Be an Outlier
Do everything by the book they say. Get good grades. Get a good job. Put your nose down and work. Retire. Then and only then will you be free.
So they say.
By the book is by the balls.
Exactly where they have you. Exactly where the 3:45pm Thursday meetings that last 30 minutes have you.
Not to mention, retirement is by no means guaranteed. Statistically speaking we will live long enough to have a healthy retirement. Statistically speaking there will be outliers.
Be an outlier of the other sort. Choose to retire early. Do the things you want to do in retirement now. You may find you hate it. But at least you didn’t wait until retirement!
They may have you by the balls for now. But they don’t have ultimate power over you. You have the power. You have the choice. Make it. Be an outlier.