Getting Things Accomplished-A Bucket List

At Closet Writers several weeks ago the prompt I chose was "Describe one thing you feel is necessary for you to do before you die". 

My list of things I want to do before I die is comprehensive; there isn't just one thing, but 249 at last count, and I know that list will grow.  It all started when my daughter's class watched the movie The Bucket List three years ago and the required class assignment was for each student to create their own of things that they wanted to do before they kicked the bucket.  She created a beautiful little book with a list of over one hundred things she wants to accomplish such as visiting a concentration camp, see a Shakespeare play at the globe, make pasta, go to Egypt, and drink a cup of tea at the Empress Hotel.

I was completely inspired and decided that I too wanted to create my own list.  I chose a black leather journal that had the imprint of the Eiffle tower on the front, appropriate because Paris is one of my favorite cities and quite a number of the things I want to do are related to the "city of lights".  There are many travel goals, the desire to meet a couple of specific celebrities but the one outstanding thing on my list, the one that seems to jump off the page each time I look through my journals pages is "Quit work and write full-time".

In the movie, both Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are diagnosed with terminal cancer and they pursue accomplishing one item on the list after the other because their time was so limited.  For those of us who don't have terminal illnesses, however, creating a bucket list is still a great idea because it is essentially writing down goals. About nine years ago I read a book by Brian Tracy, one of my favorite motivational gurus, and  I decided to follow his advice and write down 25 goals that I wanted to accomplish in the next five years.  Brian's encouraged reading that list every day with the understanding that our mind and subconscious will then work toward things we write down and think about.  I did look over the list I created each day for several weeks but the sheet of paper somehow got buried and I lost track of it.  Seven years later, around the time of Keeley's assignment, my list turned up from its hidden spot inside of a book.

You can imagine my surprise when I looked at the list and realized that I had actually accomplished 24 of the 25 things.  The one thing that I didn't accomplish was related to a financial goal; I was selling antiques and collectibles on the internet at the time and my goal was a certain amount in sales, which looking back was a little unrealistic.  Still, I had one outstanding month where I made 3/4 of what that goal was and that amount was nothing to sneeze at and in truth fulfilled all of my expectations.  It was shortly after all of this that I started my own bucket list.

 

There is my goal to "have dinner with Michael Buble"; that could be subjective--I could put his Michael Buble Meets Madison Gardens show in my DVD player, put on my MB t-shirt, pour a glass of wine and chow down on a salad, steak and baked potato or some strange opportunity will come up, perhaps through his and my connection with BC Children's Hospital, and I will literally have dinner with him and a few hundred other people.  Or maybe I'll win a "Have dinner with Michael Buble contest.  Regardless of how my goal actually plays out I'm going to have a nice evening.

I have every confidence that I will see the sun rise over the pyramids; that was supposed to happen this fall after Keeley's graduation but the political situation there dictates that will be delayed for now.   Perhaps I'll "create a Brother Cadfael herb garden" this spring, "go on a mountain hike" or "ride in a hot air balloon" this summer, or "book a home exchange" and a flight to Switzerland so that I can "stand on a Swiss Alp and yell out "Ricola"."   I might choose to go down to Fraser Street, spend a few dollars so that I can "wear a Sari" or that might have to wait until I stand on the shore of the ocean and "watch the sun rise in India".  This coming Saturday I might decide to "make Yale Hotel Borchst" for guests or "Finish my Raw Foods cookbook and publish it as an ebook".

What constantly amazes me is how when you actually write things down your subconscious really does start working on those items.  One of the recent things I added to my list was "Learn Archery".  It's not something I know anything about or would even know where to start looking.  Then I'm driving down a street that I always drive down and that I have driven down for at least 10 years and I suddenly noticed an Archery store.  It has been there all along but obviously wasn't a focus in my life.  Then two weeks later I'm driving down the same street and see a young man carrying a bow-no doubt walking to the archery store which I then noticed had a sign in the window "Archery Lessons".  I now know where to go and what to do, its just up to me to decide when and how I want to do it.

There are a lot of things I would like to do before I kick the bucket.  Will I accomplish everything listed in my journal?  Maybe, maybe not.  However, my goal to quit work and write full time is something that I really want to accomplish--I'm glad I've got it written down because just doing that one thing is a sure way that it will happen.  Watch the movie, make a list, get things done.

Salynne ©2011