What If You Never Had to Work Again?

We've spent our lives learning how to make a living. But have we ever learned how to actually live?

Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding out you never have to work for money again.

No more alarm clocks, bosses, Monday mornings, or worrying about paying the bills. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want.

Sounds amazing, right? I think most of us have dreamed about this at some point. I know I have.

But what if this dream is short-sighted? Because what would you actually do?

Sure, not having to work would be lovely for a while. You could travel, sleep in, spend time with people you love, finally do all those things you never had time for.

But then what? Like, after the first few months?

What would you actually do with your life?

And I'm not talking about how you'd fill your Tuesday afternoon. I'm talking about the next 10, 20, or 40 years.

Because this question might become a lot more relevant than we think. 

With AI advancing so quickly, there's growing discussion about a future where machines could do much of the work humans currently get paid for. And if that happens, it would create a very practical problem for most: what would people actually do for money?

One possible solution being discussed is universal basic income (UBI), where people would receive a regular income regardless of whether they're working.

I recently listened to Tony Robbins on The Diary of a CEO, where he talked about how unprepared we might be for these changes, and it got me thinking. 

What if this dream of not having to work anymore actually comes true?

We've Been Taught How to Work, Not How to Live

I also listened to Joe Rogan's conversation with Zach Bush, where they discussed what might happen if people no longer needed to work for money.

My first thought was, YES! UBI! Finally!! I'd freakin' love that! Finally, I'd be free to do what I actually want and love, instead of having to worry and do things just to make a living.

But what would actually happen if this became a reality?

Rogan and Bush discussed whether it would be some kind of utopia, where people could finally thrive, pursue their passions, and live great lives without having to slave away anymore, or whether they'd end up feeling completely lost and even self-destruct.

Rogan says we haven't been trained or taught how to live a life. The system has taught us to be machines, living this cubicle life and working on production lines. Most people have no idea what they want or who they really are. If you ask them, they haven't even thought about it.

He says the fact that people might not know what to do with their time is a failure of the education system, because we haven't taught people to be curious, explore interesting things, meet people, go places, and experience life.

His point is essentially that school prepared us to participate in the economic system. It didn't necessarily prepare us to have a life.

Think about it. 

The system tells you to go to school, get your qualifications, find a job, show up at a certain time, do what you're told, work toward someone else's goals, go home, repeat.

Then imagine somebody suddenly says:

Okay. You don't have to do any of that anymore. You're free. Go live your life.

... How?

Work Gives Us More Than Money

Here's what I think we overlook when we dream about never having to work again.

Work gives us so much more than money. It gives us structure, identity, belonging, purpose, opportunities to grow and contribute, and a sense of accomplishment.

Take the paycheck out of the equation, and those needs don't disappear. Solving the money problem doesn't solve the human problem.

Even when we complain about our jobs, they're quietly providing a lot of the things that make us feel like we're doing something with our lives.

Take all that away, and what happens?

Sure, some people would probably thrive. They'd pursue their passions, learn new skills, build things, volunteer, create, explore, and contribute in all kinds of ways.

But I think a lot of people would feel completely lost.

Without structure or direction, it's easy to drift into endless entertainment, distractions, and habits that don't actually make us feel good. And the longer that goes on, the worse we start feeling about ourselves, which could easily lead to self-destructive behavior.

We Need a Bridge

If we really are moving toward a future where people no longer need traditional jobs to survive, how are we going to prepare for that?

People would then have to find purpose in something they actually enjoy, and this idea sounds almost absurd to most. They wouldn't know where to start. We don't have this skill because we haven't been taught to think this way.

It's like if society were to shut down. Imagine the entire food system disappearing tomorrow. No supermarkets, no farms supplying them, no restaurants. Nothing. 

There would be total chaos. Most of us don’t know how to hunt or gather food, let alone build a shelter. We don't have these skills because we never had the need for them. All these skills humans once needed to survive have been outsourced to a system.

And I think we've done something similar with purpose, creativity, and meaning in life.

We've outsourced so much of our structure, belonging, identity, achievement, contribution, and even our social lives to work. And if you remove work from people's lives, then what?

And I think that's exactly the challenge we could be facing.

For generations, we've organized life around making a living. If making a living ceases to be the thing organizing our lives, we'll be faced with something many of us have never learned how to do: design a life.

My Own Little Existential Crisis

I've actually had a little preview of what this might look like.

When I quit my job last year, I had some savings, so I didn't need to rush back to work. For the first couple of months, it was so nice. I finally had the freedom I'd been craving. 

But after a while, things started to change.

I began feeling aimless, pointless, restless. I could feel my self-confidence withering away. I suddenly felt less than, and small. I didn’t feel good at all. I had what I wanted - freedom - but I was unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and without purpose. What was the point of my existence?

Taking a pause is nice, but apparently not for long. We really do need a purpose, something to work and move toward. Something that makes us feel like we’re growing, contributing, and actually doing something with our lives.

As Tony Robbins said in that interview, “If you're missing growing and contributing, you will not feel fulfilled.”

So I decided it was time to get back on track.

I went to update my CV and LinkedIn profile, and I remember thinking, OMG, this is not who I am at all! And whatever I'd been doing up until then, I didn't want to do any of those things anymore!

My CV told the story of what I'd done professionally. But it didn't really tell the story of me.

And then what happened?

Well… existential crisis, baby! 🫠

Because if I don't want to do what I've been doing, what do I want to do then? And if this isn't who I am at all, then who am I? Or better yet, who do I want to be? What am I actually good at? What am I actually interested in? What really matters to me? And where do I go from here?

And this took me down a path of what I now like to call my Inner Inventory.

I started looking for answers. Looking at myself from all kinds of different angles. My interests, strengths, experiences, everything I'd learned outside of work, what other people saw in me, and how I actually spent my days.

I wanted to find out what I'm naturally good at, what I genuinely love doing, what gives me energy, and what drains it. How do I work best? What kind of environment and pace suit me? What are my core strengths and gifts, and how can I use them in a way that feels natural to me, instead of constantly pushing myself into burnout?

And, ultimately, how could I turn all of that into work that I absolutely love, that feels meaningful to me, AND get paid for it?

I explored different exercises, gathered feedback from people who knew me, and looked for patterns across everything I'd discovered.

It was like going on a treasure hunt, but inside myself! It was fascinating!

And the best part? It actually led somewhere!

By the end of it, I had a much clearer picture of who I really was, what genuinely interested me, and which direction I wanted to go in. I ended up with three real opportunities and practical next steps that aligned with who I really am and the kind of life I wanted to create.

I hadn't figured out my entire life, but I finally had some real direction. And it felt like my direction, not something I was supposed to want or do.

Maybe This Is the Bridge We Need

The funny thing about it all? I hadn't set out to create any kind of process. I was just trying to figure out my own life. And when I shared what I'd done with some friends, several of them raised their hands and said, “Um, whatever you just did, I want to do it for myself too!!”

That's when I realized, oh, I'm clearly not the only one struggling with these questions.

So now I'm turning what I did into a step-by-step process that others can follow too.

And listening to these conversations about AI, work, and the future, I'm starting to realize: What if this is exactly the kind of thing we're going to need?

Because I've had a little taste of what happens when you suddenly have all this freedom but no idea what to do with it. How lost it can make you feel. 😐

I'd spent most of my adult life knowing how to work, meet deadlines, take responsibility, and get things done. But figuring out what I wanted to work toward myself? That's a completely different skill. And I think it's a skill a lot of us are going to need to learn.

So maybe preparing for this future isn't just about figuring out how people will make a living without traditional jobs, but more about giving people the tools and skills to create a life they actually want to live.

We've spent generations learning how to make a living. It's time we learned how to design a life.

One that we actually enjoy and love living!

♡