Last weekend to and from the bay area, I got a chance to listen to Tim Ferriss’s most recent podcast with Ramit Sethi. Sethi is known for his book “I Will Make You Rich,” amongst many other things. He also has launched a podcast aimed at unveiling the psychology behind money.

In the interview he did with Tim Ferriss, they talked about a very interesting concept that Sethi described as “your rich life.” It was an interesting approach to looking at one’s perception of wealth. Basically he started with asking the question of what someone would spend on only themselves if they had $1000. For those with higher means, this figure could be $10k. The point was it had to be an uncomfortable amount for one to consider spending on just themselves.

What one would answer would be a clue into their psychology and general perspective on money.

For example, he stated that for one person, their rich life would be to be able to go to Whole Foods and not worry about whatever she spent on healthy food/groceries. You don’t obviously need $1000 (I hope) to be able to do this, but the point is that for this person, not worrying about spending on this specific area was their rich life.

For Sethi, his example was to be able to travel business class on all flights over 4 hours as a rule. Another was that on flights he wouldn’t have to carry anything – no luggage – it would just be available for him wherever he goes. It sounds ridiculous to some, but as I thought about it more, I saw that the point of the exercise was to set your own definitions of happiness at the end of the day. And if that would mean splurging on what most would consider frivolous, that’s what it could be.

When I arrived at the baby shower I was in the bay area for, I asked a few friends this question – if you had $1000 that you were only allowed to spend on yourself, what would you spend it on? To my surprise, this was actually really hard for some of my friends to answer. Part of it was because they were used to all of their income going to supporting family, they never really gave themselves permissions to think about themselves. And you know what – even with my unconventional views on money, I had a difficult time thinking about this for myself.

So that’s why I’m writing this post. What’s my own rich life? Let’s see. . .

1. I’ll steal Sethi’s one to start – I like the idea of flying business class for flights over 4 hours as a policy. I resonated with this because I’m big on experiences – and flying business class and all the perks that go along with it, are fun experiences for me.
2. To be able to buy any piece of clothing or technology (random) without thinking twice about the price tag.
3. To be able to visit a friend or family member anywhere they are in the world on a whim.
4. Also to be able to travel the world for extended periods of time with friends.
5. To drive a car without worrying about gas prices.
6. To never be too busy to dedicate free time to my writing.
7. To be able to give in an unexpectedly huge way to someone that can make a difference in their life- can be money or otherwise.
8. On a similar vein, to be able to make magical experiences happen without flinching at costs (surprise or not).

And I’m sure I’ll think of more, but for now I’m capturing them here. For now these seem to be my rich life goals.