I had trouble sleeping the other night because I was filled with a question I couldn’t precisely answer.  That question was simple:  what do I want right now?

I had spent the day unhappy and unsettled, and I wasn’t sure why.  Weekends lately are harder for me than work days because I am given more time to contemplate these things, and I don’t have easy answers.  As I tossed and turned, I began asking myself these questions.

• What would you do if someone handed you $10 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $100 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $1,000 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $10,000 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $100,000 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $1,000,000 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $10,000,000 right now?
• What would you do if someone handed you $100,000,000 right now?

The purpose of this experiment is to help us understand where we sit economically and also to free ourselves from the constraints of concerns about finances when trying to understand our true desires. 

Meeting our basic needs consume much of our time and energy (a varying amount depending on your socioeconomic level), so finding the question above that pegs where you stop meeting needs and start thinking about wants is a useful one.  

It helped me to consider these questions. The answers don’t so much matter as much as how you feel as you consider them.

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