Create Your Bucket List

I created a bucket list for the first time in August 2010. At the time, I had achieved some of my biggest dreams and was grasping for “what’s next” and “what’s left” in my life.

I was struggling actually. I’ve always had big over aching goals to pursue. And with most of the major ones crossed off, I was left wanting more. I had read similar stories of those who had achieved all they wanted but were left somewhat empty and needed new ones.

Although I didn’t view this time as mid-life crisis or anything, it spurred me on a spiritual retreat of sorts during an amazing couple of weeks in the mountains of New Mexico.

Key nugget: Live life with no regrets. Know what you are pursuing and want out of life so you can go achieve them.

There was this poster I saw when I was younger …. it had a long path winding up a mountain …. with a runner halfway up it. The caption read: “There is no finish line.”

I believe there are no pinnacles in life that should later lead to lasting plateaus. You climb toward one pinnacle and when you reach it, you move on to another, maybe larger one. But there are no plateaus in life. There are rest periods. But not forever leveled off and not reaching upward and onward.

Time is our most limited and precious resource. What the bucket list did for me is force me to think all the gaps. To look at my life in the rearview mirror. To ensure that later in life I have no regrets.

Doing a bucket list helped me discover and unearth some things about myself. It also was a course correction for me. To make me think deeply about what, where, and how I wanted to spend my life in pursuit of.

Action Steps: Create your bucket list for this phase or stage in your life. And remember to return to it every 5 years (or after a major life change). I’d highly recommend the Personal Excellence blog’s 101 things to do before you die post … it’s rich and a great guide for your own bucket list. I’ve been subscribed to it ever since and love her tips and advice.

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This is part of the 5-minute Career Nugget series at Purposeful Paychecks.