“If Bill Cosby won the state lottery, would he retire from show business? Would
Barbra Streisand quit singing? Would Shaq O’Neil quit playing basketball?”
The point he was making was, if you didn’t have to do your job, would you? If you’re not happy doing what you’re doing, then you’re not going to succeed.
This started me thinking, “If I were suddenly rich (I don’t play the lottery, but someone might give me a large sum of money) what would I do with my life?”. What would I pay someone else to do for me? Then I wondered if I could make those things take less time than they do now. That way, I’d have more time to do what I really love.
House cleaning, there’s what a lot of mom’s would pay for, a maid. Well, I wouldn’t. I don’t want someone else mopping my floor or doing my laundry. When I keep up with the house, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. If someone else folded hubby’s underwear, I’d be upset. Since I’ve been following FlyLady’s advice, my house really does clean itself, I don’t need anyone to do that.
A personal chef, that is one thing I think hubby and I would agree is something we would love. It isn’t even the actual work that I mind with cooking, it’s the planning. Meals on the table, on time, without any planning, that would be great. Wait, that’s what I get when I do Leanne’s slow cooker freezer meals. I do have to cook one day a month, but what’s one day? It wouldn’t be worth spending my millions on a chef when I get wonderful meals without the hassle from www.savingdinner.com.
I would hire a landscape architect. Not a long term gardener, but a professional who could help me finish my yard. I like to do the maintenance, and I do like the planning too, but 3 acres is overwhelming me right now. I could just use a little help. Maybe I could sit down today and make a five year plan for my landscaping, then it wouldn’t weigh on my mind.
I would also hire a teacher. I love home schooling my kids, but I do get behind on grading papers. This also can be done without too much expense through a correspondence course. I think if I can pay for that next year, it would allow me to spend more of my time and energy on projects and fun learning.
I would hire one additional person. I would hire a seamstress. I would take her the fabrics that I pick out, and I would take the patterns that I want cut out, and I would show her what I want the finished product to turn out like, and she would do the real work. I could spend my time smocking, embroidering, designing, and the projects would get finished. I would really like that a lot. Maybe someday I can have a business partner that does that for me. But for now, I will have to be that person. My day to do that is Wednesday. It’s FlyLady’s antiprocrastination day. So on Wednesday, I have to finish the projects I’ve been dreaming up all week long. That’s not to say that I don’t sew on the other days too, but I have to finish up things one day a week.
What about the things that I could buy with that money? I’m obviously not spending much on services. The Bare Naked Ladies song, “If I had a Million Dollars”, sums up my feelings,
“We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner,
Yeah, but we would eat Kraft Dinner,
Yeah, we’d eat more”.
You see, I’d still buy the things I buy now. I might buy more, but I would still buy the same brands I use now. I don’t use the brands I use now because they’re cheap, I buy them because I like them. I would still buy off the clearance racks, because it just makes sense to me.
I would figure out how to buy wide shoes. I might have to have them custom made somewhere, but I would get my daughter and I lots of shoes that fit. I know I can’t afford that now, because we have odd sized feet.
Would I buy a bigger house? No, I like the location here. I would make a few changes to the house.
I would remodel the kitchen and include a desk area for schooling and business. I would give myself a crafting/Ebay room, and I would have a new laundry room and a bathroom on the porch where we could shower and change after a swim in the lake. I would make a deck that wrapped around to connect the back and side porches, and the deck would have a hot tub. I would make all the floors in the house hardwood, and I would screen in the front porch. I would put siding and soffit and facia on the house along with a new roof. I would make a grilling kitchen down by the lake and cover it with a gazebo.
I know those things won’t get done right away on our income, but I don’t think any of them are out of the realm of possibility. Infact, if I really wanted to, I could get a mortgage to cover all of that right now, but I don’t want the payment.
OK, I would buy two new cars. Last week my mother said, “You know, when I see most people get a new car I think they’re being frivolous, but when you get a new car, I’m going to say, ‘what took you so long?’”. We live so far in the country that we put way too many miles on our car. If I had two cars, I could put half as many miles on each one. Phooey, if I had lots of money, I’d have a convertible for the beach and fun rides, a fuel efficient car that could carry groceries for shopping trips, an SUV that the dog and kids had lots of room in for geocaching, a truck for going to Home Depot and antique shopping, and a nice sedan for when I’m dressed up.
When I do decide to go car shopping, I’m going to take that list to the dealer. Maybe he can help me find a SUV/truck for kids, dogs, antiques, and geocaching; and a car that is fuel efficient, has room for groceries, is fun on the beach, but looks good when you’re dressed up.
Do you see what I’ve done? I’ve prioritized the things in my life. I’ve decided what I would change, and realized what I wouldn’t. It helped me see that I really am contented. I really don’t need to win the lottery. What would you hire out? What would you do, even if you didn’t have to?
I hope that you are doing what you love and loving what you do.
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