July 18, 2016
Location: sitting on my porch listening to the birds chirp while I overlook the ocean in the distance in Bali, Indonesia
Time: 1:45pm
I can almost guarantee that you have dreamed about living your exact dream lifestyle more often than not.
I know that for me, I used to dream about living the exact life I live now. In fact, yesterday I flew back to Bali from a weekend trip to Singapore with my girlfriend. Right now, we’re living in Bali, a place that both of us have dreamed about for years.
The truth is that my life wasn’t always like this.
…it all started a few years back when I came across a few different mentors who helped me to get more specific about what I really wanted out of life.
One of the messages they kept saying to me was that “If money was no object, what would you be doing with your life?”
I know, it’s pretty cliché.
But, it works.
There is an amazing truth behind this question. It forces you to get very specific about your life and what you truly want out of it.
Have you ever actually thought about what you want out of life?
Not just the “oh, I’d like to travel more” or “I’d like to make $100,000 a year working a job I love”
I mean the exact specifics…
Here’s an example of what I answered with this question.
I want to live a lifestyle where I can do what I want, when I want and go wherever I want. To do this, I will build a business that allows me the freedom to travel the world and have my business grow on auto-pilot, whether I choose to work or not that day.
My intention is to earn $100,000 a month in order to achieve my financial goals. I intend to be able to spend my time surfing when the waves are good, and not worry about my business while I’m out catching waves, knowing that it will grow on its own without me.
My life will be based around doing things that I think are fun and adventurous, in order to create memories that will last a lifetime. If I hear about something that is a “must have experience” I want to be able to do that. (This happened a few months back when my friends invited me to the Thailand New Year Songkran Celebration)
I want to love the businesses I build and be challenged when building them so that I can use my mind to overcome obstacles to create solutions to problems.
Do you see what I did there?
I was specific about what I wanted.
It wasn’t just a generic answer.
Where are you now?
If you’re reading this, you’re probably younger in your career (18-35) and are looking for an answer for “how to live your dream life“.
You may have even asked yourself “How did I get here?” with your current life. If you don’t have an answer for that, it’s time you get specific about what you truly want.
I want to introduce you to a video and audio from Alan Watts that addresses this question.
Video About How To Live Your Dream Life
So now what?
If you’re anything like me, you probably got a little excited feeling in the pit of your stomach.
You know the feeling. The excitement. The joy. The air of mystery..
Well, what are you going to do about it?
Seriously.
You have two choices. You can go back to your Facebook news feed and keep scrolling…. keeping your life exactly the same as it always has been…. OR
You can do this exercise and start to change your life.
The exercise really is simple, just like the question it addresses. When you are answering these questions, it is important to go beyond just the shit you were taught to strive for…. you know the things. Stuff that Hollywood makes you believe you want.
For example, letting go of our ideas about ‘success,’ money, material goods, fame, etc. and instead looking at it like Alan says – if money didn’t matter and I could do anything right now… what would it be?
Don’t worry about the whole career or job thing right now, just begin with what you like. Then think about what you feel you can contribute to the world, whether it be to just one person or a whole community (or the entire globe!). Educating others, contribution to a project, and bringing joy to others are all examples of ways you could contribute to the world.
The next step is to grab a piece of paper and answer these questions:
“What do I enjoy doing? What makes me tick or gets me excited?”
“What would my ideal day look like if I could do what I wanted to do?”
“What is my ideal job? What does it look like?”
“What are my favorite hobbies or things to do?”
(if you don’t have a piece of paper and pen, go grab one right now and do this activity)
(seriously. If you are still reading this and didn’t get a piece of paper and pen, get off your ass and go get them)
(yes, I said ass.)
Once you start answering some of these more basic questions, we dive into things like:
“Why do I like these things I enjoy doing?”
“What about them are interesting to me?”
How are you starting to feel after answering these questions?
This is going to help you to start understand the things you truly love to do and things you enjoy. It also gets you thinking about why you enjoy these things, which is the truly important thing.
What you just found out is what you value in life, and this is important because it will allow you to make a more educated decision about what you’re going to do with your life.
If something isn’t in alignment with what you want, you don’t do it. Or you do it until you can find a replacement. For me, I believe Entrepreneurship allows you to eliminate the shit you hate, and focus on the stuff you love. It provides the replacement.
These little details are going to help you create a life that you absolutely love.
In the end, it’s all about doing the activities that bring you joy and ignite your passion, even if it’s only a few hours a week.
….and don’t worry if you can’t find your passion or purpose immediately, it takes time.
Just have fun with this and be playful about the whole idea. As you get older, your answers will probably change a bit. I know mine have over the years and they will continue to as I get older. It’s part of the fun of living.