People have been dreaming of a good life. In conversations with friends, I often hear them define a good life based on the amount of money in their bank accounts.
When I was young, one of my dreams was to be a millionaire. Many Filipinos, even at their late age, have not even held 20,000 pesos in their hands. So, having a million pesos is a really big thing.
But I know of people who earn more than 400,000 pesos a month. And I wonder if they consider themselves living a good life.
But for the sake of this conversation between friends, let me tell you how I would answer this question.
How Would I Live My Life
If I woke up tomorrow with 100 million pesos in my bank account, here’s how I would live my life.
By 4.30 in the morning, I will rise from bed. I will brush my teeth and drink a glass of water. Then, I will go to my study room to meditate in silence. This 30-minute silence is my me-time.
By 5.30 in the morning, I will jog around the village for 30 minutes. If I get to jog with my family, then this would be a joy. If alone, I am sure my brain will get working. Jogging stimulates my creativity.
Then, I will eat breakfast with my family. We don’t have breakfast together, but I love it when we eat together in the morning. A family that eats together stays healthy. I know there is no rhyme there, but I am sure you see the reason.
I will spend my next hour in the garden. Planting is a celebration of a good life. Not everyone does it, and rich people don’t get the rare opportunities to get wisdom from planting. Planting is a reflective experience. I get to examine the life I have and my relationship with people.
My working time is from 9 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. Five hours of focused work are all I need to stay productive. I continue to deliver speeches, train leaders, and coach executives. I send letters to my 1000 true fans, my tribe each week.
Then I rest for an hour before I water my plants.
Until 8:30 in the evening, I can spend my day dining out with family and friends, joining an association meeting (maybe once a month), playtime with my family, Netflixing, reading books, journaling, and a mishmash of other things.
From 9 pm to 10.00 pm, I will write books, articles, or action research. Then, when there is nothing more to do, I will sleep. Six hours of sleep is enough for me.
I don’t see myself spending time on Facebook. If I can make 60 productive minutes for every hour, then that’s how I will live my days.
Coming up with a five-year goal is easy. Put some words and numbers together, and we have something to look forward to. One can also dream of big things, just like I have encouraged most of my readers to dream bigger dreams. But I realized that the five-year goal and the big dream are abstract concepts.
If my goal is to have 100 million in my bank account, how would I live my life once realized? I read somewhere that the lives of many lotto winners were thrown off balance because they’re not used to super big wallets. I thought that it might be because they did not know how to live their daily lives.
If I have 100 million pesos tomorrow, this is how I want to live my day.
I want this life, for I don’t need 100 million pesos to live it.
Living A Good Life
What you’ve read is a free writing exercise. That’s not how I live my life today. And when I have 100 million in my bank account, it is likely that I will not be able to live that life.
That’s because, like most people, I live in an ecosystem. My life is affected by how others live their lives too. The activities of my family, for example, influence my daily schedule.
And somehow, when I have a hundred million, it is unlikely to because I won the lottery. It is very unlikely for me to win because I don’t bet. The 100 million will come from business.
Probably, it will come from book sales, online courses, or sales training. But the way I look at it now, that money will require hard work and tons of luck.
But then, again, even if I don’t have full control of my time and circumstances, I want to live the life I mentioned above.
I know I still need to answer one more question.
What is a good life?
A good life is a life well-lived. A good life can be a simple life, a complicated life, a life of a few ups and many downs, or an adventurous life. It does not matter where it is lived. As long as it is a life fully expressed, meaningful, and lived to enrich the lives of others, that is a good life to me.
I can live a good life in seclusion. I can live in a monastery or in a hermitage. I can devote my life to writing, yet be invisible to the world.
I can live as a farmer, fisherman, or construction worker. I can be an entrepreneur, inventor, or businessman.
I can live a life as a teacher, priest, or politician.
When my passion, purpose, and talents are fully expressed, when I create things that help people, and when I uplift lives, I am living a good life.
An Invitation
I love to hear from people too. What is a good life for you? How do you intend to live your life from now on?
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How are you going to live tomorrow if money is not an issue? Write your answer in the comment section.
Today is January 1, 2022. I am revisiting this post. It got me thinking about what I believed 20 years ago.
Twenty years ago I wanted to become a billionaire. I realized that there were wealthy people who were younger than me.
The dream did not happen. I cannot remember when I lost interest, but I knew it was not because I did not have faith in my ability.
I am not going to say that money is not an issue in my life. It has always been an issue. I do not live for myself alone. I have a son whose future I want to secure. I know that no one knows what the future will bring, but I want to provide for my family.
Yes, I do not need to have 100 million pesos to live a good life. But I am pretty sure I would be happy if I had a hundred million. That’s a lot of money I can put into good use.
So, if you are dreaming big, I want you to continue dreaming big. If you want a good life, live a good life. Just remember, you can do both.