💸 Goal planning EP3: If money were no object...

7 prompts and answers to figure it out

Dear reader,

Isn’t it the hardest question? “If money were no object, what would you do?” It sounds so simple yet I hate how difficult it is to answer. To make it easier, I picked a few prompts from an article by Sam Crawford¹. Visualisation has been helpful lately, so hopefully my answers inspire you to complete it as well!

First, for copy-paste’s sake, here are all of the questions:

• What things actually bring you joy (with no regrets)?

• Is your current job what you want to do forever?

• What is your favourite thing to do on your days off?

• If you were retired with a pension, what would you spend your days doing?

• What lifestyle do you want for yourself?

• Without listing anything material - what do you desire?

• Is there something you’ve never experienced that you’d love to do?

Now, if you’re curious about my answers, read ahead!

❤️ What things actually bring you joy (with no regrets)?

Just as a side note for your own practise: I recommend brain dumping everything that comed to mind before groupping them into categories. These are probably your main values!

Relationships

• Spending time with family

• Chatting with friends

• Going on short adventure trips with people I trust

• Escape games

• Writing stories for my friends (although it still can be stressful)

Health & mind

• Walking in nature

• Strength training

• Yin yoga (long stretches)

• Tidying, whether for me or for others

• Dancing to hip music

• Growing plants and petting animals

Growth

• Journaling and thinking about how I can grow and become a better person

• Learning difficult things on my own

• Learning about science and technologies to understand the world

• Learning about culture and languages to understand people

Connection

• Group activities (drawing, games, sport, hikes…)

• Doing something good for someone else

• Teaching and sharing knowledge

• Bonding over common interest (like art classes, international meetups)

🧑‍💼 Is your current job what you want to do forever?

I’m in a weird industry - my job is evolving as fast as I’m growing. I’m covering for a bunch of roles, mainly UX/UI/process design. I think designing things and solving problems can stay at the core of my career, although the rest might change a lot. Anyway, I’m not looking forward to changing jobs anytime soon. I’ve got so much to learn here.

☕️ What is your favourite thing to do on your days off?

• Meeting with family or friends and treating them to a nice restaurant

• Walking in nature

• Relaxing at home, journaling, studying

• Watching fun shows in different languages

🧓 If you were retired with a pension, what would you spend your days doing?

• Going to parks or cafés with friends and look at people pass by

• Watch TV at home with family

• Cook and bake, tidy for family to visit

• Maybe gaming with friends if that’s still a thing

• Reading and writing, to keep learning and teaching

🧭 What lifestyle do you want for yourself?

One of balance. One one hand, I want to build a safe and comfortable space to grow with my close family and friends. One the other hand, I want to keep learning and trying new things, meeting inspiring people and finding what I like. This can work if I have my safe home to come back to to recharge and relax.

💫 Without listing anything material - what do you desire?

• Safety and comfort at home

• Love and support with close ones

• Rewarding lifelong learning

• Sharing and connecting with peers

🆕 Is there something you’ve never experienced that you’d love to do?

• Building a family: Motherhood and parenting, love and trust to the extent of marriage - not a priority, but definitely something to look forward to.

• Indoor climbing, or another sport with friends - we usually go for hikes, so this would be a good option for rainy days!

• Self-defence class or dance class (both I applied for and waiting on an answer) - seems super fun to learn, and so far from something my close friends would do.

• Visiting Korea - taking family or friends after learning the language would be amazing

• Remote work from abroad - not for too long though, I get homesick!

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When I first read the authors answers, I couldn’t relate at all. What do you think? Is there anything you can relate with, or are you going on a completely different path?

I hope you have fun journaling this week!

Best,

Lou

✍️ Dear language learner

Learn your target language with useful sentences! Here are a few to translate to test yourself. If they’re relevant to you, you can add them to your notes or spaced-repetition system.

🌱 Beginner

What makes you happy?

🌿 Intermediate

What is your favourite thing to do on your days off?

🌳 Advanced

Is there something you’ve never experienced that you’d love to do?

Thank you for reading “I heard from Lou”. It can be hard to find people who share your passion for learning. If you have friends who might like this letter, let them know.

1. What would you do if money were no object? - By Sam Crawford