Habit is the Yellow Brick Road

Although hard to believe, financial independence has never been a goal of mine.  In fact, I had no idea what it even was till recently.  Although I had planned out my life and career carefully, I definitely consider myself unintentional FIRE.  If you asked me a few years ago, I would have no idea that I would end up writing this blog and consider ducking out of the workforce at such a young age.  Though you could jump to the conclusion that I am a product of happenstance, I think that would also be misleading.  Throughout my early adulthood, I was cultivating a set of habits that would serve me well financially as I grew older.  In fact, habit is the yellow brick road to financial independence.

I’m not going to bore my readers with tails of frugality, savings, and investing.  You have all heard these stories told in a much more imaginative way on other blogs.  Instead, I am going to look at a few different habits that pushed me towards financial freedom.

Industrious

I love to work.  I have since I was a young child.  I earned my first W2 paycheck at the age of fourteen.  My best friend in high school worked at an ice cream store and asked if I wanted to join him.  I was a sophomore in high school.  I was the son of upper/middle class parents.  I grew up with the rich kids who were so involved in sports or video games that they rarely got off the couch other than to find the housekeeper to prepare them a snack.

I had no need for extra money.  My parents gave me an allowance,  and I rarely bought anything anyway.  But the allure both social and economical was too great.  For some reason, I was unhappy accepting my parents hand outs.  I wanted to earn on my own.

If habit is the yellow brick road, then work is the motorcycle speeding my way to the Emerald City.

Throughout my career, I have continued to love the concept of work.  Whether physical or mental, there is nothing more appealing to me.

Efficient

From the youngest of ages, I have craved efficiency.  It came to me naturally.  Whether cleaning my room or slaving away at homework, I have always striven to finish a task in the quickest, most clean fashion.  Although never intentional, this habit has often boosted both savings and earnings in the long run.

My college career is a perfect example of how habit is the yellow brick road to financial independence.  And that road is paved with efficiency.

I basically graduated college in three years.  I front loaded the course work and took a few semesters of summer classes.  This was not a purposeful attempt to graduate early.  My work ethic and natural interests led me to take more classwork than required.

Because I had to stick around to apply for medical school, there was no reason to matriculate early.  Instead, my fourth year consisted of 2 credit hours each semester of research done in a medical lab that was already employing me.

Not only did we pay next to nothing for my fourth year of college, I made extra money on the side in an full time position.

Efficient, no?

Lazy

Alright.  I know what you’re thinking.  How can one be both industrious and lazy at the same time?

I love to work and be efficient.  But what I really love is to finish everything and have free time.  In fact, a driving force behind my industriousness and efficiency is to move on to the next thing.  I am one of those unique people who both tries to fill his plate, and then clear it as fast as possible.

I love an empty plate.

In fact, the four-hour work week sounds like too much to me.  This laziness has not only driven me to pursue lazy side hustles, but also  to do several full-time jobs at once.  Although my plate has become quite crowded, I somehow keep it pretty clean most of the time.

Final Thoughts

Habit is the yellow brick road to financial independence.  These habits, developed early, will undoubtedly lead to unintentional FIRE.  For me, those included being industrious, efficient, and even a bit lazy.

That’s how I ended up here.

How about you?  What habits have led you to your audience with the wizard?