If Money Were No Object, What Would You Choose to Write (or Not Write)?

An Exercise to Align Your Career With Your Values

All writing is freelance, which means we’re always on the hunt for the next paycheck. Jobs and contracts end, shows don’t get picked up, you get paid for a second step and then just stare at the ghosts of those optional rewrite payments, taunting you for years.

This job, while romanticized as a gold rush career where one great idea can make you instantly rich, in reality takes a lot of financial planning to not crash and burn after a few weeks in a writers room and then a 9 month dry spell (oh god, it’s too real).

Without savings and planning, we’re left to chase some pretty wild gigs to make ends meet.

And sure, we all chase writing gigs that we aren’t completely in love with. Sometimes you have to pay the bills. Sometimes there’s only one job knocking on your door. Sometimes you end up writing a series of internal videos showing Verizon Store employees how to sell Google’s new line of phones and accessories (yes, I did this. And honestly, I got some good jokes in there. Unfortunately only Verizon employees will ever know that, but they’ll back me up on this, right?!)

Especially early in our careers we don’t have the option to turn much down. Beggars can’t be choosers, and there’s nothing wrong with taking the jobs in front of you to get some experience, but at a certain point our perspective on what is worth our time becomes muddy.

Without savings, we have to write whatever other people want us to write. With savings, we get to choose.

I was working on that “how to have money” part in the only way I know how (mainlining personal finance audiobooks while doing yard word) when I stumbled on something surprising.

I found an exercise that not only gave me perspective on my money goals, but also on my entire approach to writing, creativity, and how to know what is worthwhile of my time in my life, generally. Tall order! But this was some serious self-actualization shit, and it’s continued to play a huge role in my life.

The question I was trying to answer while listening to this finance book was: “What do you value in your life, and how does money play a role (or not play a role)?”

The question I was actually asking was “How do you build a creative career in line with your values?” And by answering that question, I’ve been able to focus on writing the projects I truly get value out of, as well as welcome teaching and pottery and many other creative acts into my life that I otherwise may have stopped myself from spending time on since they didn't seem to push my career forward.

The idea is to spend some time coming up with your personal mission statement to help you understand how you would spend your life if you had the financial freedom to do whatever you like.

A pretty great idea already, but as I did it, I realized it was clarifying certain things about why I should or shouldn’t spend my time writing that new spec or that weird branded gig that sounds easy (but I know from experience will take forever and not pay enough). It was a really interesting exercise, so I wanted to share with anyone interested in the financial OR creative aspects of it.

From the audiobook “How to Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early” by JD Roth (Great Courses/Audible Original - free with an audible membership)

5 Steps (give yourself about an hour to complete):

1. On a piece of paper, write the question “What are my lifetime goals?” For five minutes, list everything that comes to mind. Don’t worry about money - it’s no object in this exercise. No filter. Everything you’d like to accomplish in your life. Fill the page. Then review and note the top 3 that seem most important.

2. Do it again for “How would I like to spend my next five years?” Suspend judgement of what’s possible to you right now. Write down everything you’d want to do in those 5 years. Then highlight the 3 most appealing.

3. One last time, but now we’re going to reframe in a big way: “How would I live if I knew I’d be dead in 6 months”. These aren’t goals anymore, these are the most important things to you with a limited time to do them. So what’s MOST important? Travel? Write your memoirs? Eat the best food in the world? Pick the 3 most important of these.

4. Now make a list called “My most important goals” Copy over the goals/activities marked most important from all three previous question. if they are similar (some form of “travel” is in all of them), merge those into one goal.

5. Finally, write “My Mission Statement” Look through the most important goals. Is there a theme? More than one? Does one draw more importance than the others? Draft a one paragraph personal mission statement, and make the paragraph compelling. Something that feels inspiring to you when you read it. Then set it down and go away for a week. Keep it in the back of your mind. Then review. How does the mission statement make you feel? Is it true to who you are? Can you make it better? Work to find a simple paragraph that sticks with you to keep motivating you through the good and bad.

So what did you come up with? I’ve put my answers below —

What are my lifetime goals?

1. Travel and see the world

2. Meet interesting people and learn from their experiences

3. Create stories that connect with people and inspire them

4. Create stories that inspire me and show me a deeper path of experience in my own life

5. Help others who struggle in finding their way through writing/creating

6. Make movies that stand the test of time / are meaningful and reflective of our experience in the world, and give people an escape and excuse to have fun when things get difficult

7. Have a family and teach my kids to be creative and bring brightness into the world

8. Live a life worthy of writing a memoir and then write one

9. Be able to take vacations around the world multiple times a year

10. Connect with people and experiences in ways that allow me to be present and fully experience them. Connection from myself to people I can learn from, and connecting to people I can teach.

11. Create opportunities to experience new creative pursuits

12. Lead a healthy life that allows me to live long enough to experience everything I can

How would I like to spend the next five years?

1. Working underneath fantastic writers/artists and learning from the way that they work in order to bring more to my life

2. spending more time traveling and seeing the world with my wife

3. pursuing new creative projects

4. writing films and tv that make a name for myself

5. increasing my savings

6. connecting and making friends with more people that I admire, who drive me to try new things and expand my own abilities

7. Giving myself the tools to lead a fulfilling life in my late thirties - creating the space for later in life / saving money and investing to give myself options later.

8. Being more spontaneous and open to new experiences as they present themselves

9. Finding my voice in my writing and creative pursuits

10. Only writing the projects that I want to write. Only making the things I want to make. The things that feel true to me and what I want to leave the world with.

How would I live if I knew I’d be dead in 6 months?

1. I would travel to as many places as possible and talk to as many people as I could, experiencing everything they can offer from their perspective of what they think is the most important part of their lives. Learning other people’s passions and connecting with them on that deeper level.

2. I would leave behind as much as I could. would write down everything I know about creating stories, and why it’s so important to me. Why these tools allow me to be a better person in my regular life, and how telling stories has helped me find a life that excites me even when it frustrates me. I would want to give those tools to other people who have a lifetime of struggling ahead in hopes I could help them find what they need to change their lives.

3. I would spend money on experiences and not things

4. I would eat great food, drink amazing wine, and have dinner parties with people I love and new people

5. I would go on a trip with my whole family and embrace how chaotic it would be

6. I would see friends every single day, go on trips with them, have deep conversations and truly get to know them in ways we haven’t connected before.

7. I would create as many ways to live on as possible. Taking pictures with friends, creating memories with them, writing down letters to people, writing a memoir.

8. I would spend zero time on bullshit. I would quit my current job immediately so I wasn’t constrained to their schedule and emails and meetings. I would only give my attention to the things that open new doors

MY MOST IMPORTANT GOALS:

1. Tell stories that stand the test of time / are meaningful and reflective of our experience in the world, and give people an escape and excuse to have fun when things get difficult

2. Have a family and teach my kids to be creative and bring brightness into the world

3. Connect with people and experiences in ways that allow me to be present and fully experience them. Connection from myself to people I can learn from, and connecting to people I can teach.

4. Lead a healthy life that allows me to live long enough to experience everything I can

5. Working underneath fantastic writers/artists and learning from the way that they work in order to bring more to my life

6. connecting and making friends with more people that I admire, who drive me to try new things and expand my own abilities

7. Only writing the projects that I want to write. Only making the things I want to make. The things that feel true to me and what I want to leave the world with.

8. I would travel to as many places as possible and talk to as many people as I could, experiencing everything they can offer from their perspective of what they think is the most important part of their lives. Learning other people’s passions and connecting with them on that deeper level.

9. I would leave behind as much as I could. would write down everything I know about creating stories, and why it’s so important to me. Why these tools allow me to be a better person in my regular life, and how telling stories has helped me find a life that excites me even when it frustrates me. I would want to give those tools to other people who have a lifetime of struggling ahead in hopes I could help them find what they need to change their lives.

10. I would see friends every single day, go on trips with them, have deep conversations and truly get to know them in ways we haven’t connected before.

MY MISSION STATEMENT:

My life is about creating deep and meaningful connections with other people through art, stories, learning and community.

Yes, it’s as simple as that for me. That was the theme I saw running throughout my answers, and also through my work.

I write and direct and produce tv and film because I want to share these emotional experiences with others. Comedy is just as important of an emotional conduit as anything else.

I teach because I want to connect with others who aspire to the places I’ve been fortunate enough to experience, and I love helping others take that next step.

I make pottery because to me there is a conversation that every piece creates between me and the person who uses it. Even a mug is an opportunity to build that connection while someone enjoys a cup of coffee before a long day.

I started this newsletter for the same reason, and it’s the reason I’ve built and run writing groups and film festivals and discords and countless other seemingly disparate things.

This same idea threads through all of it, and knowing that has helped me bring more of it into my life while also choosing where to not spend my time and attention.