Your Bucket List

I have always been a goal setter and believe that we all should have a list of things we want to accomplish in our short time on this planet.  There has been a tremendous change in the quality of my list during my 50 plus years on this earth.  When I was young, I foolishly focused on material things.  As I have aged, my desires are now more experienced based, focusing on travel or learning or leaving the world a better place.  My son has wisely chosen experiences above material accumulation and I believe he will live a richer and more fulfilled life because of it.

The subject came up recently as I watched a movie that focused on the idea that we will more likely accomplish things in our lives, or meet our desires, if we recognize them and write them down.  The movie emphasized that by “naming them” they become, even sub-consciously, part of our personal mantra.   There probably is some truth to this, as I think in my own life when I did “name it”, it usually happened.  I also believe you can have the same result with negative experiences in your life as well. If you focus on them, they seem to manifest themselves, often as badly, or even more badly, than you imagined.  It certainly is an argument for the value and strength of optimism.

My bucket list resides in my phone and I review it at least once a month.  Much of the list, due to expense, or timing, will need to be many years from now.  Some are easier to accomplish because they have a time frame around them.  “Learn to order a beer in 5 languages by April” is an example of an achievable bucket list item.  Some require definition or further life experiences, such as “chose where I live once retired”.   To me, the idea that I write them down is the important thing, because it means my sub conscious is seeing mile markers in my life that it may flag for me to know a critical moment when it happens.

Bucket lists are something we all should have.  They motivate us, reward us and teach us.  They give us an awareness of what is important to us while we journey through life on our daily path.  As importantly, they give us a connection to others.  Try this when you meet someone new the first time, instead of asking “what do you do?”, try “What’s on your bucket list?”