Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Jeff Goins of Goins Writer.
“We waste so many days waiting for the weekend. So many nights wanting morning. Our lust for future comfort is the biggest thief of life.” —Joshua Glenn Clark
There is this popular idea in our world today that the best thing to happen to you would be to win the lottery. Then, you could spend the remainder of your days on a beach somewhere, sipping cocktails and living the “good life.” But nothing could be further from the truth.
According to most studies, when you win the lottery, you are actually more prone to bankruptcy. One report said that 70% of lottery winners actually end up going broke in the first seven years. In fact, it seems the more money you win, the more likely you are to lose it all. So from a financial standpoint, winning the lottery just might be the worst thing to happen to you. But let’s not stop there.
We’ve all read the statistics about how getting rich doesn’t make you happy, but for some reason we need to find out for ourselves. Maybe winning the lottery for you, though, doesn’t look like buying a Powerball ticket. Maybe it means earning “passive income” or finding your dream job. At times we are all tempted to seek an escape.
When we envision the life we want, many of us treat work as the enemy, as an obligation to endure instead an adventure to embrace.
But what if the life you wanted was actually right in front of you?
After quitting my job and making the transition to become a full-time writer, I thought I had it made. Finally escaping the monotony of a day job, I could relax and enjoy life. But what I discovered was now that I didn’t have any reason to work, my sense of purpose disappeared. I became more confused than ever.
Around that time, I talked to my friend Stu who told me how he was able to find meaning in his work even while punching a clock for a paycheck. He told me about a trip he took to Africa where he saw how education could make a difference in the lives of people who weren’t born with the same opportunities he had. With his wife, Stu started a nonprofit to help build schools in rural Kenya. And when he returned from his trip, he went back to work with a renewed sense of purpose.
On a fundamental level, we all want to feel like what we do is a part of something bigger than us. And the truth is that can happen in any context, if you have the right mindset. What brought me out of my funk was not more leisure, but the realization that I needed to work. We all do. But it’s not just the work that fulfills us. It’s the way we work.
Acclaimed psychologist Viktor Frankl addresses this in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. At a time when much of psychology said human motivation was about seeking pleasure, Frankl argued that what we really want is meaning. And the way we find it is not by numbing ourselves with substances or stuff but by doing something that matters.
For Frankl, this belief in the importance of meaning held tremendous personal significance. It is what had kept him alive while imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps during WWII. It was the book he was writing and the hope of seeing his wife that allowed him to endure.
When I quit my day job to chase my dream, I realized my life was not just about me. It couldn’t be. And if I went to work only for myself or in hopes of one day retiring so I could live the good life, then the work I did today would have no purpose. And honestly, I tried that. It didn’t work.
To paraphrase Frankl, we don’t want to be just happy. We want a reason to be happy.
The worst thing you could do with your life is waste it, believing the only reason you exist is to seek pleasure. (tweet that)
We all have a purpose, a task for which we were designed, and the goal of your life is to find it—not somewhere out there, but hidden in the life you’re already living.
And if you can embrace that truth, you’ve already won the lottery.
***
Jeff Goins is a writer who lives just outside of Nashville with his wife, son, and border collie. His book, The Art of Work, is all about finding your calling in work and life.
Fawn says
Love this article. Life indeed is enriched when there is a purpose, but also when one’s action has a positive impact on the lives of others, especially those in need. Thank you for this article.
Asheley says
If you are working a job you love then winning the lottery may not be necessary. If you live on social assistance or disability and have to struggle to make ends meet then you will realise winning the lottery can be the blessing that will give you dignity because the government simply does not care.
Brian Robben says
It’s so true that having a “why” behind your work is the difference between a tiresome, bored job or a thrilling, exciting position that you love waking up to. As a full-time writer and entrepreneur, I work for the fact that my content improves the lives of my readers, in big and small ways.
JC says
In all these comments I did not see one single person challenge the notion of “work” as a means of subjugation. The reality in a profit driven society (which now is ubiquitous) is that you are a wage slave and all this talk about doing “good” work is a bit pollyanna.
Most human beings are born into a caste system that they are totally unaware of …Work itself is a term of conformity. I do not need to work for a living I’m already alive.. I don’t need to learn to carry my weight I was born carrying it. People lust after a lottery because they instinctively know they are meant to explore their humanism and their short lives are only abbreviated more by toiling at mundane useless jobs… Ones that generally are benefiting someone else that’s already won a lottery or been born into a position that is akin to winning a lottery.
The class system is the result of the capitalist consumer society and it’s need to hold down the majorities humanity so that the “winners” can enjoy their just rewards in exclusion. Gated communities and remote paradises where a fraction of humanity gluttonously gorge themselves at the expense of the rest
We don’t need to work we need to live and if freed to pursue our humanity the labor we would choose to do would by default be rewarding because it would be a choice compared to a compulsory surrender to someone else’s bottom line
In the paraphrased words of Buckmeister Fuller “we need to leave behind the specious notion that man must toil to justify his existence”
ynot says
That is the smartest most realistic thing ever said.
The whole world needs to learn this. We are only human.
I’ve been working pretty much every day for 35 years.
Work sucks.
ella says
Am ella from south Africa but based in USA, dr duggan uma gave me my wealth after following his rule about how to make it possible,, i dont talk much i just believed and i achieved it,,,Do you dream about winning,,,do you want it to become real,,,your wish is his command,,,what you WANT is what you GET,,,contact dr duggan uma for any problem,,both in health,relationship and wealth problem,,,,,,his email;drdugganuma@outlook.com,,,,,,,,,,,,don’t thank me,,thank him for me,.
James says
The problem with people i feel is they rely way too much on other things. And they complain about not having enough money. Budget better. I am starting to become a minimalist and it truly is changing my life. I am on disability and live comfortable. The lottery i feel is for people who hide their happiness.
Chagai says
If you won the lottery. I am sorry but you get nothing. You will lose everything. Because money truly cannot buy Eternal Life.
Zar says
Very disappointed, I’m left only feeling more like lottery winning is the only answer for me:
Problem 1: The income-happiness studies are bunk because they don’t account for time, only money- assuming the samples were all people with full time jobs. What good is more money when you lack the freedom of leisure time to enjoy your life, and the things you can do with financial abundance. Money itself doesn’t equal happiness, but the positive freedom from wage/career slavery certainly does.
Self improvement people tend to spout platitudes like “do what you would do if money was no object, and then make a living form it.” This I see as just a confirmation bias from them, ‘I made it this way, so can you.’ Because the harsh reality is that everything costs money, not everyone is capable of becoming “passionate” about a craft that is productive, useful and profitable.
Problem 2:
A nihilist cannot simply find meaning, or create it out of thin air. I’m not saying this to be edgy or pretentious, but some us us are just extremely aware of that our existence has no purpose, and get no satisfaction out of competing, completing, or achieving anything. Most people are not like this though, they need to latch on to something to adopt as their purpose, and many do find meaning in their work, whether its realistic for them, or just a distraction to keep them from seeing how depressing the circumstances of it are. These are the same people who waste all their money after winning a lottery jackpot, because they try to find purpose or happiness through spending.
Short of winning the lottery, a work-life balance situation is the next best idea, but whatever that ideal job, its still work, and its not something most of us would do if we had other options for money. Further, some like myself have just given up on finding any work that doesn’t either take up your whole life, or amount to a measly pittance. We are “NEETS,” the societal dropouts supported by family or government benefits. And in this situation, lottery winning is absolutely the best thing that could happen, because it allows financial freedom without giving up time freedom.
dumplim says
I find it humorous that people still believe or even write down that 70% bogus statistic from the mid-late 80s. That study only showed jackpots up to 150K, which can easily be spent on college tuition, a mortgage, taxes, etc. The whole meaning behind this post is to try and make lottery players feel guilty about playing the lottery with a scare tactic. Well the evidence is in, and it was conducted in the EU where they do not tax winnings. They found that the lottery curse tended to only happen to 5% or less of people. After winning, most people found a better purpose in life and live their life in enjoyment. So stop with the same catchline thrown out by smug, conceited people.
For the last part of the article, I tend to agree with the premise that a person must have purpose in their life in order to find happiness.
SAJ says
If there is no God, why shouldn’t I live for pleasure? True purpose is found in seeking out answers to life’s biggest questions.
ella says
Am ella from south Africa but based in USA, dr duggan uma gave me my wealth after following his rule about how to make it possible,, i dont talk much i just believed and i achieved it,,,Do you dream about winning,,,do you want it to become real,,,your wish is his command,,,what you WANT is what you GET,,,contact dr duggan uma for any problem,,both in health,relationship and wealth problem,,,,,,his email;drdugganuma@outlook.com,,,,,,,,,,,,don’t thank me,,thank him for me,.