YOUR BUCKET LIST
I have been married to my wife for nearly 25 years. Twelve months ago we were sitting watching television when a story came on about whale watching in Hawaii. Tammy, my wife just casually said “That is definitely on my bucket list.” It was fairly casual but it made me realise that I didn’t know the things she wanted to do in life, and similarly she was unaware of what I wanted to do. It was at that point that we decided to write down and share everything that was on our bucket lists.
It is hard to deny the power of writing things down into lists. There has been lots of studies done on the benefits. Lists allow you to remember things a lot easier, but more importantly it starts to make real the things that are in your head. It also allows you to see what other people want to do in their lives. Never is it more important than for your bucket list. Below is the method we used to write our bucket lists.
What is a Bucket List?
A bucket-list is a list of all the things that you want to do before you die. They are big things (round the world trip) and they are little things (Run 6km in a week). We all have this list it is just that most of us don’t write them down. Why not? Could be that you would be embarrassed that you list was not good enough for other people. You could think it is silly to write these things down and that you will be judged by others. You could feel the things on your list are not exciting enough. Forget all of this!! Your bucket-list is for you and you alone. It doesn’t matter what other people think, it is what you think of the list that counts. You are not living your life for others, you are living it for you.
So how did we do it? It is a simple question, but how do you write your bucket list? First time we tried, we starred at a blank piece of paper for ages. Our biggest problem was that we were trying to list them in order, which stifled our creativity.
How to Write Your Bucket List
We started with a blank piece of paper and each did a massive brain dump. You should give yourself some time to do this (and maybe a glass of wine). Every thought that comes into your head, write it down on the piece of paper. Doesn’t matter how big or how small, just get it down on paper. There is no idea too silly not to be written down. It can always be refined later. Let your mind go – think of all the countries you would like to visit, all the challenges you would like to overcome and all the cool things you would like to do in life. Write them down. Once you have them all down on paper, take a break (even if it is only to refill your glass with wine!!)
Get Specific
Once you have completed your brain dump, go back over the list and get more specific. When I did my first brain dump of my most recent list I had as an example – “Travel Overseas” and “Run 100km in a month”. These became – “Travel to Africa”, “Travel to South America”, “Travel to Japan” and “Run 100km in March 2021” (which I completed). The more specific you make your list, the more real that they become.
Break your List into Categories
Once the above was completed for us, we then decided to break down our lists into categories. We found this made it easier to visualise the things that we had written down on our lists. The categories that we chose were as follows
· Travel – Eg Travel to Africa
· Learn – Eg Learn to play guitar
· Indulge – Eg Buy a fishing boat
· Challenge – Eg Take a parachute jump
· Charity – Eg Donate $1M to charity
I have put the examples in from my bucket list to help in deciding what goes into which category. If they overlap, don’t worry. Just put them into whichever category you think fits best.
And there you have it. Your very first bucket list of things to do before you die. Congratulations.
The final piece of advice that I can give you is that this list is not for when you retire. This list is for now. I have seen too many people leave it too late to do the things they want to do in life. Life is for living now, not once you retire.
Put your bucket list up where you can see it every day. Start ticking things off your list today, not tomorrow.
Do it today! Now get out there and start to tick them off.
Here is some inspiration for your bucket list -
Or do you need help with your bucket list? Review of your business? Planning for your future?
David Patterson - Director The Bucket list Accountant
