What if you had a decade to live?

At some point in your life someone has probably asked you “what would you do if you had one day to live?” At which point you wrack your brain coming up with all of those little experiences you would want to pack into those 24 hours. You’d probably quit your job and spend as much time as possible surrounding yourself with friends and family. You’d spare no expense (and perhaps loads of debt) trying to check items off of your bucket list. We would throw our responsibilities to the wind and focus on pure fulfillment. Fulfilling small dreams, fulfilling promises, fulfilling selfish desires.

It’s an interesting cocktail discussion perhaps, but usually inconsequential. The odds of that scenario playing out are so unlikely that we toss it aside and continue on with our day, understanding that it’s not likely our last.

After reading this post by Derek Sivers and after receiving some terrible news about a friend, it lead me to wonder…..what would I do if I had a decade to live? Not a day. Not a week. Ten years.

I think that changes things drastically.

A lot can happen in ten years.

What would you change? Would you spend the next ten years in the same job? Maybe? Maybe not? After all you’ll need to make ends meet, but without the prospect of needing to save for retirement or to build a career, what would you do differently?

Who would you spend time with? Would you spend your time on facebook each night engaging in passing conversation with folks you’ve only briefly met? Or would you make a concentrated effort to visit friends and family in person, knowing with a little more clarity that each visit could be the last?

What would your legacy be? Do you want to change the world? You can change the world in ten years. Do you want build a family? You can build a wonderful family in ten years. Do you want to see the world and take it in, leaving nothing but footprints? You can do that too.

What would you do?