What Do You Want?

What a very simple question. And yet a very profound question as well. It is the question that has animated most of my decisions. Decisions that have led to an interesting, fulfilling life.

So let me ask you, “What do you want?” Do you want to be rich? Do you want to be happy? If that’s what you want, then you probably won’t be either.

Now let me answer that question. What do I want? I want to have 7,000 lifers by my 70th birthday.

I’ll never forget the first time I was asked that question. At the time I was working at a big international accounting firm. I was very good in accounting at university and everyone said I should work for a big accounting firm. (Even though Chinese, logic and Chinese philosophy were my favorite classes.) I passed the CPA exam the first time I sat for it.

I was headed home from a job one day and Kathy Greenwood, a fellow worker, asked me if I liked what I was doing. I answered that no I hated it. She asked why didn’t I quit. I said I would. She asked what I would do. I said, without hesitation, I’d join the Peace Corps.

Six months later I was on a bus in Kingston, Jamaica in the middle of the night. It was 90 degrees and 80 percent humidity. We drove through many shantytowns on the way to our hotel. I wondered what I’d gotten myself into.

I spent the next four and a half years in the Caribbean working with credit unions. I learned about cricket by watching arguably the most dominant cricket side ever, the early 80s West Indies. And I learned what cool and irie really meant.

What do you want?

I asked that question many times throughout my life.

What do you want? I want to work at a credit union.

What do you want? I want to be a black belt.

What do you want? I want to find out who Tally Clark was.

What do you want? I want to live on the east coast of the US.

What do you want? I want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

What do you want? I want to be a CEO.

What do you want? I want to go fishing every summer in Alaska.

What do you want? I want there to be someone in the world who calls me Papa.

What do you want? I want to judge the world championships of barbecue.

What do you want? I want to sing opera.

What do you want? I want to smoke perfect pork ribs.

What do you want? I want to spend the summer in London.

What do you want? I want to be a certified genealogist.

What do you want? I want to play at the WSOP.

What do you want? I want to have 7000 lifers by my 70th birthday.

Do you see a pattern in all of these answers? Maybe not because it’s a lot of things but all of them are things I have done in my life. Here’s the pattern. Each one of these answers is very specific and you can easily imagine each one of them.

The key to my life has always been answering that very simple question in a very specific way. I think that’s important for at least two important reasons.

First, all of us have people in our lives who love us. And because  they love us they want only the best for us. If we tell them what we want in a very specific way they will be on the watch to see how they can help us get what we want. Why? Because they love us.

Have you ever learned a new word and over the next few days you seem to see that word all over the place? If you know specifically what you want it’s a lot like learning that new word. You will see opportunities to get what you want all over the place every single day. My desire to have 7000 lifers by my 70th birthday is a perfect example.

My friend David went on a birding trip to Ecuador. In December, 2025 I replicated his trip and my trip to Ecuador netted over 550 lifers.

In April, 2025 I went to Texas for 13 days of birding. One of my stops was Feather Fest in Galveston. While there I met Forrest Rowland from Rockjumper Birding. I told Forrest what I wanted and he helped me piece together an initial calendar of birding trips. (It has since gone through many iterations.)

He also showed me a place he’d birded earlier that day where I found boat tailed grackle and clapper rail, both lifers I’d hoped to find in Texas.

One day I was looking at the list of birders with the most bird species in the world for 2025. (I know, weird, but this is what birders do.) One of the names was Eliana Ardila Kramer of Birding by Bus. Soon I was on Whatsapp chatting with Eliana and her husband Marc. In June, 2026 I will be joining them for their Alaska’s Edge birding tour.

I want to bird Australia. I found NT Bird Specialists. When I told them what I want to do they were so excited. They wanted to be a part of my quest for 7,000 species. I will be birding Northern Territory in Australia with them the summer of 2026.

I will be spending a lot of time in Africa in the fall of 2026. In between two of the trips, Ghana and South Africa I have a three day window. On the internet I found a really cool pelagic tour out of Cape Town the day before the South Africa tour begins. I will be on that boat.

New Zealand is a place I’ve always wanted to go and it has some great birds. While searching on the internet I found Wrybill Birding Tours. In 2003 they rediscovered the New Zealand storm-petrel. Wow. They do 21 day tours in New Zealand and I’m planning to go on one in January, 2028.

These are a few examples of doors I have opened because I know what I want.

What do you want?