I have a new question to ask my coaching clients: what would you do as a bored billionaire? Let me tell you why.

There’s a question I already like to ask when I get to know clients: why? I pick out something that they enjoy doing either as part of school or outside school, and I ask them why they like to do it. Simple, right? But then I take that answer, and ask them why? And then after that answer, I ask them why? And maybe one or two more whys. When you dig down to the roots, similar activities can give you vastly different answers. One person is in the National Honor Society because they have trouble thinking of themselves as successful or worthy without some sort of external recognition. Another person is in it for the volunteer opportunities, because they feel alone and powerless unless they’re helping other people. The exercise doesn’t always give valuable insights, but it often does.

And then this week I clicked on an interview with Kevin O’ Leary (also known as Mr. Wonderful on the tv show Shark Tank). It’s about investing money—and an app he’s made to help with that—but here’s the part that jumped out at me:

I was very fortunate. One of my companies was a huge success. …. I tried to retire for three years. I had this strategy, I wanted to see every beach on Earth. It was one of the things I wanted to do. To see these amazing beaches — in Cyprus, Cambodia, Vietnam and Europe. I did them all and I was bored out of my mind. This isn’t life, this sucks. It was going from one place to another and saying I hit this beach. So I have seen every beach on Earth, every beach that’s famous, but to me that is not an achievement at all. Now I work harder than ever on the things that matter to me.

He makes a good point. If you become really wealthy, after you buy all the necessary things, and then the fun things, you’re going to want to do something. Something meaningful. Just sitting around being rich isn’t all that meaningful.

So that’s the question to think about. If you had the means to do practically anything, what would you do? What would become important to you? Your answer to this, once you pass the “buy my family a big house and throw some huge parties” phase, can tell you a lot about yourself.

To be clear, there’s not easy and direct correlation. Your answer doesn’t tell me what college you should go to, or what you should major in. But it, like the why-why-why exercise, can keep me grounded in what’s more important and interesting to you. And for you, there’s a lot of power in knowing that about yourself.

Here are some examples. The other night at dinner I asked my own family what they would do as bored billionaires. My older kid, who is 14, wants to keep acquiring knowledge and skills. Keep studying more subjects, learning more things. They would probably spend their life obtaining doctorate degrees in as many fields as possible. And learn a lot of musical instruments. And see all the good movies. And while they’re at it, they would also use their money to compete their collection of anime figurines and build a great place to display them. Does this tell me where my older child should go to college? Nope. But it does remind me that they are attracted to goals that have no end point. They’re not likely to go to college and feel done with it—we’ll probably be looking at graduate school, too. They’re not likely to get settled into a career track with retirement as a goal. They’re going to have a hard time choosing a major, and will probably be pulled into some sort of interdisciplinary program. Constant and exceptional self-development is important to them.

My younger kid, who is nine, has a different idea. My younger one is more focused (but also, you know, nine). She would make her house a giant play area. There would be silks and a trapeze for acrobatics, a trampoline, an American Ninja Warrior course, a dance area, and a basketball court. She would spend her days moving her body and perfecting difficult moves. Again, this tells me nothing about private universities versus public institutions, a pre-professional program versus a liberal arts education. But it reminds me that activity, movement, and bodies are really compelling to her. She may not end up in a Division I sports program, but there’s a good chance she’ll at least be captain of an intramural soccer team.

So try this thought exercise with yourself. Try it with your friends and family. It makes for fun conversation—my kids kind of rolled their eyes when I talked about opening a high-end restaurant that’s also a free and complete training program for up-and-coming chefs. What can I say? I’m an educator at heart—and it’s also a way to get through some of the noise to understand what really matters to you. Right now you’re trying to get to a place where you can support yourself. But most of you will get to a place where you can also support others, faster than you may think. So consider what kind of support for others you’d like to give in an ideal setting.

And if you do find yourself to literally be a bored billionaire some day, consider joining me in my restaurant idea. The food will be delicious.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth.