What Would You Do If You Didn’t Have To Work?
Probably what you’re doing now. Just more of it. It’s a hard answer, but it’s one I faced myself just the other day.
I read on one of my favorite blogs about a chance to win a scholarship for real-life. This “scholarship” is for enough money to replace nearly a year of my household income. I was elated at first! I thought how awesome it would be to have to opportunity to work full-time writing without the obligations of other work. Then I saw that I didn’t fit the requirements for the grant.
I was bummed.
I let myself get all excited about this opportunity. I started imagining all I could do if “I just had more time.” And, to be honest, I was disappointed when I got to the end of the page and saw that I was disqualified by just one requirement.
But then I started thinking.
You see, I only work a little more than 40 hours a week between all of my jobs. Then, if you figure that I get the recommended amount of sleep each night (for a total of 56 hours) and add that to the 40 then you see that I have 72 hours a week totally at my disposal (168 hours in a week). Now granted, not all that time is “free” because I have other obligations outside of work and sleep. But if I’m honest with myself I spend an awful lot of that time in front of the TV.
It’s really easy for us to justify our lack of progress to ourselves. “Of course I’m not completing that project,” we think, “just look at all my other responsibilities!” But if we’re really honest. If we take a moment to step back and get some perspective, then we can see that everyone else has the same amount of time each week that we do.
Millionaires and the self-employed have the same 168 hours each week that we do. Those bestselling authors have the same 168 hours we do. Those artists and entrepreneurs, so many of whom started while working another full-time job, have the same number of minutes and seconds available to them each day as each of us. It’s how they’ve used them that makes the difference.
We so often wait for the big break. We wait for the unexpected windfall, the right conditions, the chance for more time, before we begin to chase our dreams. But the reality is that the big break rarely comes, the right conditions never happen, and we will always have only 168 hours in a week.
I titled this post with a question: “What would you do if you didn’t have to work?” And I offered an answer to that question. . . More of what you’re doing now. And I believe that answer is the truth.
We are productive at work because we have a boss and a paycheck for accountability. If we don’t produce we get to start looking for another job. But how we use our free time is an indicator of what we would do with our days if we didn’t have to work. Looking at my life the last few weeks, I’d have to say that I would spend most of my time laying on the couch looking for something good on TV. I want to say that I’d work harder and spend more time writing and building my blog, but that probably isn’t true.
Whatever your dream is, you can’t just wait around for the perfect opportunity, otherwise you won’t ever act on your dream. You need to start now. Today! You need to start chasing your dream now as though conditions were ideal, even if they aren’t. Eventually you’ll be able to create the opportunity for ideal conditions. And if, by some stroke of luck or good fortune, the ideal conditions present themselves, you’ll have lots of practice taking action to make the most of it.
Where are you waiting for a big break? How do you spend your free time? What would you do if you didn’t have to work?
