, and usually prioritized those other areas of life. 

Seedlings

You might not be able to prune back your work or start a mini-retirement today. Often clients come to me about 6 months before their mini-retirement will start. In that case, I encourage people to start some seedlings. In the small moments, plant some seeds in little pots on your window shelf. Just like with the Test and Scale model, find a step you can take in 1-4 hours that will help get a new plant started. Maybe it’s researching pottery classes in your area. Maybe it’s getting together with an old friend or trying a yoga class at the gym. Once you are able to prune back your work hours or take a mini-retirement you’ll have some seedlings to go into the garden box. They won’t be a full plant, but with this extra soil and sun and nutrients, they will fill in the empty space a lot faster than starting with seeds. 

Whatever you do, don’t just keep your head down and push through at work, allowing it to overrun your life in order to get to FI faster. Instead, focus on what you want your FI lifestyle to be and slowly start giving that more of your time and energy. That way retiring early becomes a seamless transition instead of a jarring and dysregulating one. 

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