@baffo66, I had similar doubts and thoguhts last year when I was considering moving from 100% to 80%. Here’s the thread:
In my case, one of my goals in reaching FI was to spend more time with my family and enjoy my hobbies, so I started working 80% this year to have a little bit of FI-like life here and now. I don’t regret it, even if it will extend my way to FI for a couple of years. It’s a great experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever move back to 100% - probably only if my son will go to school and I’ll find a job more interesting than my hobbies, or I’ll want to pump up my savings rate - but it’s very unlikely. I’ll rather switch to self-employed consulting and only take projects from time to time eventually.
I believe we should focus on living a little bit “like FI” before we reach the number. Postponing all our plans and dreams for years on a way to FI is a very counterproductive strategy. Like in traditional retirement, many people actually reach the number (or retirement age) and they have no clue what to do with their life because they weren’t prepared for it - they only focused on the number, not the essence.
PS. Mad Fientist wrote about this in his"First year of freedom".