Bucket List Thoughts

 Welcome back!

I have mentioned recently that I’m working on my “bucket list”.  When I first started said list, it was merely called 100 goals, and it was a “key to success” that coach Lou Holtz spoke about.  I haven’t quite gotten the list to 100 yet, having 8 slots open at current. 

In addition to that list, I now keep a second.  It’s my “reverse bucket list”, and I encourage you to keep one as well.  This is a list of things that I probably wouldn’t have put on the first list, either for not having thought of it or having done it already when I started “list prime”, but after having done, would not trade the experience for love of gold. 

You may, in fact, already have a 100 item list completed (or more!), if you’ll just think and reflect.  What awesome things have you done? 

Let me give you an example.  I would likely have never put on my list “Watch someone get married by Elvis”.  I just wouldn’t have thought of that, maybe wouldn’t have gone out of my way to do it.  My wife’s uncle got hitched in Vegas some time ago, and I just happened to be in town at a convention.  It was not to be missed, period. 

From the limo ride with the in-laws to the 20 minute ceremony performed by His Kingness (two songs!), to the names-in-lights at the chapel, to the reception at the Haufbrauhaus, it was a day full of awesome memories.  I even enjoyed walking in the desert heat from the reception to the convention at MGM Grand, stepping onto the floor with 2 minutes to spare from start time.  The day had a glow about it, an epicness that makes smiling easy.

That is entry 38 on my Reverse Bucket List.

It bears mentioning that my RBL is not in any order beyond the crazy order in which I remembered things, and I have no desire to organize it.  You might wish to list chronologically, perhaps.  Me, I’ll take scattered, just like my mind on any given day without coffee. 

As for my initial list, it’s been tweaked a few times.  Pro Tip:  You’re going to change and develop as you get older, and it’s perfectly OK to look at the list and replace something you just don’t see as important anymore. 

I’ll give you an example.  #1 on my list, written over 16 years ago, is “Degree”.  I intended at the time to get a 4 year degree.  Now that I’m 40, have Little Danger, and tuition has skyrocketed, this one is just nowhere near important to me anymore.  At some point in the near future (right after I fill the 8 empty slots), I’ll evaluate that goal and replace it with something else. 

It’s important to note that such a change isn’t a disappointment; the goal simply doesn’t fit me anymore.  I’ve read and studied and learned a great many disparate topics, and will continue to do so.  Do I need a 6 digit sheet of paper to think myself intelligent?  Nope.  Now that I own a business, do I need that sheet of paper to advance?  Nope.  Due to the expense and other negatives, it becomes something in the way of the other 99.  So, it gets scrapped. 

Here’s a second example.  #6 on the list is “have children”, which if you’ve paid attention here you know was a big effing deal for Wifefish and I.  For numerous reasons, not least of which is that Little Danger is like the perfect kid ever, we’ve stopped at 1.  So this one gets checked off, but with a caveat following. 

In complete rambling news, I’ve been productive as I’ve been writing…there are now only 7 slots open.  I promise to post the 100 list once completed, and start telling some stories.