How To Make Your Bucket List
Almost everyone has heard of the concept of the bucket list. If you’re one of the few people who don’t have even the slightest clue what this is, simply put, it’s a list of the things that you want to do, see, or accomplish before you die – or figuratively, before “kick the bucket.” However, the definition of a bucket list has become more flexible in recent times. Some people make bucket lists for when they reach a certain age, not necessarily when they pass away. Others make a bucket list for every year or for every season, especially for the summer.
Where To Start
For a lot of people, one of the problems with making a bucket list is knowing where to start. You might have a bunch of ideas of what you want to put there, but what should you do first? More importantly, how do you know if you’ve put too many things or if you haven’t put enough? The first thing you need to do when you’re trying to come up with your bucket list is to pool all of your ideas. Try to have at least 25 ideas in the pool. That’s a good starting point. Some keep their bucket list goals to under a hundred while others have close to a thousand.
Don’t put any restrictions on your ideas during this phase of making your bucket list. Just remember not to put there the things that you know are truly impossible. What’s the point of a bucket list if there’s a zero percent chance of you getting to experience the things listed there? It’s important that you list down all of your dream destinations and activities, no matter how many of them there are currently. If your list needs some trimming down, that will come later at a later time. For now, focus on brainstorming any and everything you want to achieve.
It would also be helpful to sort the things in your bucket list into different categories. This would make it easier to quantify your goals. Ask yourself about the places you want to visit and put your answers under a “travel” category, for example. On the other hand, you can ask yourself about the things you want to accomplish at work before retiring. This can be placed under a “career” list. Remember that a bucket list contains memorable or even once in a lifetime experiences. Don’t put mundane things on there such as buying groceries or cooking dinner for yourself. As alternatives to those, you can put buying a car or learning how to cook respectively.
Break Down Bigger Goals
You may also want to break your list down into time frames. We’ve touched on this a little previously but now it’s time to get into a bit more detail. The first type of bucket list you can make is one where you have a certain list of goals you wish to achieve before turning a certain age. You can make a list for before you reach 20 years of age or you can make with goals for until you’re 80. It’s all up to you. Just remember to make the things you list down realistic. You could also write a bucket list based on location. So for example, you’re visiting a country for a week. You can list down everything you want to do there in the seven days that you’ll be staying there.
Set A Deadline
Some people recommend putting a time limit on some goals. They recommend taking at least five goals and putting a time limit to them. Within a month, you may want to learn things like driving a car or baking a cake. In a year, you may want to finish school or start your own business. What you want to accomplish and how long you’ll give yourself to accomplish these things is mostly up to you. However, giving yourself a rather strict deadline to meet will force you to follow through with these targets so that you can make them a reality.
Ask For Help
It would also be a good idea to enlist the help of other people, whether it’s to think of ideas to put on your bucket list or to actually achieve these things. If you’re going for the latter, make sure that these are people whose company you enjoy and have the same interests as you – take your spouse or your best friend, for instance. You can also find resources online where you can find like-minded people who would be more than happy to accompany on your bucket list journey as they try to accomplish theirs at the same time as you.
Put Your Bucket List Online
Speaking of which, it would also be a good idea to computerize your bucket lists. By this we mean putting them in a Microsoft Word or Excel file. This is much better compared to simply writing it down on a piece of paper and sticking it between some old book on your shelf. Typing your bucket list is not only an easier way of making it, but you’ll also be keeping it in a place that’s easy to access. If you can, try to put your bucket list somewhere online. There are plenty of websites out there that allow you to do just that. These sites may also allow you to peek at other people’s bucket list in order to get some much-needed inspiration for your own.
If you put your bucket list online, you can easily retrieve and make changes to it. If you lose your one and only physical copy of your bucket list on the other hand, you may not be able to find it even if you turn your entire house upside down. In that case, you’re going to have to start the entire process all over again. This would also be what would happen if you accidentally delete the bucket list file from your computer or if you need to reformat it. Once you put your bucket list on the Internet, it’s there forever for you to see. You can even take a peek at it from anywhere in the world where you can get a stable connection to the World Wide Web.
Taking Action
When you’ve got all of those other things in check, it’s time to put your plans into action. We suggest that you only attempt to tackle three things at a time at most. It’s okay if you think you can only do one as of right now. Remember, this is your bucket list so you can do it in your own time. You can select the things you want to do first by thinking about what makes you feel the most excited as well as which of the things you listed down has a time limit. Take both of these into consideration when you’re choosing your first targets from your bucket list.
Once you’ve chosen which goals to try and achieve, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions. The first, and most important, is “What do I need to do to turn these into reality?” Once you’ve figured that out, ask yourself about who you want by your side while doing these things. You may choose to do things on your own too if that’s what you prefer. After that, think about when you want to make these things happen. Be as specific as possible with this. You should also think of the “where.” This includes the bookings and accommodations you want to make ahead of time. Lastly, ask about the “how.” Like, how much money do you need for a trip?
How To Stay Motivated
One of the most important things when trying to accomplish the things you’ve written on your bucket list is sticking with a positive mindset – staying motivated. One way you can do this is by journaling your progress. Whenever you feel that you’re stuck in a rut, you can just crack open your journal and see how far you’ve actually come. Sharing your progress publicly from time to time would also help because this gives you a sense of accountability. It would also help if you reward yourself for making even small amounts of progress.
If you’re having a bit of trouble accomplishing something on your bucket list, you may want to break that big goal down into smaller ones. These will be easier to target and once you’re done with all of them, you’ve basically finished the larger goal you were having trouble with in the first place. Try your best to make your bucket list goals have a positive impact. You can maybe do some volunteer work or pledge to donate a portion of the money you make. Lastly, when the going gets tough, you need to persevere and stick with your goals.
Those are a couple of the things you need to take into consideration when making and accomplishing your bucket list. If you follow these steps, we’re almost certain that you’ll be able to accomplish more of your bucket list goals in what could be a shorter period of time.
Sources:
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Bucket List Right Now – Science of People
- The Ultimate Bucket List Resource Guide – Bucket List Journey
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