In my last post, I explained why I have a Bucket List and how it helped me overcome my mental health issues.
In this post, I will show you how I wrote mine. It feels like a long time ago, but I am always adding to it regardless.
What is a Bucket List?
A Bucket List is a list of things that an individual hope to have achieved in their lifetime before they die or "kick the bucket". There are many different terms for it. I call it my Life Goals List.
Brainstorm
There is no right or wrong way of creating a Bucket List. The important thing is to remember that this is your own individual list, you make your own rules and add whatever your heart desires. Take your time in this stage as you will asking yourself a few questions:
"What do you want to experience?"
"What kind of work would you like to do?"
"What did you dream of doing when you were younger?"
This is a stage I like to daydream and fully imagine what I could do. When you brainstorm, all of your items on your list doesn't have to be in any kind of order. Feel free to be really specific.
Start small
If you can't think of anything or the things you want to do seem really big and impossible. Start small, list 5 small things that you think are achievable. As you begin to work towards making them happen, you get more ideas. It is like building a muscle or learning a new skill, with lots of patience and practise.
Listing
Start putting this all together, and start putting the items on your Bucket List under categories:
Travel and Adventures
Health
Relationships
Concerts and Gigs
Career
Wealth
Personal Growth
These are all generic categories and you can name whatever you want.
Whether or not you would like to put a time on a specific list is entirely your choice - I have used the 30 things before 30 or 40 things before 40 lists in the past. You can make them season-specific too i.e a Christmas List or Summer List.
Save the List
You can save this list to either a Word document on your computer or you can save it to a phone app or website.
You decide whether you want to save this list privately or on a public website. I use the Day Zero Project as you can list items on this platform either privately or publicly.
There are many apps that you can use. At the time of writing, the Day Zero Project does not have an app as yet.
Plan
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of ideas that you have. Decide on the top three items that you would like to work on and start planning them. This is the most exciting part for me, knowing that I have something to look forward to.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself in this stage to do too much.
Go for it!
Have fun, enjoy the experience. It is about living a positive life, doing the things you love and not having any regrets. This is very addictive for me.
Once you have a few items ticked off, you can start thinking bigger and what would be huge for you to complete. The more items you complete on your list, the more ideas you will have. You will start feeling that nothing is impossible.
Accept that you won't be able to do it all but give it your best shot. With a bit of planning, you will instinctively know what to do next.
Do you have a Bucket List? What have you achieved on it? Share your thoughts below.