You know, every couple of years we stop
and ask ourselves a few uncomfortable
questions. Think of it as a reality
check. Some of them are about money,
some are about relationships, some are
about the future you're building without
realizing it. None of them have perfect
answers, but that's not really the
point. The point is that every adult
should be able to answer them. So, today
we're passing those questions on to you.
Welcome to Alux.
Number 15. What would happen if your
income stopped tomorrow? Imagine waking
up tomorrow and discovering that your
income is gone. Maybe the company
downsized. Maybe your industry changed.
Maybe a health issue forced you to step
away from work. The question is simple.
What happens next? For millions of
people, that answer is frightening.
Bills continue to arrive. Rent is still
due. The car payment doesn't care about
the circumstances. Financial stress
begins immediately because the entire
system depends on money continuing to
flow in. This is why financial security
is not measured by income but by
resilience. Emergency funds, multiple
income streams, valuable skills,
investments, and strong professional
relationships all serve the same
purpose. Buying time. Because when
income disappears, time becomes the most
valuable asset in the world. And
speaking of assets, the next question
has less to do with money and more to do
with something you spend every single
day without even noticing. Number 14,
who actually benefits from your daily
habits? Every habit creates value. The
real question is who receives it? Most
people assume their habits are their
personal choices. A morning coffee, a
few minutes of social media, a late
night Netflix binge, a quick food
delivery after a long day. Entire
industries are built around
understanding human behavior and
encouraging repetition. Now, that
doesn't automatically make these habits
bad. The deeper question is whether your
habits are creating value for you at the
same rate they're creating value for
someone else. Take a moment and look at
your average day. Which habits are
building your health? Which habits are
increasing your skills? Which habits are
improving your finances? Which habits
are strengthening your relationships?
Every repeated action either compounds
in your favor or compounds against you.
The effects are invisible at first, but
then obvious years later. Your future is
rarely shaped by one dramatic decision.
No, it's usually shaped by what happens
on an ordinary Tuesday. And that brings
us to another question most people
avoid, even though it's costing them far
more than they realize. Number 13. What
is the most expensive thing you pretend
doesn't matter? Now, researchers have
repeatedly found that chronic health
issues, loneliness, and financial stress
are among the strongest predictors of
lower life satisfaction and reduced
longevity. And for some reason, these
are usually the things that most people
skip. A skipped workout, a neglected
friendship, a stressful job that slowly
erodess your health, a skill you keep
postponing, a marriage that receives
leftovers instead of attention. Most
adults are careful with visible costs.
They'll spend 20 minutes comparing
prices before buying a kitchen
appliance. They'll drive across town to
save a few dollars on gas. Then they'll
casually ignore something that costs
them thousands of dollars, years of
opportunity, or even decades of quality
life. So, do yourself a favor and fix at
least one of those things in the next 12
months.
Number 12. If someone copied your life
exactly, would you feel proud or
concerned? Most people judge their lives
based on intentions. But imagine someone
decided to copy your life exactly. Not
the version you describe to people, not
the version you plan to become next
year, the version that exists right now.
What kind of future would they create?
Would you be friends with that person?
It's an uncomfortable thought because it
removes excuses. Future plans no longer
matter. Good intentions no longer
matter. Only patterns matter. You see,
adulthood is largely the accumulation of
repeated behaviors. Most outcomes are
surprisingly predictable. If someone
spends more than they earn for 10 years,
the ending is usually clear. If someone
invests consistently for 10 years, the
ending is usually clear. If someone
prioritizes their health for a decade,
the results are rarely surprising. The
same principle applies to relationships,
careers, and personal growth. Because
the life you're living today is
constantly teaching lessons, the
question is whether those lessons are
worth copying.
Number 11, what problem are you
qualified to solve? Most people focus on
the reward rather than the reason the
reward exists in the first place. Ask a
kid what they want to become when they
grow up, and they'll probably say
doctor, lawyer, or astronaut. But if you
ask a kid what they actually want to do
all day, the answers get weird pretty
quickly. Build rockets, train animals,
explore the ocean, take apart machines.
The focus shifts from status to
curiosity. Somewhere along the way,
adulthood reverses the process. Instead
of asking what we're naturally drawn
toward, we start looking at which paths
offer the highest rewards. higher
salaries, better titles, more prestige,
more status, more security. And because
we live in a market driven world, that's
understandable, right? The problem is
that many people spend decades pursuing
rewards attached to problems they don't
actually enjoy solving. And the thing
is, the people who earn the most are
often the ones who developed an unusual
tolerance for solving a specific type of
problem over and over again. Number 10.
What are you optimizing for right now? A
surprising number of people are working
incredibly hard toward goals they never
consciously chose. They wake up early,
answer emails, attend meetings, pay
bills, make plans, stay busy from
morning until night. But if you ask them
a simple question, many wouldn't know
how to answer it. What are you
optimizing for? Because every decision
is an optimization problem. Every yes is
also a no. Every gain comes with a
trade-off. The entrepreneur working 80
hours a week is probably optimizing for
growth. A parent who turns down a
promotion to spend more time with the
family can be optimizing for
relationships. None of these are wrong.
The danger comes when your actions are
optimizing for one thing while your
heart wants something else. Because life
has a way of delivering exactly what
you're optimizing for. If you're
optimizing for comfort, you'll probably
get comfort. If you're optimizing for
growth, you'll probably get growth. If
you're optimizing for freedom, you'll
have to sacrifice something else to get
it. The question isn't whether you're
optimizing you already are. The question
is whether you're doing it
intentionally. And if not, a tool like
the Alux app can really change the game
for you entirely. The app is essentially
an ecosystem for high performers.
There's expert mentorships from industry
insiders, daily coaching lessons from us
here at Alux, as well as an exclusive
private network where you can chat with
your peers about goals, sacrifices,
strategies, problems you're facing,
celebrating milestones. Heck, you might
even find a new partnership in there.
You can download the app and start a
7-day free trial at alux.com/app.
But if you're ready to commit, scan this
QR code for 25% off your yearly
membership. I'll see you on the inside.
But in the meantime, let's get back to
it. Number nine, which decision from the
last 5 years changed your life the most.
Now from our experience, the life you
live is shaped in two ways. First, from
repetition, or in other words, the
things you do every day. Because how you
live your days is how you live your
life. But secondly, life is also shaped
by direction. There are moments in life
where the path itself changes. A new
city, a new relationship, a decision to
stay or a decision to leave. These are
all direction shifts. You can't really
tell where they'll take you in 5 years.
What makes this fascinating is the major
decisions rarely announced themselves as
major decisions. At the time, they often
feel ordinary. Only later do you realize
they quietly altered the trajectory of
everything that followed. You're most
likely in the place you are now because
you said yes or no to something 5 years
ago.
Number eight, what part of your life
depends on luck? Most people don't like
talking about luck. Some pretend it
doesn't matter. Others blame everything
on it. But reality sits somewhere in the
middle. Being born in the right country
is luck. Meeting the right person at the
right moment is luck. Growing up with
supportive parents is luck. Avoiding a
serious accident is often luck. Being in
the right place when a major opportunity
appears can absolutely be luck. But the
question is, which parts of your life
depend on luck today? Because good
genetics are luck, but exercise and
nutrition are choices. You see, both
good luck and bad luck are always going
to be a part of your life. You can't
really eliminate it all together. But
what you can do is reduce how much power
luck has over your future.
Number seven, who can you call when
things go wrong? Most relationships are
easy to maintain when life is going
well. The real test comes when it isn't.
When you're celebrating a promotion,
buying a house, or sharing good news,
people tend to show up. Success attracts
attention like that. But failure reveals
reality. As people get older, they often
discover something very surprising.
Building meaningful relationships can be
really hard because they require actual
investment. Time, attention, trust,
consistency. Some of the most valuable
assets in life don't appear on a balance
sheet. A friend who answers when you
call. A mentor who gives honest advice.
A partner who remains steady during
difficult seasons. A small circle of
people who genuinely want to see you
succeed. Those things become
increasingly valuable as life becomes
more complex.
Number six, what would your future self
be angry about if you ignored it? You
see, future you is probably not asking
for perfection, but they will probably
ask you why you waited so long. And
that's a really tough question to
answer. Most people imagine regret
incorrectly. They think regret comes
from bad decisions. But in reality,
regret often comes from delayed
decisions, something you didn't do or at
least didn't do at the right time. The
strange part is that very few people
wake up one morning and decide to
sabotage their future. What they do
instead is convince themselves they have
more time. It's extremely hard to
picture yourself in the future because
it feels so far ahead. But one day you
wake up, you're 45 and wondering where
two decades have gone. Number five, what
can you do that AI cannot easily
replace? Every new generation has to
deal with a major technology that
completely changes how life works. For
your parents, it was the internet. For
us, it's probably AI. But this time, it
might be the most significant shift yet
because it appears to be affecting
almost every industry. So the question
of what can you do that AI cannot easily
replace becomes dangerously viable. We
honestly are not sure how this whole
thing will play out in a couple of years
because what we do know for sure is that
what we have right now is the worst
version yet. It'll only get better. So
it's worth considering how this will
affect your own life. It might be
nothing to worry about, but
realistically speaking, it probably
will. The way we see it, there are two
scenarios. Either AI takes control over
the world and we all have to figure out
how to deal with it, or AI fails
miserably and the whole market crashes
with it because pretty much everyone is
invested and we'll have to deal with
that. Either way, it might be smart to
keep this one on your mind. Number four,
what are you unwilling to sacrifice for
success? Every couple of years, your own
definition of success changes a little
bit. It usually starts out pretty
dramatic, but as you get older, you
realize you don't really care that much
about a bunch of things you used to
consider important. What doesn't change,
though, is the fact that any kind of
success requires either extreme dumb
luck, which is exceptionally rare, or a
fair amount of sacrifice. Now, the most
common thing that usually gets
sacrificed by anyone is a head start to
a more traditional path. If you spend
your 20s and 30s trying to make
something happen and that thing doesn't
actually work out, well, you're now a
bit behind if you want to switch lanes
and get a normal job. That's pretty much
a given to anyone who walks a different
path than the norm. We all kind of
quietly agree to this, but we don't
really talk about it. But the deeper you
go, the more it's required from you. It
starts with uncertainty, and that's
quickly followed by constant stress.
Your tolerance to those things dictates
the rest. And you'll get to a point
where the sacrifices start to be a bit
tricky. Time away from your family,
unexplored hobbies, forgotten
friendships, the list goes on. At some
point, you have to ask yourself, where
do you draw the line?
Number three, what would make this year
a failure? Now, to-do lists are pretty
great, but have you ever heard of a
notdo list? You see, not every year has
a clear end goal. Some years are for
maintenance or for buying enough time
for something else to happen. And those
years don't have a big clear win. And
when there isn't a clear to-do list, the
next best thing is the reverse. What
shouldn't you do this year? And we
promise you, spend 5 minutes with this
question and you'll find a surprising
number of things that will fill out the
list. As a matter of fact, take those
five minutes right now, make the list,
and see which one scares you the most.
Number two, if you got everything you
currently want, what happens next? Now,
this question helps you to understand
where exactly you are in your journey.
If your answer is the grind never stops,
the sky's the limit, then you're
probably at the very beginning. If your
answer is, then I can finally take a
break and rest, then you probably still
have a long way to go. You see, this
one's a bit counterintuitive, but the
closer you get to what you want, the
more you realize that nothing really is
going to change because you already live
the life you want. And the focus changes
from getting more to protecting and
securing what you've already gotten. But
you cannot force this realization into
existence. It just comes naturally at
some point. And number one, how do you
want to be remembered? When you're old
and you look back at your life, what do
you want to see? This sounds like a
question about the future, but in
reality, it's a question about the
present because the answer is already
being written by the way you spend your
days. So, here's some knowledge for you.
Asking old people what they regret the
most at the end of their life is a bit
irrelevant because their relationship
with risk is completely flipped. It's
easy to say you should have taken more
chances when there are no longer any
chances to take. It's easy to say you
should have worried less when the things
you worried about are already way behind
you. But what stays consistent and
relevant is how the story looks from
beginning to end. Some chapters matter
more than others. So when you look back
at your own story one day, what do you
hope stands out? All right, that's a
wrap for today, Alexa. Thanks for
watching. We'll see you back here next
time. Until then, take care.