When we don’t know where to go in life there is one question that is often asked.
“What would you do if you had a million dollars?” if money wasn't an issue
The point of this question is to have enough money. Might be a million. Might be 10 million in this day and age. Doesn’t matter.
What matters is what this question is getting at.
It wants you to think about what you would do if money wasn’t an issue. You would not have to work a day in your life to get by, pay bills. You are free to pursue whatever you want.
Now, if you answered “Just lay on the beach”, you failed the task. Those people will never experience such freedom.
Give it some time and think about what you would do. Grow your own fruits? Work with pets? Help other people?
Not doing anything will get boring pretty quickly. That’s for sure.
So, you need to figure out what’s deep in your heart. A task you would even do for free. Maybe a couple tasks. The more the merrier.
That’s where you will excel at.
Alright. So, you figured out what you want to do.
Now, imagine for a second that million we talked above becomes real. Not only that but it turns into $12.3 billion and you’re only 25 (that’s what happened in this story). A complete life in front of you.
Imagine the possibilities.
Every dream you ever had can be fulfilled. It will come true. If you want.
But that’s not even my point.
Forget about the luxuries and everything else. Those things are fun. To a certain extent. Anything more than that doesn’t make you any “happier”.
So, imagine the true possibilities.
Career wise.
You ever thought, I’m going to make X amount of money and then be the most altruistic badass?
Well, now you don’t even need to make the money.
You can be Mother Theresa straight away.
Shaping the world with the vision of a 25-year old. Starting now.
This is money in action.
Hopefully with some smart, future-oriented decisions.
Any company you thought necessary for human improvement? Not much in the way of starting it.
The possibilities truly are endless. I’m sure you got a vision that you would establish with that money.
Even better: commit to that vision anyways. No matter how much money or power you got right now. Limitations are just an illusion. Reinforced by a psychology student I met tonight.
So, whether you start at 150% and go on to make it to 1000% or you start at zero and want to or need to make it to 100 first, remember: chase your dreams.
It's a nightmare scenario that explains why the world is the way it is:
Rich people with warped experience about life or the real world making decisions on behalf of people with completely different challenges, circumstances, experiences and desires.
What would I do? I would lock up the money, ideally not know about it. I would live like a "normal" poor person, see what it takes to "make" it, see what the real world looks like. At the age of about 35, maybe 40, or 45, after a few life crises, and after having built my own success out of almost nothing, I would like to gain access to that money, maybe not even all of it, because I would think that I'd be better equipped with experience and wisdom in how to spend it.
It relates a bit to research methodology: Your mind is a pattern seeker - you're likely to find whatever you set out looking for. This applies to research too, we love cheating ourselves into getting our way. The research paradigm I'm absolutely in love with is called Action Research - it says that you can't look at a problem from outside and solve it from outside, you first need to become part of it and view it form the inside.
Seeing as that a lot of people have already gone through this process of building their life from very little... maybe your post is rather a call to those people for solutions? A problem there, though, is that it is very easy to forget about the lessons you learned along the way... or to warp your stories so they sound better than they were.
I think spending a year or two on #Steemit and making an extensive list of things you could do, will yield you good answers from the wisdom of the crowd! You could get people to vote on it.... and then only do the things that got minority votes. Because in effect, governments do this and already do the majority vote things. :-p
For starters, though, I would invest enough in #Wikipedia for it to be financially independent.
I'm 26 but even still i wish!! I'd invest the money properly like i do now and try to continue making a +25% turn over on my portfolio.
I see so many people earning that millions from similar thing and blowing it all in year or so on the stupid shit!
So, you'd essentially start a hedge-fund? Not bad.
Depends on what kind of education and upbringing they enjoyed up until that moment. But I agree. There's loads of people making a lot of financial mistakes. Especially in those kinds of situations.
Hi!
Thank You for a great article!
In Huntington Beach, CA we are blessed year-round with the weather, the beach, and lots of space. I often ask people who play the lottery, "How would your Life change if you won?" My point is simple, if you sharing your gift with the World you are already blessed. The problem is not money, it is discovering your gift and perfecting it. Plenty of people have lots of money, few are rich. . .
You have to be "truly wealthy".
Without a purpose, money won't cut it. Yes. "The impact you have on others, is the most valuable currency there is."
I would work more on personal development, I will volunteer more than I do already and try new things (time consuming activities with 0 guaranteed return in the form of money, like drawing, video producing, or other stuff that's interesting to me)
Sounds great! That's the spirit.
Exactly. I don't judge others. I used to work in public schools as a teachers' aid and a substitute. It would tear me down quick when I would ask the kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And the answer was almost always, "I want to be rich!" or "I want to be famous." "For what?" I would ask prodding the same way you are here. And usually they would look at me like, WTF? "I just want to be rich and famous!" Sad really, the greatest gifts and the best within us all too often slip away. Great post. Be well.
Thank you :)
There's a great short-story with the same anecdote. Check it out if you got time.
Being rich doesn't equal being wealthy. Best feelings and experiences are not buyable.
http://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherman/
Personally speaking if i had that much I would give the vast majority of it away to humanitarian projects to help those most in need - cliche I know, but truely how much money do you really need to live of comfortable, once you have bought your house, car, and put some away to survive yourself on, you could live off the interest of a sizable amount- so fo me 12.2B would be given away
Give it away or start your own charity? That's a big distinction to make. What charity should you choose? Who deploys your money in the best ways without profiting too much themselves?
On the other hand, you still need a daily activity. Might use it for shaping the world yourself.
start my own foundation for humanitarian projects, where 100% of the money goes to where its needed and not 'admin and back pockets' - as said i dont ned 12.2 billion to live on, but the rest of the world could benefit from it.
Many people who inherit large sums often end up being very unhappy. I like money, but that's not an automatic ingredient for happyness. I have occasionally bumped into millionaires and they are orten miserable people. It was an eye opener.
Well, of course. It depends on the person. Money will bring out more of who you really are.
All the lazy people that don't want to work or do anything in their life will be quite miserable if they suddenly don't have any responsibilities.
Probably start by eating sushi off naked girls!!!
I'm very fortunate to have a happy and healthy family, that to me is priceless!! Thanks for the post!
Sell it and buy STEEM with it :)