Society convinces us that only those who are productive have value. We aren’t people. We are workers. Unless we’re climbing the corporate ladder, we’re wasting our potential.
And so, we introduce ourselves as doctors, engineers and authors, summarizing our entire self-worth into a LinkedIn headline.
Clinging to our work like a barnacle to a rock, we believe our jobs are the only reason we have meaning in life – until we get laid off or quit from exhaustion. Then suddenly, the rock is ripped out from under us, and we are left, stunned and breathless, wondering who we even are any more.
That’s why when people retire early, like the tech worker in a recent Globe and Mail article, they can feel lost and regretful about quitting a stressful job, even though that job destroyed their health and never made them happy in the first place.
This is not a bug of FIRE – the financial independence, retire early movement. It is the result of valuing your job and getting drawn into the rat race above everything else. It is what happens when you’ve “become your job” and don’t have an identity beyond your résumé bullet points.
The wave of layoffs during the height of the pandemic as well as the recent tariff threats are wake-up calls that we can’t rely on our jobs. No worker is irreplaceable, and job security isn’t guaranteed. Even U.S. government jobs, once seen as the bastion of safety, are being ruthlessly culled.
In my last job as a software engineer, my biggest worry was having my job outsourced to coders in developing countries. Entire departments were replaced by developers willing to work remotely for $5 an hour, rarely ever taking sick days and missing family events.
Now the threat is even worse. With AI, you don’t need workers. There is no family to miss. There is no need to ever stop working because AI doesn’t need food, sleep or sick days.
Sometimes it plays out differently. A friend of mine decided to climb the corporate ladder after reaching financial independence. Despite being a rising star, winning awards and showing loyalty to the company for 17 years, he still got laid off. The company’s CEO made bad decisions, which boosted a major competitor. Massive layoffs ensued and his department was shut down.
Could he get another job in tech? Sure. But there’s also no guarantee he won’t get laid off again. Or that it won’t be a worse place to work.
And he’s not the only one. Another friend works in the finance industry. He went from being a corporate hotshot to being shown the door, after a change in upper management. He didn’t need the money, but losing his job still spiralled him into an identity crisis.
The point is the FIRE movement isn’t about retirement. It’s about choices. You can choose to keep working or to quit. You can choose to find another identity beyond work. You can choose to pursue passion projects, spend more time with family or hang out with new friends.
Sooner or later, the time will come when you need to find meaning outside of work. Whether retiring early, at the regular age or after being made redundant, you will come to this fork in the road. You will have to decide: Hide behind another job or do things differently.
Cultivate side hustles and hobbies outside of work. Find friends who aren’t co-workers. Redefine success to be more than just quarterly reviews, the house paid for with your earnings, or the badge of honour you wear for skipping vacations three years in a row. Life is more than work.
The takeaway is this: You can lose your job at any time. Don’t sacrifice everything for a company that could replace you with AI to enrich their stockholders.
Be more than your job.
Kristy Shen is the co-author with Bryce Leung of the bestselling book Quit Like a Millionaire. They both retired in their 30s.