As I start to think about the new year ahead and reflect on the year that was, I’ve started looking at my bucket list. I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, I think they are short sighted. They tend to reflect our inability to change our habits. We think we can just set a date and fix it, but this inevitably fails.
But a bucket list is something I’ve increasingly found to be beneficial as a long-term tool. I’ve had a list for several years and I pick a few items each year that I want to tick off. Now it’s inherently a very personal list but it’s a great exercise to think deeply about what you want to do in the years you have left on this earth.
I think that’s the key, a bucket list makes you explore your own mortality. It’s the items you would love to do before you kick the bucket. It makes you plan your life a little more than you otherwise might. Not planning in a rigid way but rather in a purposeful way.
I start by thinking about what I would regret not having done by the end of my life. They are the real priorities. That process helps cut through a lot of the ego driven items. The things you don’t really care about as much as you think and are more about how they look or make you feel.
The other way I approach it is to think about what would be awesome to do or challenging to try. I’m a big basketball fan, but I’ve never been to a live NBA game in the US. I really want to do that. I started karate with my kids many years ago, my oldest achieved their black belt, but I stopped going. It’s on my list to return to at some point and get my black belt too.
But they don’t have to be big ticket items or impressive achievements. They might be deeply personal. One of mine was to write a song and another was to sing at karaoke, I ticked both off in 2022. I’d like to try standup comedy too, no idea why because the thought of it is somewhat terrifying. But I want to see if I can do it. The most important item on my list is to visit Sicily and the 2 small villages of Sant’ Angelo di Brolo and Sinagra where my Nonna and Nonno grew up.
There’s something very powerful in actively writing down what you want to achieve in your life. Very often in the busyness of life, it’s easy to find 10 years go by and if you are not proactive, you’ll get caught in the everyday grind and lose yourself. This simple activity is the antidote.
So, what’s left? Well, one of my first items added as a kid was to build a billion-dollar business, turns out that is quite a bit harder to do than I thought back then. But I love investment markets, and I’ll do what I do until I’m 90 plus so maybe that does one day turn into a billion-dollar business. I want to travel the world and experience other cultures so living in Italy for a year down the track.
But more important than what’s on your bucket list is which ones you do. The ones you will tick off next year and the ones you already did tick off this year. I keep a separate list of the bucket list items I have done, and it reminds me of not only how lucky I’ve been in life but how much fun it has been having some of these adventures along the way.
The biggest consideration is that we don’t know how long we will live. This year might be your last. And if it was what will you regret not having done? Life is for living. Most of what we worry about is a waste of time. I love coming up with new ideas that pique my interest to add to the list. World sporting events and travel are items I think more about as time goes by. I ask myself this… When you are old and look back on your life, what do you want to have done? What are the top items on your bucket list?
Bucket List – To Do
Visit Sicily (Nonno and Nonna villages)
Wedding anniversary in Paris
Bench press 100kg
Black belt
See NBA game live
Attend event at Madison Square Garden, New York
Try standup comedy
Write a book
Publish a book of poetry
Build a billion-dollar company
Live in Italy for a year
Live in NY for a year
Study at Oxford and/or Harvard
Complete a PhD
Visit Positano, Florence
Visit Egypt & Pyramids
Karate tournament (open event)
Play organised basketball again
Play in a chess tournament
Whiskey in Scotland
Bucket List - Done
Get Married
Have Kids
Get my MBA
Attend AFL grand final
See Cat Stevens live
Attended Formula 1
See Ludovico live
Met John Howard
Drink a bottle of Penfolds Grange
Karate tournament (won novice event)
Coached basketball grand final win
Kids all finish school
NYE fireworks from the top of Sydney
Built a house
Start and run a business
Learn chess
Live in Perth
Live in Sydney
Sing at karaoke
Kids all adults
Write a song
Took kids to Disneyland and Europe
Attended Lauren Jackson’s last game for Australia
Espresso with Dad in Rome
Champagne with Paula in Paris
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