What and why

I went back to work this week and whilst that sounds shit it really wasn't...Ah fuck it, who am I trying to kid here; it was shit because I'd rather be doing any-fucken-thing else than working at a job; I have a life and want to live it. I don't get it when people say they love work; some people really have a lack of imagination, vision and expectation for their lives I guess that they feel content filling it with their job to give them a feeling it validation and relevance. Not me though.

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I like my job, am good at it, and get paid a fuckton of money to do it but does it define my life...let me check...

...still checking...

...still checking...

Yep just as I thought, I don't love it enough to give my whole life over to it and there's about one billion three hundred and eighty seven million five hundred and twenty two thousand one hundred and nine other things I have on my list of things to do other than fucken work. So I guess that's about anything else but work right?

I caught up with a couple over my break and among other things were talking about finances, exiting the workforce and what we'd rather do than work.

I like these particular people but fuck me I just don't get them - him mostly. He works a lot, the byproduct of having a very large mortgage I guess, and he says he loves his job more than anything else - lack of vision. But I ran a scenario by him which assumed lotto winnings of 30 million dollars because I wanted to see what he thought he might do with it; he's 35 years old so that's $750,000 each year for the next 40 years of his life. Considering his income now is only around $50,000 I'd say that would last him the rest of his life and would provide one of great comfort and opportunity.

And he said...nah, I'd keep working.

I needed to clarify so asked if he meant at his same job, (he's a motor mechanic), and he said yes.

I asked about what he'd do with the money if he was going to keep working and he had no clue. To clarify, I asked about investment, ways of ensuring it grew not diminished, where he would go and what he'd do, who he would help, what he might buy...his answers were all pretty basic and showed no vision or excitement or zest for life. So, the conversation died pretty quickly.

Mostly, people can't comprehend how much $30,000,000 actually is so, divided over 40 years and without any interest or gains of any kind it's $14,420 per week over 40 years, which is a lot of money and enough money for most average people to do almost anything they could conceive of. Add in some investment strategies and it's much more over time. That's ok though, it's extremely unlikely that any of us will ever have to worry about how to spend $30,000,000 but what confounds me is that so many people just don't know what they would like to do in life. (Other than work which I think is simply an excuse for the fact they have no vision.)

Me...well, I have a long list of things to do, places to go, experiences I want, people I want to help and other such things and I know the rest of my life will be spent doing what life is all about, finding enjoyment, happiness and creating a meaningful one for myself and those I chose to help. At no point will I be lost for something to do or somewhere to go. So, for me the addition of $30,000,000 would permit me to do those things. Sure, I'll do many of them without it because I've worked hard and all, but with it...well, the outlook is different right? I'd not spend a lot on want items though, for me it'd be about experiences not things.

I think life is about having vision, seeing and feeling the things that make our hearts sing, and it's the responsibility of the individual to make those things occur...which takes money sometimes but mostly simply means knowing what those things are and leaning into them, being passionate about them. Sure, one can like ones job, but there more to life than that.

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I guess what I'm saying is that I believe a person needs to be able to clearly define what will give them a meaningful life; it gives the best chance of having some of it happen before the end...and once a person is dead it's too late to make anything happen, on case you didn't know; it's lights fucken out.

Forget the $30,000,000 scenario and working for a living for a moment and consider this; right now, can you list out a hundred things which make your heart sing and leave you feeling fulfilled, passionate, engaged and happy or are you like the chap above who had one thing on the list...his job? These could be small things that don't cost money, experiences, people, activities, places, feelings, emotions and so much more. If you can't, then how do you know what to work towards, where and why to invest your time and effort?

Knowing what and why you want particular things in your life is critical to actually attaining them. What do you think?