Do I want to FIRE? Or just FI?

I sometimes think about FIRE and what I’ll do once I get there. However, a thought struck me when I was listening to the book, Deep Work: I probably just want FI, i.e. financial independence so that I can work on whatever I want.

And, truth be told, I already have some of it today: good degree of autonomy at work on what projects I pick up or numbers of hours I work.

The idea of RE sounds good in theory but in practice I might just get bored if I am hanging out at home. (If I am traveling, that’s a different story.) Instead, if I am working on some side project (such a building a new product or writing a book), then that’s just FI - the financial independence to work on what I want - and there’s hardly anything about retiring early in it.