Having what you want is your reward for getting up and going to work. The goal is to love what you do enough to sustain you through the tough getting up parts. In that, life often gets in the way and people are 'stuck' doing something they dislike just for the paycheck.
DH disliked his work -- he took it to support his father and mother -- but never missed a day. DH, much a self-make man who is also strongly self-motivated. After a very poor start to life, he determined he would work himself to success.
We bought a bit of rental property, slowly, one at a time as we could afford it. That did mean weeks of peanut butter sandwiches, triple-used cars, and peach boxes for end-tables as we tried to pay down the loans in half the time.
In the meantime we totally gutted the properties -- one at a time as we could afford it -- and fixed them up like new. Of course we were blessed in that DH and I could do almost all the work ourselves. Work on the properties went slowly as both of us had full time jobs and babies to care for. DH worked 12 hours most days which left little time for anything else.
We lived in the basement as we built this house; renting out the duplex we had lived in, both to generate an income and to save money. After many years, with all the property paid for (3 buildings containing a total of 8 apartments and this farm) we spent one year 'testing' whether we could live on just the rental income. Every other penny went into the bank. At the end of the year we even had some extra saved from the rental income so DH decided we could afford it if he retired at 57 1/2.
I loved teaching and with no thoughts of retiring, worked for another 11 years. By that time DH was wanting his go-fer back and I took a year off teaching to see if I could stand being away from my students. That was surprisingly easy-peasy, so I retired at 57 1/2 as well! I could volunteer at school and teach or not as my schedule allowed. "Guest" teaching was always off limits from April 1 through November 1 so we could work outside at home.
You really don't want to be "OLD" enough to retire. You want to be able to retire from formal employment and get paid doing what you like while you enjoy the goals you've met. It takes focus and hard work. It also takes everyone in the family working toward the same goals.
I also suspect it will get harder and harder to reach a goal of self-sufficiency in America as time goes on. It seems to me that a desire to be self-sufficient is frowned on in current society and looked at as being a "kook" or even "dangerous".
Best of luck,
@happy acres!
sigh! I guess I'll go get ready for work.
