By Lloyd Metcalf

“What if” is a powerful statement and question.

What if you won the lottery tomorrow? We all ask ourselves this question and daydream about the things we would do if we won a lottery.

Let’s take this “what if” a little further. What if you won a HUGE lottery? What about fifty billion dollars?

You cash in your tax-free winnings and have a full-throttle go at life. After you buy your family new homes, help the needy, save numerous endangered species and all the good things we tell ourselves we would do with the money, you will need to come home to rest eventually. You drive home in your hovercar with your T-Rex buddy to your castle (or other idyllic home) and plop down on the couch to rest. You filled up your bucket list and have satisfied everything you wanted to do with scads of money.

When you wake up from your nap, what do you do next? After all the humanitarian work, virtuous deeds, travel and adventure… what do you do now? Let’s assume you still have a couple billion remaining and there is no need to worry for the rest of your life. What will you do to add value to the rest of your life? What thing do you do when there is no need for financial reward or obligation?

For me, I decided I would call all my best friends to invite them into my castle to play Dungeons & Dragons and make art indefinitely. Maybe we would create new fantastical worlds, new monsters, paint and draw them or make fantasy maps. This was the defining moment that shaped my career. It was after asking this question that I decided I would become an illustrator and game designer. Later I quit my office job to start Fail Squad Games.

What would you do? How would you fill your time with quality? A person can only sleep late for so long, loaf about to do nothing, or drift through life. Once money and time are no object, what is the thing in your heart that would create a quality existence?

Chances are, this is the thing (or some version of it) that could be filling your life every day. This thing may deserve some focus, even if it seems like it shouldn’t be able to create an income. By rights, drawing pictures of dragons and playing Dungeons and Dragons shouldn’t bring me an income, but it does.

I’m not the only person to ever ask myself this question. It’s a question that many entrepreneurs ask themselves to find their direction and moral compass.

I wince when I see people trying to pursue degrees because they are sure there is a 9-5 job at the end. I have even heard, “Well, I’m not crazy about this, but I’ll be able to find a job.”

It’s not the piece of paper with your degree on it that gets a job, and it’s not the daily job that creates happiness in life. It’s the educational experience, the things we learn, the path we put our feet upon that creates those things. Our degrees and education are a tool box to apply to situations on our journey. A “job” was not my end goal, and never will be. Yes, I have work, offers and commissions, but I asked WHAT IF and found my direction. It may change in the future, it may not, but the liberation of asking “what if” may help you find your path.

What if… is an editorial piece written to ask the question “What if…”. The intent is to ask the question, imagine the result, maybe spark the imagination and conversation.