Careerism

Careerism is a major sin in my personal ideology. I define careerism as "living your life by doing what the HR person at work tells you would be best for you to do next." The proper definition is "advancing your career at the cost of your integrity." My view is that real integrity is pursued by taking care of yourself, your family and doing what you are interested in. When "careers" cross that line of interfering with you taking care of your family, yourself or pursuing your interests, that career has compromised the integrity of your life.

You only get to raise your kids once. You only get to help raise your nephews and nieces once. People can only experience their 20's once, and during that time they need people who they can go to for advice, and that requires availability of those people, who won't be available if they are at work 60 hours that week. Each day that passes, you have time to take care of yourself with adequate hygiene, exercise and diet, or you don't, and each of those days has consequences for the rest of your life. Keeping marriages together requires regular maintenance. Society depends on family units, and as families are thrown under the bus for career advancement, society disintegrates.

And are you actually good at anything that matters? Have you mastered a skill that makes the world a better place? Have you taken the time to become knowledgeable at any of the subjects that you are personally interested in? Buddhism suggests that "life is suffering," and thus implies we have a finite opportunity to enjoy this suffering. Is your life worth living? How much do you actually enjoy life?

This entire way we define ourselves through our career choices is not sustainable. Mechanization has steadily destroyed how many jobs are even available per person over the last several decades. This mechanization is happening at an exponentially faster and faster rate. The best example is driverless cars: sooner than later, every cab driver, uber driver, bus driver and truck driver job is going to disappear. There simply are not enough coding jobs out there to replace those driving jobs. Future generations vocations will be defined by their hobbies, not by the nonexistent jobs they won't have.

All political policies that ignore this reality are outdated. Unions are wise to push for national level policies such as universal health care, because as the workforce shrinks, so will the influence of the Unions. The best policy to pursue now in this light is basic income - how are we going to keep our economy democratized if everyone does not get some income? As tax-and-spend as basic income may be, it is the one policy that can save capitalism in the face of overwhelming mechanization. I will here by point out that it is a lot cheaper to pay someone $1,000 per month to not steal in order to survive, than it is to incarcerate them (typically costs around $40,000 per year to tax payers.) Personally owning a firearm won't save you, your family or your property from 10 hungry people with firearms. Basic income will be the way anyone will be able to have nice things.

Far too many boomers I know can't understand the words "I am only available for part time employment." When I say this, the vast majority of the time they hear "I am a specialist who is known for pulling off workplace miracles, who is bargaining with you for the highest salary I can get, and once you find that magic dollar number, I am going to abandon everything else in my life that makes me what I am, and devote myself to doing stuff you want me to do for 60+ hours per week." Boomers specifically identify themselves by what "career" they pursue, and justify almost any sacrifice to family or any other part of their life, especially diet and exercise, in the name of that career. By and large they are miserable, and can't understand why I don't join them in their misery.

BFGalbraith's get rich quick scheme for early retirement:

1. People who are retired end up working part time out of boredom.
2. Therefore working part time IS early retirement.
3. Get as much training and education and experience as you can at your part time job within that part time restriction, so you can actually be better at it than the full time employees.
4. Get paid as much as you can, take all the responsibility you can, and get all the work done that you can, within that part time limit.
5. Enjoy your life, become knowledgeable, take care of yourself, take care of your family. 
6. Don't wait for retirement to do anything, hope to die on the job.
7. Do something that you believe in and are good at, that isn't very painful for you to do.

You may be offended by me suggesting that you should work part time. In that case you probably go around suggesting most people should work full time, and I am most grievously offended by that. This is a free country, and you should enjoy your freedom: