September 2022

So, we didn’t win Mega Millions

If you’re like me, you probably don’t play the lottery regularly. But when the Mega Millions jackpot reached over 1.34 BILLION dollars last week, you might have jumped in with about 14,391,740 others and bought a few tickets.  I certainly did!

It was so much fun fantasizing about winning…..The trips I would take, the friends I would surprise with money, the charities I would support in a huge way, and so on. And I promised a trip to Paris for the clerk who sold me the tickets.

I’m guessing you did something similar. Did you dream about quitting your job and moving to Portugal or Bali?  Did you fantasize about starting a non-profit to combat a social issue or a rare medical condition?  Did you dream about paying off your debts and those of your college classmates?

 Needless to say, I didn’t win.  Nor, most likely, did you.

 But I think our fantasies are valuable. They point us in the direction of what needs to change in our lives — of what we need to quit, of what we need to add — and of who and what are most important to us — the people and the projects that we hold most dearly.

That said, take a moment and think about what you would have done had you won even a few million dollars. And see if you can make those changes now, without the lottery winnings. That might mean reevaluating how you spend your time or your money, adding more fun and adventure to your life, or even changing your career. 

You may not have won a billion dollars, but these new insights can be priceless.