Hey everyone, OP here.

A little while ago, I asked you guys what you would do if money didn’t matter.
The response was way bigger than I expected—over 290 comments—and honestly, reading through them was a trip. It felt like I was reading a collective diary of everything we’re missing out on.

I wanted to actually see what the big picture looked like, so I had the thread analyzed. I was just genuinely curious if there was a pattern.
The results were super interesting (and a little depressing), so I wanted to share them with you.



The “Lazy” Myth is Dead

You know that whole narrative that “nobody wants to work”?
The data completely kills it.

Out of everyone who replied, less than 1% said they would do “nothing” or be idle.

We don’t want to stop working.
We just want to work on different things.

The most upvoted dream job wasn’t “influencer” or “retired.”
It was Archaeology.
The second most common? Entomology (bug science).

We have this massive group of people who want to be scientists, teachers, and historians, but they’re stuck in other jobs because, well, bills.



The Breakdown

Here is how our collective “dream life” breaks down by category:

• 21.4% Education & Research: People want to teach, study history, or do physics research.
• 19.1% Travel & Exploration: Backpacking, learning languages, just seeing the world.
• 13.2% Nature & Animals: Farming, gardening, running cat shelters.
• 10.7% Family: Staying home with kids or securing a future for disabled family members.
• 9.4% Creative Arts: Writing novels, painting, playing music.



The “Golden Handcuffs” Are Real

One thing that really stood out to me was the comments from people who already have money.
You’d think they’d be the happiest, but they were some of the bleakest.

There was one guy who mentioned he makes close to $550k a year (and his wife makes $500k).
He said, point blank:

“It’s 100% about the money… I straight up just hate my job but it pays well so I put up with it.”

His dream?
To open a quiet bookstore with comfy chairs and not care about making a profit.

It really highlighted that “Golden Handcuffs” are a real thing—people trapped by their own success.





The Tragic Outliers

Most answers were wholesome (lots of “slow life” stuff like reading and gym), but there was one story that really hurt to read.

One user talked about how they fell for a scam where they thought they were testing an AI trading tool.
They believed they had grown their portfolio to $85M.
They had already mentally planned their life supporting anti-trafficking charities, quitting the rat race.
And then it vanished.

It was a rough reminder that the hope of freedom can sometimes be as heavy as the lack of it.



My Takeaway

After looking at all this, my main takeaway isn’t that we are lazy.
It’s that we are misaligned.

We aren’t trying to escape effort; we are trying to escape the grind that feels meaningless.
We’re willing to work hard—digging up bones, running non-profits, farming—we just wish we didn’t have to trade our survival for it.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented.
It was a really eye-opening look at what we’d all be doing if we had the choice.



Data analysis for this post was done by Gemini.
Hope you enjoyed the update!


UPDATE: The guy who makes 550K hates his life.