Have you taken the quest to “Find Your True Self”? Need a little primer? Here’s a quick fun exercise to get you started. If you have completed the quest it wouldn’t hurt to do this exercise and test your results!
Last year I was interviewed for a feature story in More Magazine about women who have “re-invented” themselves.
The author asked me if there was ever a moment in my life when everything came together for me so that I knew exactly what I needed to change and could see the path ahead. It was right then that I remembered a life-changing question I had asked my now husband on one of our very first dates. I didn’t know it at the time but it was a conversation that would change my life.
What would you do if someone just handed you a million dollars?
Picture this…
CURTAIN OPENS
A slightly chardonnay tipsy thirty-something sits on a high stool at a graffiti scarred wooden bar table in the local Irish pub. She is a little dizzy with the feeling that everything in her life is changing. There has been some major upheavals for her recently (good and bad) and she is a little terrified of what the future holds. In a moment of inspiration she asks her dashingly handsome and sophisticated dinner partner (you’re welcome husband), “What would you do if someone just gave you a million dollars?”
They start to make a list – they scribble together on a napkin placed between them and end up with things like:
“Give time and money to charity”
“Travel around the world”
“Do work we are passionate about”
“Spend more time with family and friends”
Then the dashingly handsome date looks up at the thirty-something with a slight hesitation and says,
“You know… We could do all of those things now”. Lightbulb!
END SCENE
So here is an assignment for you.
- Sit down in a quiet place with a pen and paper (chardonnay, wings and dashingly handsome dinner partner are optional).
- Make a list of all of the things you would do if someone walked up to you and gave you a million dollars.
- When you are done go back to that list and circle everything that you could do (or at least start doing) right now. I guarantee you will be surprised at how many circles you end up with.
- Now make a list of everything you are doing with you life right now, your job, your hobbies, your responsibilities.
- When you are done with that list go through and circle everything that you would STOP doing if you had a million dollars.
Hmmmm… looks like you’ve got some work to do. I’d love to know what’s on your list.
AUTHOR'S BIO

Location-Independent Entrepreneur & Certified Life Coach, Galahad, Wife, Mum, & Adventurer. Co-Founder of Galahads - The Secret Society for Kick-Ass Women. Founder & CEO of Emily Rose Doll Clothes and Wish Doll Company. Founder & CEO of Laptop Life Lisa. Finding the revenue and results inside every entrepreneur. Mum of a rocking 14 year-old daughter visit her at TheOneAndOnlyEmTV. Lucky wife of her soul-mate and fellow adventurer, Mark. Traveling the world while running four businesses and raising a teenager. Journey from the last 6 weeks? Bahamas to Scotland to England to France to Switzerland, currently hanging in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy. @LaptopLifeLisa