How about a creating your own Bucket/Life list?
There is a long tradition at my real estate company, The Group Inc., for partners to write their Goddard’s list. Quite simply a Goddard’s list is a life list or bucket list of things one wants to do in lifetime.
From John Goddard’s website:
One rainy afternoon an inspired 15-year old boy named John Goddard sat down at his kitchen table in Los Angeles and wrote three words at the top of a yellow pad, “My Life List.” Under that heading he wrote down 127 goals.
These were not simple or easy goals. They included climbing the world’s major mountains, exploring from source to mouth the longest rivers of the world, piloting the world’s fastest aircraft, running a mile in five minutes and reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.
Now, a generation later, he has accomplished 109 of these quests, and has logged an impressive list of records in achieving them. Goddard does not believe in pursuing adventure for the sake of frivolous thrills, but used these experiences to achieve a worthwhile end. This end, for him, is scientific exploration, adding to the world’s store of knowledge. “Digging out the facts is the real challenge,” Goddard says in summing up his career. “The adventure is exciting and enjoyable–but secondary.
OK, what Goddard did is a little daunting and in some cases a little outrageous (milking a poisonous snake, #117 on his list). But, the remarkable thing is that much of what he achieved was written on his List at the age of 15! He set his mind in motion by initiating the act of writing the list.
I encourage you to think about the New Year, the next decade, and beyond. Think about writing your Life List; remembering that what you focus on expands.
Here is my Bucket List;
- Vacation in Australia & New Zealand
- Go to a Super Bowl game…preferably with the Patriots playing!
- Go scuba diving
- Have our rental properties fully paid off
- Visit Egypt and see the pyramids
- Run a 5k race
- Learn to read, speak and understand Spanish at a conversational level
- Play golf in Ireland and Scotland
- Family vacation to Europe
- Hike a 14er with my sons
- Watch a baseball game at Wrigley Field
- Go to a Red Sox spring training
- Watch a football game at Soldier Field (completed on 12/12/10 – Patriots beat the Bears 36-3!)
- Go to a World Series game
- Take a Hawaiian vacation
- Go on an African safari
- Visit civil war sites
- Ride in a hot air balloon
- Visit the Redwood Forest
- White water raft down the Poudre River
- Go to a Nebraska Husker bowl game
- Walk on the Great Wall of China
- Visit Rio De Janeiro
- See the Victoria Falls
- Fly in a helicopter
- Visit the Galapagos Islands
- Take a Napa Valley vacation
- Go to the Greek Islands
- Go to a Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo
- Visit Iceland
- Visit Greenland
- Take family to NYC
- Family camping trip up the Poudre Canyon
- See the Northern Lights in Alaska
- Hike along a portion of the Appalachian Trail
- Go to France with Michelle
- Visit Belfast
- Go snowmobiling
- Go back to Italy with Michelle
That is my list as of the end of 2010 but it will change as I’m sure there will be other places or things that I’ll want to add to the list and maybe remove something. The key is to keep this list visible in several places so that you can see it every day – keep a copy at your work, in your bathroom, in your closet or kitchen. The more you see it the better chance you will have to achieve goals and check them off your list.
Sometimes a gentle nudge or a little support is all you need! Begin writing down the list of things you would like to have, to be, to do or to give from now until you leave this planet and make your own bucket list. Also encourage your kids or grandkids to start their very own list too…it’s a great bonding exercise for the whole family!
Feel free to post your bucket list in the comment section below.
Thanks,
Mike Malvey