What’s on Your Bucket List?

What’s on your bucket list?

Because the title of this blog implies and assumes that you have a bucket list, let me begin by asking: Do you have a bucket list? Allow me to explain: A bucket list is a list of things you want to do, see, or achieve before you “kick the bucket.” If you don’t have one, I’ll explain why making one is important to me and then show you how to make one. If you have one, it is also critical to remember WHY you have one, what it contains, and why that list is essential to you. What does it mean to be able to tick another thing off your bucket list?

For years I have had a bucket list: It has been very inspiring, empowering and amazing to write out my list, build those dreams and, when they finally arrive, cross them off the list while living out that dream. I remember my first bucket list which I created when I recently graduated from Colorado State University in 2003. I had just purchased a condo and married my college sweetheart. I remember sitting down in my condo one morning and taking a yellow piece of paper out and writing out some short, medium and long term life goals I wanted to achieve. I declared these things that were important to me and wrote them down on paper. I revisited the list frequently and, over the years, I remember crossing and checking these dreams off of my list as I kept living life.

I now keep my bucket list on my computer and frequently update it. A few of the items I have recently completed were: A month long trip to Spain with my family, A daddy and son trip to Spain (that I am currently experiencing), visiting the Grand Canyon and speaking in Sevilla, Spain (which I believe will happen on this trip). For those of you who are wondering, I have a deep passion and obsession with Spain. Feel free to talk to me about it anytime if you want to see me get giddy and talk for hours. 

So, what is the significance of this to me, and why should you care? I’ll explain further below. If you’re reading this, you might not have a bucket list, so read with the intention of starting one. If you already have a bucket list, this should give you some ideas for how to keep adding to it while remembering why you started it.

• Having a physical bucket list, where you declare what you want and write it down. Mentally seeing it, feeling it and putting it in the universe immediately creates an energy, focus and drive to these things. The law of attraction works in interesting ways.
• My bucket list inspires me and drives me to do what I do every day. I love what I do, and my list results in the fun things that will be the end result of all of my hard work.
• Having this list has made me realize how far I have come in life. Looking back and seeing some of the first things I crossed off, compared to what I am crossing off now, shows how much I have grown and what I have achieved. It also gets me excited about the new items on the list which seem HUGE and nearly unattainable. For example: One of my first items I crossed off was to start my own company. Now that I have been doing that for a decade, I see how important and big that goal was back when I was 22. Now, at 32, I look at a goal of speaking in front of 10,000 people with an inspiring message that reaches millions as a very big, hairy, audacious goal (also called a BHAG) and an item on my list. I also have to put into perspective that starting my own company 10 years ago was also a very big thing, and now I do this everyday. What will I be doing when I am 42? What is your BHAG right now? What was your BHAG 10 years ago?
• Remember that the bucket list is the thing, experience or action that you want to have happen. You must work backwards from that item, thing or experience with a clearly defined plan and goal to make it happen.
Don’t evaluate your list against those of others. Your list is just for you, and no one else. It must come from something that deeply moves you. Make the list, cherish it, spread it, and pay attention to it. Don’t ever allow anyone tell you that you can’t cross something off your list; instead, go back to it frequently.
• Here’s the last and most important thing about your bucket list: Let’s say you accomplish everything on it. Ask yourself, “So what? Who have I impacted, and what legacy have I left behind? What will my story be in terms of the lives you have impacted, and what will that mean to me and them, as well as to the greater good of the world?” Remember that crossing off items and doing them alone is never as fun as doing them with the ones you love.

Here are a few tips to creating your list:
• Go to a quiet, undisturbed place where you will not be distracted by social media, internet, phones, people knocking your door down, etc.
• Get into a space physically, emotionally, and mentally where you can dream. Maybe you need to go to the beach, the mountain, a coffee shop, throw on a pair of headphones and jam to your favorite music. Maybe it is the quiet solitude of somewhere early in the morning. No matter what it is, make sure your space allows you to dream.
Being in a new environment has been incredibly beneficial for me. Changing the landscape and stepping away from my office’s routine has had a big influence.
• Write, write, write! Let whatever you are dreaming flow out on some paper, a screen, a notepad, etc. Don’t second guess anything you write, just write it out!

So what’s on YOUR bucket list? If you don’t have one, when will you make one? If you have a bucket list, please share it in the comments. I would love to hear what is on YOUR list!

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