Staying Motivated

[Epry123]

Hey all.
To start I'm 22 almost 23 I live in the Midwest recently moved back in with my father and am gonna make a run on this MMM lifestyle.
My job requires long hours (60-80 weekly) with hourly pay the overtime is very nice. My position allows me to work almost unlimited amounts of over time. But as soon as I can I find my self bailing just to get home and be bored wishing I was back at work. I believe hard work pays and can't find any way to make my self work any harder I feel like I should make these sacrifices while I'm young to enjoy life later on
 So any tips on finding motivation. Maybe writing and being held accountable for my goals will help would just like to hear a little more input I suppose

[goober]

I'm a bit confused on your post, you can work as much overtime as you want, yet when you get home, you wish you were back at work? Why not just work as much as possible, only taking time off to travel to and from home to rest?

Or are you wanting to go back to work just for the money aspect? What is the breakdown of your spending and goals?

[arebelspy]

I also was confused, specifically with this:

But as soon as I can I find my self bailing just to get home and be bored wishing I was back at work. I believe hard work pays

It sounds like you're motivated enough, just stay at work and do more overtime?

I think we must be missing something from your post though, so please clarify.  :)

My wife and I have told ourselves for the last 4-5 years or so, as we've sought FIRE: "We work hard now, so we can be lazy later"--it's good motivation for us to do the little extras that earn us money (as teachers: saturday school, after school tutoring, summer school, etc.) rather than just go home and relax.  It's been well worth it.

Welcome to the forums!

[fartface]

Hmmmm....I think balance is in order.

I've rarely worked over 45 hours/week over my 18 year career. My husband used to put in about 60 during his 'peak' earning years (between ages 20 - 35) but ENJOYED the work. I don't thing anything is worth 80 hours per week if you dislike nearly every minute of it.

I guess my philosophy is work less/earn less, and for heaven's sakes do something you at least moderately enjoy.
 Sacrifice all your 20's for money? Nah...don't do that.

[PowerMustache]

Epry, I think you might be saying that while you are at work, you want to go home, but once you are home, you regret the decision to leave work and leave money on the table.

This sounds like a problem of habit. Habit can get you through a lot of things you don't really want to do, but you need to form that habit first. You can look up strategies for forming a habits in general. For example, I think the 'one month challenge' is a good format for beginning to form habits. Tell yourself you don't ALWAYS have to stay at work overtime, but you'll just try it for a month and see how it goes. Then give yourself permission to stop after a month and reassess. Or, you can try making an agreement of yourself to work overtime just a few days a week to start.

Another way you could leverage habit is to work on a routine for that time of day when you are tempted to go home. For example, when 5:00 (or whatever) rolls around, instead of heading straight home, go on a short walk, meditate for 10 minutes, and then return to work. If you force yourself into a routine like that, then it will eventually become automatic to stay at work. Feeling of 'I want to go home' triggers going for a walk instead of actually going home. Going for a walk will trigger meditation. And meditation will trigger going back to work. Just an example, but that's the idea behind habit and routine.

All that said, I also think you should strive for a work life balance. It's not sustainable to constantly work overtime for months or years on end. Start small, just work a few extra hours per week. Or just pick one week a month, or a few days per week to put in that overtime. Then get out and enjoy yourself!

[arebelspy]

I don't thing anything is worth 80 hours per week if you dislike nearly every minute of it.

Good point.  And I'd go further: I don't think it's worth doing for 40 hours, or 20, if you're disliking every minute of it.

I'm assuming you like, at least somewhat, or can tolerate at least, your work.  If not, start looking for work you don't hate.  That is definitely step one.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to go home from work to somebody else's place either. Why are you living at your dad's house? You must be stacking bills with those hours.

[Epry123]

Okay to start out I work at a beef packing plant making a decent wage for the area. (62k gross last year on pace for closer to 70 this year) I moved back in with my father after a failed attempt of being on my own. I suppose I have an addictive personality which led to this failure ( Bars,Casino) since moving back home I've paid off all my non car debt and started heavily saving within the last two months (same time I found MMM,ERE)
As for the budget I take home on average $850 a week after taxes and a measly 5% 401k contribution (company doesn't match)

Expenses are roughly $1,100 a month
Living 15 miles from work would love to move closer eventually but the rent market in such a small town is really not bright so figured I can save for a house while with my father. This is why I want to work more and more hours

Sadly I don't have too many hobbies. I enjoy going to work for the most part it's pretty much my entire life but after 13-14 hours I just wanna go home as soon as I get there I feel really guilty for not doing anything positive with my time

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

So it sounds like maybe you had a group of friends that wasn't influencing you positively. When you're not working, work on finding better friends/relationships?

Also, congratulations on making that much money at 23.

[JLee]

Okay to start out I work at a beef packing plant making a decent wage for the area. (62k gross last year on pace for closer to 70 this year) I moved back in with my father after a failed attempt of being on my own. I suppose I have an addictive personality which led to this failure ( Bars,Casino) since moving back home I've paid off all my non car debt and started heavily saving within the last two months (same time I found MMM,ERE)
As for the budget I take home on average $850 a week after taxes and a measly 5% 401k contribution (company doesn't match)

Expenses are roughly $1,100 a month
Living 15 miles from work would love to move closer eventually but the rent market in such a small town is really not bright so figured I can save for a house while with my father. This is why I want to work more and more hours

Sadly I don't have too many hobbies. I enjoy going to work for the most part it's pretty much my entire life but after 13-14 hours I just wanna go home as soon as I get there I feel really guilty for not doing anything positive with my time

Max your 401k and IRA! If you started at 0, you would likely have ~$200k by the time you're 30 just by doing that.

It sounds to me like you might need some balance - what do you enjoy doing? If work told you to take a month off, what would you want to do with your time?

[Axecleaver]

I'm a big believer in seeing the numbers, maybe this will help. The good news is you're doing fantastic on keeping expenses low, and you're making a great wage for 22. Right now, a huge portion of your income is going to taxes. With 70k gross, $3500 to your 401(k), and take-home of $850 a week, you are paying about $10k to the tax man and $10k for benefits. That's a lot! Let's run some numbers, and consider this:

Assume $20/h base, $30/h overtime, and 60/h week, over 50 weeks (I gave you two weeks unpaid vacation) gives you $70k a year gross. A standard deduction of $10,150 and $3,500 401(k) gives you an AGI of $57,150 of which you would pay $10,138 in federal taxes. I'm guessing this is about where you are today. If you decided to put $18k into your 401k, and $5,500 into your traditional IRA, your AGI (taxable income) drops to just $39,150, and you would pay $5,650 in taxes. That's almost five grand a year you get to keep instead of sending to the tax man. This is a simple calc and you would probably pay a lot less - you'd get the saver's credit, I think, and possibly some other credits, making this strategy even better for you.

At this point you would be saving $23,500 a year, in just five years at 7% growth, you would have a retirement stash of ~$180,000 at age 27, which will grow tax-free. Pretty good! Certainly better than I did in my 20s.

Now, let's kick it up a notch. We assume 70k a year gross, about 10k in benefits, maxed out retirement contributions of 23,500, taxes of 5,650, and expenses of $13k a year, which leaves post tax savings available of $17850. If you decided to invest this amount for five years at 7%, you would have a total stash of $315k at age 27 (note: I didn't calculate the taxable interest you would start generating, so it would be a smidge lower unless you pursued tax-advantaged bonds or something). With the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate, starting at age 27 your stash would generate $12,659 a year.

Boom, retired at 27.

Want to turn it to 11? Work 72 hours a week instead of 60. I leave this as an exercise for the reader. Happy to rerun numbers for you if you want to provide more detail.

[2ndTimer]

I suggest you find a productive hobby for your at home time.  For example, you could learn to cook really well or you could learn home improvement skills and fix up your Dad's house.   Either of these will pay you big dividends for the rest of your life.  I don't know if this is who and where you are, but if I were advising a single person on how to start learning to cook I would tell them to stop at a thrift store and buy a slow cooker, take it home and learn to make really good chili.  Big box hardware stores offer regular classes in all kinds of home improvement and will rent you the tools. 

[Epry123]

Wow! Those numbers sure helped a bit!! Gonna talk to payroll asap get that going!
As for learning cooking and basic home repair that's a bit harder because my father is VERY Mustachian himself. And refuses to wait for me to give him a hand with anything!

I've thought about taking online courses just for the sake of learning and entertainment but is that a wise choice if I'm not considering pursuing a degree (yet)

[Retire-Canada]

Sadly I don't have too many hobbies. I enjoy going to work for the most part it's pretty much my entire life but after 13-14 hours I just wanna go home as soon as I get there I feel really guilty for not doing anything positive with my time

My one bit of life advice is be fully present in every major decision. Don't just do stuff because.

As an example set yourself some reasonable goals for working overtime and establish a framework for deciding when it's time to go home. That way you aren't just reacting emotionally to a momentary feeling at work and going home.

Your plan might be:

- try to work at least 3hrs of overtime each day
- leave when I am unsafe or unhealthy
- leave if I've worked 5hrs of overtime
- leave if I've accumulated 20hrs of overtime so far this week

If you stick to your plan stop second guessing yourself about leaving work.

You can do the same thing for your free time at home by tackling a list of prioritized items so you aren't wasting your time.

- make a healthy meal
- get 1hr of exercise
- take care of my daily chores around the house
- pay my bills
- pack lunch for tomorrow
- relax watching TV or surfing the web for 1hr
- get 8hrs sleep

-- Vik

[Gone Fishing]

Your comments sound like a few people I know. 

Sounds like you are a high energy "all in" type.  Now that you have set your sights on MMM, ERE, what you are feeling the desire to be "all in" and you happen to have a job does not place much of a limit on how much you can work.  You probably don't feel productive at home after a 14 hour shift because you are tired, both mentally and physically.  You feel guilty about "quitting" because the job (retirement) is not yet done.  Lots of good advice already, I say focus on healthy ways to relax (still struggling with that one myself).  The ER journey is a marathon, not a sprint.   One thing you might try is a massage a few times a month.  In many rural areas you can find someone who does them for $20 or so.  Pretty cheap compared to a visit to the bar or casino.  I will also second Vikb's comment on safety.  Long shifts and equipment capable of removing body parts don't always mix well! 

[Epry123]

My only weakness is sleepy and hungry so I'm planning on bringing more food to work next week!

Most days I work late enough to be entitled to another Union break but usually work thru it to just get some of my work done and get home. But today I decided to just take my "break" before I clocked out. It takes a bit of determination to sit here for 15 minutes but it's the easiest couple Bucks I'll make all day!!

[DoubleDown]

I think I understand where you're coming from. I once worked a position with very lucrative, nearly unlimited overtime pay. You want to maximize that, but then there's that pesky matter of just how much of it you can really take.

I suggest setting an overall and healthy goal for your work hours. As just an example, you might set a goal to work, on average, 55 hours per week (15 hours of overtime each week). Of course, you pick the actual number of OT hours you want to work. Then GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION not to work any more. Leave it behind you, don't think about it again and enjoy your time off knowing that you are meeting your overall goal of working X hours of overtime and socking away all that extra pay. You can always re-evaluate your goal every 3-6 months or so.

[Epry123]

Thanks for all the advice everyone I just kind of hit a slump there for a while. I've come out of it now