What if you never make any money? 💸

Someone asked me recently, “If making money isn’t the reason that you’re doing this [gestures to everything], what’s the purpose of doing it?”

I think most people dream of financial freedom.

We dream of waking up and going about life being able to pursue whatever we feel like doing without having to worry about rent, the skyrocketing cost of food, our retirement plans, our kids’ college tuitions, etc etc.

And so my friend’s question gave me a shitload of pause.

Not make money EVER?? Gasp. "But how will I get free?"

I even thought about just "shutting it down."

But after avoiding the discomfort for a while…I answered the question.

I think for me…if I were to never ever make any money on any of my written words...

....then the purpose in doing any of the things I’m doing is Exploring the Unknown. Testing my own limits. And in turn, using my discoveries to help others.

…and actually...I find that WILDLY exciting!

I’m instantly taken back to the mission statement at the beginning of every Star Trek: The Next Generation episode: “To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations…to boldly go where no one has gone before.” And my little nerd heart feels waves of happiness.

I realized, I don’t necessarily need to have “financial freedom” to pursue “whatever I feel like doing”.

I can realize that dream of “doing whatever I feel like”, a little bit, in just an hour or so a day.

And I can make dream projects like my illustration book happen too! In sometimes as little as 10 min a day.

And the other cool thing? I can pull some of those "pie in the sky" ideas into my day job too, and see if they stick.

When my purpose is “Exploring the Unknown” — now THAT’s something that it actually gives me joy to wake up a little extra early for! 😃

And having the motivation to be consistent...that's what it's all about, right?

Because this was so helpful for me, I want to invite you to do the same exercise, if you’d like to try it.

If making money isn’t the reason that you’re doing this [gestures to everything], what’s the purpose of doing it? And what would you like your purpose to be?

Hit reply and let me know.

-Cathy