this was mind boggling

If you’ve done thought experiments before, you know that they are one of the most amusing things our minds can do. I find that they often reveal our deepest thoughts and desires. 

I did one recently that I want to share with you. I highly recommend you do it to. As always, please write back to me with your thoughts, views and opinions, I love hearing from you guys!

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Last night I asked myself a question that most people never ask: If money wasn’t a problem, what would I do with my life?”

Boom.

We have been made to believe that the pursuit of wealth should be on all of our goal lists. 

Because money and success are words often spoken under same breath. For many, they are one and the same. 

Success = maximised accumulation of wealth/money.

But is that really the case?

Money is a conflicting topic. Everyone has a different relationship with it, often shaped by the environment you grew up in. 

I was fortunate enough to grow in an environment where I was never in lack. But for many, that is not the case. 

Lack or not, it is what drives a majority of our actions. 

But have you ever taken time out to think about what it represents, or why you chase after it?

And most importantly, the question I asked myself, if it was no object what would I do? 

If you woke up tomorrow with $100 million in your bank, would you do the same things that you do today? 

What would you stop? What would you continue doing?

After much thought, I had a few observations.

Money is very often a representation of our desires. 

It is not the end goal in itself. 

We don’t want lots of money.
We want what it represents — safety, status, recognition, freedom, love, etc
What that thing is… depends on you.

If you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you know that:

At the bottom, money = survival.

In the middle, money = status, safety, and recognition.

At the top, money fades — and purpose takes over.

At all stages, we are chasing money, just for separate purposes. For something that it represents for us.

But we don’t often ask ourselves what that is?

Are you doing it for survival? For status? To give a better life to your loved ones? 

Take some time to think about it. You know you are chasing money. We all are. But what do you ultimately hope to happen out of it?

This was the first step.

Now let’s say you had all of that. You had all the money, to do everything you wanted. Retire your parents, buy a house, buy a car, etc.

What would you do?

Would you still show up at the job? Would you still finish your degree? Would you still work on the business? 

If the answer is no, then you require deeper introspection. 

Not because it is wrong to work for money. Like I said before, it is a big part of everything we do. 

But if you wouldn’t do a thing if the money wasn’t involved, then the question becomes, at what point do you have enough money that you stop doing the things that you otherwise wouldn’t do? And what do you do then?

There is such a thing as “enough” money. You just haven’t defined it yet. If you keep chasing a moving number, then there will be no end in sight. You are inviting a life that is going to be full of dissatisfaction and regret.

Once you have identified that there are things that you wouldn’t do if not for the money, then you also need to find a way to stop doing those things at the earliest. Either by achieving your monetary goal, or monetising an activity that you would do regardless of the money.

These sound like the simplest of questions but I can assure you they are not. I thought about these things for many hours on end, and perhaps still don’t have a complete answer.

I’m not going to say “find your passion” or “do something that doesn’t feel like work”. It’s too vague.

But what are the things in your life, that you would do regardless of money? That bring you so much joy, that you wouldn’t stop doing them for the world?

I’d spend my days thinking, writing, creating — even if no one paid me.

I’d still chase ideas that kept me up at night. Try to build things that meaningfully challenge me.

Not for views. Not for virality. But because it makes me feel alive.

There’s more that I will realise over time. But this is a start. 

So ask yourself:

If money was no object —

What would you create?
What would you stop doing?
What would you keep doing no matter what?

Your answers might just tell you what freedom actually looks like for you.

Think about it.

Hope this little thought experiment gives you even a fraction of the clarity that it gave me. 

Until next time,
—Khyatt