It would seems MOOTFL and RE might be mutually exclusive goals. I, however have been fortunate enough to have the two goals in my plans within the last decade and have found the two goals to be quite compatible.

Over the years, either by design or by accident (in the case of layoff), I have had opportunities to slow my work life down. I've worked part-time for a while and didn't work at all for extended time periods. Yes, it has been hard to go back to work full throttle after these down times, but OTOH

-I have had shorter-term intermediate goals, rather than just a far off goal of retiring some day

-Each ER trial really motivates me to reach the ultimate goal of retirement

FWIW, I am now no more than three years away from ER, so I'll probably try to take one more short-term break before the big event. And, even after I do retire, I will work a little bit--however my interests rather than money will be the prime motivation.