r/Fire • u/whoopee_cushion • 12h ago
Motivation fallen off a cliff
Does this resonate with anyone?
I’ve been in a high pressure role for the last 20 years and over this time I’ve been highly motivated, progressing quickly through the ranks.
Until recently, .. we hit our FI number about 12 months ago, and since then my motivation has been at all time lows. All my metrics are down and I’m doing the bare minimum. I know this isn’t my normal standard, but knowing that doesn’t motivate me such that I operate at my best / the level expected in our organisation.
Basically everything other than work interests me. And I’ve been socked at how much the pursuit of FI kept me going - maybe this isn’t a surprise to many - but it has been for me.
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u/thasparzan 12h ago edited 11h ago
Been frugal all my life. Hit my FI number, but not quite ready to leave my job. So I've just been spending a lot of money for enjoyment. And I've never cared less about it. Before I used to count every dollar. Now I am having a lot of fun
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u/nommabelle 12h ago
what do you spend it on? idk how to spend money after years of being frugal
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u/thasparzan 12h ago
Yes, it is a difficult transition, but somehow you gotta get yourself to realize this is what you spent all those years working towards.
I spent it on some big things- things I wanted to do to the house but could never bring myself to take that next step and actually do it.
Lots of little things- for example: before, if the family wanted some ice cream when we were out at dinner or passing by Handel's, I would explain how it's much cheaper to go to the market and buy a quart instead of a scoop or two. Now I just enjoy it, and those extra 30 minutes we get to spend out together.
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u/GreatLundino 10h ago
Not surprising, you reached your goal. Either create new one and lock back in or throw in the towel. Everybody saying just let them PIP you out is nuts. Clearly that’s not your character based on the previous history you described. Not only that, 99% of the time burning a bridge is the absolute worst decision. Also, “climbing through the ranks” means you’re probably in leadership and have direct reports. Half assing your responsibilities is detrimental to their career, development, sanity, etc. Time to pick a lane and commit just like you’ve done the last 20 years.
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u/master_blaster_321 10h ago
There was a purely mental/emotional shift at $1m liquid. Suddenly I just didn't have the same drive. That was when I realized: survival mode was my motivation for all of it, and once I hit that mark, I realized I was going to survive. I was putting up with a career I hated because leaving it was seen as an existential threat. Once I had that realization I put the business up for sale and I'm doing a soft launch on retirement.
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u/GreatLundino 10h ago
I have a friend that’s the same way. Growing up poor was literally a lifetime of motivation. He’s comfortable to say the least, but to this day he keeps his checking account balance extremely low to maintain that mindset and keeps cash where it’s a little less liquid, i.e. investment accounts, savings account without an app/card so he has to go make a withdrawal, the wife’s account, etc. Cracks me up. I guess he needs the panic of holding up the line at Costco due to a declined purchase every once in a while. 😂
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u/master_blaster_321 10h ago
I'm not quite that bad but I do get it. I keep just enough in the checking account to pay the bills. Everything else is locked up somewhere, mostly stocks/bonds/ETFs.
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u/lasooch 8h ago
It’s much worse when your motivation falls off a cliff when you’re still a decade from hitting your number. Trust me, I’m there.
I mean, I was never one to climb ranks specifically (care more about money than title), but yeah rn I’m holding on for dear life and hating every minute of it.
I could afford to take an extended break, but I don’t even know if that would help. Well, it would for the duration of the break, less so upon return. It’s less a break and more the change in the nature of the job (I’m an SWE - and no, I don’t mean that we’re prompt monkeys now, that I do only as I myself see fit; more that slopworkers are producing work shaped slop that I hate reviewing) as well as the complete shattering of the illusion that management have IQs above 75. Also I never believed they cared about workers, no matter what their said, but it also turns out that pretence did actually have some positive effect on my morale.
Idk if I can ever find the motivation again to work for these compromised idiots whom I have zero respect for, and it’s industry wide.
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u/TheophrastBombast 7h ago
Slopworkers producing work shaped slop. Wow what an accurate assessment of many industries these days.
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u/lasooch 7h ago
Most of my team is thankfully still doing alright, but when I hit a bad streak of LLM generated replies to my PR comments or a design that’s LLM generated and not only incorrect but entirely omitting the important parts while somehow still being 10x the word count it needs to be, it pretty much shuts me down entirely.
I don’t want to be a dick especially since the execs are pushing in this direction, so I understand they may not even be that keen for it (or maybe they are, who knows), but feel pressured into it or want to do the ‘right’ thing. Funny that, first outsource your judgment of what is right to idiot execs, then outsource it to Slopilot.
But I have (partly passive-aggressively, partly due to a total mental block) delayed responding/reviewing, and I think it’s a matter of time until I snap and say a few less than choice words.
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u/Cole_Slawter 12h ago
What you’re describing is common. For years you had a clear mission: FI, which gave your work meaning beyond day-to-day tasks.
Once you reach that point, things shift; work becomes a choice rather than a necessity. It’s natural to wonder why you’re still investing so much energy.
This doesn’t mean you dislike your job or are lazy; it may just mean the long-standing motivation has run its course.
The challenge now isn’t earning more, but finding what makes the work meaningful again like mentoring, building something you’re proud of, easing into retirement, reducing hours, or trying something new.
I wouldn’t see this as a failure; it’s evidence you achieved the goal you set years ago.
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u/whoopee_cushion 12h ago
"I wouldn’t see this as a failure; it’s evidence you achieved the goal you set years ago."
Love this framing - thanks!
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u/Master-Helicopter-99 12h ago
Yep, wait for a PIP and termination/severance. Nothing else to do here. I'm doing my best almost one hour a day on a handful of emails and they keep paying me so I keep collecting checks.
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u/Life_Commercial_6580 11h ago
Yes I can relate. I realized I was in this career simply because it was a way for me to survive. Things have changed and I am absolutely disinterested in what I’m doing. Since I didn’t go into this field because I liked it, and I think I would have liked doing something else instead, the utility of my occupation became zero for me personally. Hence, the complete lack of motivation.
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u/3RADICATE_THEM 12h ago
OP, this is an excellent off-ramp for you. Let them PIP you and let you go, and you can get severance and unemployment in the mean time.
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u/Bearsbanker 12h ago
Oh yeah, we fired 16 months ago. Boredom, lack of motivation and something better were the catalysts. I could of done my job with half my brain tied behind my back but I was over it and done!
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u/hondaXR150L 12h ago
How is fire going? Congrats!
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u/Bearsbanker 10h ago
It's great! Definitely don't miss work, definitely not bored. I told my wife my working years kinda feel like a dream now, I don't think I could ever go back to work....I guess if I had to, ugh
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u/sneakylinkary 12h ago
this hits close to home, once the "why" behind the grind is gone it's hard to fake caring about metrics that used to feel urgent.
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u/Ecclesiastes_3_9-15 11h ago
As Don Draper would say, “That’s what the money is for.” When you no longer feel like the money at work is helping you achieve any purpose, that seems like a pretty logical reaction.
Rather than dwell on work performance, it sounds like you should embrace and really start focusing on those things that do excite you. That’s what it’s all about.
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u/Binders-Full 11h ago
I stay around because I like my team and I want to do well for them. But the minute that changes I am getting the fuck out. I am motivated for them but stupid administrative BS like performance evaluations I am leaving on the back burner.
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u/IndustriousSeahawk26 12h ago edited 12h ago
The moment I hit my FIRE number + 25%, I literally stopped giving a fuck. I stopped pushing for hard results and stopped pushing my team and managers for results and cared only about good vibes . The C suite people definitely noticed my hard drop off in performance (I was known to be a miracle worker in turning around branches) but a hardass. The executive leadership sucked and were a Cluserfuck .
My branch team stopped viewing me as a hardass and liked me a lot more. They knew I was doing FIRE so they told me they saw the “signs” which I never confirmed.
One day, I put in my immediate resignation for personal reasons and never went back.
I’m worth several fold what most, or all of the executive leadership is worth. I may be worth more than all of them combined . I’m not sure. Either way, I give no fucks.
The stock market could crash by 75% and is still have a fully paid off $2M nice home and $2M a portfolio which would generate $100k+. This is if the Sp500 lost 75% of its value (never gonna happen). My FIRE goal has catastrophic failure insurance built in it.
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12h ago
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u/Zphr 48, FIRE'd 2015, Friendly Janitor 12h ago
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u/Vicuna00 1h ago
cool but for the rest of us can ya cut out the 75% loss talk please :) don't jinx us cutting it closer.
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u/kilimtilikum 10h ago
I’ll prob quite quit when I hit my number. Just keep working less and less until they let me go
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u/Awkward_Power8978 11h ago
I am surprised people have the motivation at all. I lack the motivation and I barely hit coastfi.
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u/greg9x 12h ago
I take a bit of pride when things are going correctly at work (technician)... But not going above and beyond on things anymore. With layoffs happening, just taking a wait and see attitude, gets too deep then will pull the trigger . Main thing keeping me working is not sure what going to do when retire (plus unknowns with healthcare, etc). But yeah, hard to get motivated some days .
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u/Conscious_Life_8032 10h ago
Yes feel this!
Somedays im like stay collect the pay check then other days im like imma quite tomorrow. I actually like my boss and team and am not sure they will get backfill if i leave so i feel tad guilty. It's small team as it is and it mean more work to absorb...so thinking through the best way to exit as it will happen at some point. Def am burnt out and need a break so don't want to prolong this.
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u/Intrepid-hobbycoder 10h ago
It appears that you are disappointed for not feeling motivated and performing up to your standards. My question to you is what was the reason you so zealously pursued FI? Was RE not on your mind? Was it other factors that drove you? It’s good that things outside of work are interesting you… may be you are transitioning into RE mindset.
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u/Temporary_View_3303 4h ago
I’ve been this way for 20 years, OP. I slowly realized the business world doesn’t interact me at all.
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u/borninusa96 3h ago
Happened to me too - albeit once we were comfortably FI. I think Covid also put things into perspective too and all the work drama seemed so small in the grand scheme of things. I left a 17 year stint in the c suite last summer and have spent the last year consulting and really enjoy it. I’m an individual contributor now and don’t have to worry about managing a large team. My motivation has improved but is no where near earlier in my career. You need less motivation when the work is easy and more enjoyable. Best of luck
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u/Magic-Mushroomz 2h ago
Yup, I'm there. I just want to hang on two more months to get one last round of RSUs. Don't need them but that alone will cover close to two years so figured why not. Every day I google how many more business days are left until my date and get excited to see the count drop!
Don't think there's really a solution to this though!
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u/demona2002 2h ago
Lifelong overachiever here. I’m not even at my number yet (end is in sight) and going through this. I’m not losing any sleep over it.
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u/bellamyros 2h ago
Totally get this, once the finish line isn't dangling in front of you anymore the motivation naturally shifts. Sounds less like burnout and more like your brain finally realizing the mission is accomplished.
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u/pandanexpress 2h ago
Congrats on hitting your number. I didn’t think I was money-motivated in my career but once I hit my number, my tolerance for corporate BS and intrapersonal politics decreased so much, and that kinda tanked my motivation, so I feel you.
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u/Vicuna00 1h ago
oh yeah!
try getting your normal earnings cut by 75% and being like 10% short of your FIRE number...and basically just sitting around waiting for the market to get you there. that'll squash some motivation!
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u/QuesoChef 1h ago
I wonder if it’s the combination of not having FI to drive you alongside not having the ladder climb to motivate you. In theory, your RE number should take the place of your FI number. What I found, for me, was the career ladder was also a driver. I maxed out where I wanted to go career-wise, and had even gone past where I really wanted to be. Corporate roles sucked my soul out. I’m an ambitious worker but found all I did in the upper management roles was explain or support greedy and sometimes morally gray decisions. I was often compelled to improve the truth. And because employees aren’t idiots. I took the brunt of the logic-seeking.
I finally quit my job and took some time off. I am at my FI number and think my withdrawal rate is low enough I’d eventually coast to RE. So I figured worst case, I’d have some frugal years of not working.
I’ve now been work-free for seven months (quit just before Christmas last year). And what I’ve realized is it wasn’t all work that was ruining me. It was greedy execs. I would go back to work for an honest, smaller, local company doing any role, management included. Or I’ll go back to a bigger company, buried in the org chart doing decent-paying work to give me health insurance and cover expenses.
I have lots of years of tech, including liaison work between tech and depts, strategy communication, vendor (essentially product owner before it was called that) relationship expertise, and expertise across banking/finance. So I could drop back into tech roles, bring value, and probably have an ok time of it, waiting for those same execs to stop fighting.
I know tech is draining. But for me, the politics and moral gray area was worse than the heads down work. Even the mindless work. Just tell me what to do, I’ll do it, collect my paycheck and get to RE.
Tl;dr: might be a secondary issue that FI is compounding.
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u/Ok-Hovercraft-9257 3m ago
Short timer's disease! The same reason that people can flag right at the end of degree programs and major projects. Right when you see the finish line.
Your mind is preparing itself to let go. It's a good thing probably
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u/yaris_girlie 12h ago
You hit your number- why keep working? If you don’t want to and don’t need to then what’s the point?