The other day I asked my boyfriend if his long term goals (i.e., “What do you want out of life?”) have changed over the last few years. I'd venture to say that we're both on the ambitious and competitive side of the spectrum and in the past we've talked about the value of education, FIRE, and mentoring.
In more words, he explained to me that the past few months in his Ph.D. program have been draining. He's often anxious and stressed and it never ends. So his primary goal, on the green grassy other-side of a dissertation, has become work-life balance. It was exactly how I would have responded if given the question.