{"id":770,"date":"2008-06-19T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/19\/work-retire-then-you-die\/"},"modified":"2018-04-04T03:03:34","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T10:03:34","slug":"work-retire-then-you-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/19\/work-retire-then-you-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Work, Retire… Then You Die."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OldMan.png\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe years go by faster as you get older.\u201d This is a piece of experience I\u2019ve often heard from people who have more years than myself. The idea being that, as you get older, your lifestyle becomes more fixed. Going from 17 to 21 is a much bigger change than 40 to 44.<\/p>\n

Does it have to be that way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, in my article about living a digital lifestyle<\/a>, I talked about the benefits that could come from not being dependent on any location. You could travel around the world without having to spend a fortune and derail your career.<\/p>\n

But many of you commented that a completely mobile lifestyle would soon be pretty shallow. You would visit many places without having a home, building deeper relationships would be difficult and you would miss out on the benefits of staying in one place.<\/p>\n

I think part of these fears stem from the belief that you will have the same lifestyle at every point in your life. This comes from the mythology in our culture that you need to settle down, get a job and live basically the same way from 25 until retirement.<\/p>\n

Why Stay Married to a Lifestyle?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In past articles, I\u2019ve contrasted a digital lifestyle (which involves few possessions, complete freedom and lots of traveling) to the typical suburban lifestyle which requires vacation days to leave the country. I\u2019ve been contrasting the two as if you could only live one or the other. But why can\u2019t you lead both?<\/p>\n

I think part of the time compression I quoted at the start of this article can be attributed to having a fixed lifestyle. When you are attached only to one mode of living, you fall into habits. Change becomes harder to do and the years blend into each other. Until the promise of nanotechnology extends the human lifespan to hundreds of years, why cut it short by living 30+ years on repeat?<\/p>\n

Vertical and Lateral Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

In past articles, I\u2019ve tried to split up improvement into vertical and lateral directions<\/a>. Vertical growth coming from setting goals, productive work and doing more within your field. Lateral growth coming from getting outside your comfort zone, trying new things and exploring completely different fields. I think people need both to be happy.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think the vertical and lateral growth directions work best when you have a 50\/50 mix of the two. I believe you\u2019re better off if you try to focus on one direction at a time. Spend a few years working on becoming the best and then spend a few years exploring the world. How do you accomplish these cycles if you\u2019re living a fixed lifestyle that doesn\u2019t change from year to year?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that you can. An unfixed lifestyle gives you the flexibility to switch between vertical and lateral every few years.<\/p>\n

What Keeps Lifestyles Fixed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a young guy, so I haven\u2019t had the experience to know what specific obstacles keep people stuck in the same lifestyle year after year. But I have a few ideas:<\/p>\n