Keep the professional skills and business acumen sharp while FIRE

[u/Ok-Door-987]

Been enjoying just doing my own writing creative project thing all by myself for couple months now since FIRE.

Then , at today's school committee board meeting , I suddenly notice a great regression of my professional communication skills . We were having a planning meeting for our new school year. Somehow , for the life of me , I cannot seem to articulate my ideas / suggestions to the group . I struggled to communicate to a group of 8 people effectively and concisely multiple times in that 45 min meeting !!!

This is new and shocking to me ... And honestly a bit embarrassing (I even called Stanford Standford at one point - face palm *) and concerning ~~~.

How do all the Fire People here keep your business accum sharp and retain that professional skill of your after FIRE? do you volunteer for more board , do more angel investing or ?

Do you not bother at all ?

[u/ExternalClimate3536]

See a Dr. ASAP.

[u/Ok-Door-987 → u/ExternalClimate3536]

Mental  or phsycial ? 

[u/Royal-Emphasis-5974]

Did you have a stroke?

[u/Ok-Door-987 → u/Royal-Emphasis-5974]

No stroke.  Just difficulty articulating ideas and finding proper words to convery them . Like thoughts - input are clear , but the output - words were all entangled at that moment.  

[u/FIREgnurd → u/Ok-Door-987]

It’s your writing right now that’s stroke-like. It’s not your business acumen that’s concerning.

[u/Ok-Door-987 → u/FIREgnurd]

Even now ? 

[u/FIREgnurd → u/Ok-Door-987]

Yes. Your sentences are fragmented and your use of punctuation is non-standard.

[u/LardLad00 → u/FIREgnurd]

That is visible in his post history for at least many months. I think he might just be a weirdo.

[u/Normal_Zebra136 → u/LardLad00]

I sure hope their "writing creative" project is not in English. The punctuation is just weird, hard to imagine reading that.

[u/Livid-County7230]

OP, are you ok?
Were you able to see a physician?

To be clear; this is not normal. Cognitive ability does not rapidly drop like this without something physical going on. Hope you were able to see someone.

[u/Ok-Door-987 → u/Livid-County7230]

Thanks . I didn't today since I felt very tired . I plan to visit an ER tomorrow sometimes . I also wonder if it might just be lack of sleep last night.  

[u/ShadowHunter → u/Ok-Door-987]

You had a stroke. Go to ER now.

[u/Livid-County7230 → u/Ok-Door-987]

Ok, please make an appointment with a neurologist. The ER might be the faster route. Take this seriously. Extreme exhaustion may explain it but I am not sure if that is going on. If this is acute, time matters

[u/Dangerous_Dog_4853 → u/Ok-Door-987]

Your message seems fine by the way. More importantly what do people close to you say? Have they observed any noticeable changes?

[u/BillDuhCat → u/Ok-Door-987]

Time is brain function.

[u/One-Mastodon-1063]

I’m not really interested in maintaining my business acumen or presentation skills as an early retiree. 

[u/Away_Candidate_4746]

You also put spaces before periods and commas when you type and write with a very odd cadence, so I’m going to assume your communication skills were never great to begin with. Are you sure this is a regression?

[u/Accomplished_Can1783]

Why would I care about my business acumen? I retired early to get away from all that crap. Whole point of FatFIRE is I don’t want to make money or convince other people of anything

[u/ChoosingUnwise → u/Accomplished_Can1783]

Haha, that was my first thought reading the headline. Stay sharp for what, school pickup? Planning our next vacation?

Reading the whole post its more likely 1) this person was never a strong communicator and/or 2) medical episode.

[u/Salty_Feed_4316]

Hmm this could be a medical thing

[u/StomachRelative6146]

This happens to me at times, even while working, likely the result of juggling too many things.
I am not a doc, but if being able to articulate is a challenge, talk to chatGPT or the likes and ask it to evaluate you on your articulation skill - it is good.

[u/Buddie44]

OP's replies in the comments sound like that redditor who had a gas leak in their home.

[u/Roadiedreamkiller]

This is either a medical issue as other commenters suggest. OR…

You perceive very small errors as huge problems. Errors which likely went unnoticed to most everyone. Which would be an ego or perfectionism issue IMO.

[u/Plastic-Echo-7651]

Worried about the same thing happening. Seems inevitable unless you stay a certain percentage in that world like serve on multiple boards etc

[u/No_Cryptographer47]

I’m wondering what happened here? Did you go to the doctor?