I love making lists. Not necessarily To-Do lists, or lists that are even functional. I think I just like enumerating and organizing my thoughts in some kind of logical order. I even have a great book that feels like it was made just for me where I can make lists for fun (check out Curious Lists: A Creative Journal for List-Lovers).
Not that long ago, I discovered Leslie Carter’s blog, which is an inspiration to anyone who ever set a goal. She routinely writes bucket lists for herself (and helps others with theirs) and smashes them by crossing everything off. And these are no small items, here… she includes things like visiting exotic locations and doing extreme activities, and always manages to (over)achieve. When I saw her post about gearing up for the new year, and her new list, I started wondering why I had never considered a bucket list of my own…
Shortly after, I discovered another awesomely inspiring blog, Free to Dream, where the author ended up on an amazing journey through life, and it all began with a list. Interestingly, she had a giant list that she started building as a child, but when she turned 30 she made a decision to cross 30 things off her list in that year, which she called Project 30/30 (read her super cool story about it, here). And this is when the list-maker inside of me couldn’t take it anymore. At this point, I knew I needed to make a list of my own.
Being that my 30th birthday was on the horizon when I had read about Free to Dream’s list-oriented beginnings, I started mentally compiling the things that I wanted to become a part of my own 30/30 experiment. Today, I am publishing my list:
- Get into the best shape I’ve ever been in
- Graduate from intermediate to advanced French (if not better)
- Learn how to breathe, and…
- Run a 10K
- Get more familiar with my DSLR, and…
- Take more photos
- Have one of my photos professionally framed
- Create a savings plan and stick to it
- Develop a style and start building a wardrobe to express it
- Learn how to actually do my hair and makeup
- Visit 3 new countries
- Paddle around Lac Daumesnil in a row boat
- Explore more of Paris by bicycle
- Go to a live sports event in France
- Go to a music festival
- Learn about wine, instead of just enjoying it
- Read at least one book per month
- Explore some châteaux (castles)
- Volunteer (it’s been a while!)
- Forgive myself for a few things, and move on
- Do a liquidation sale of my life. All negative relationships must go!
- Master a new dessert recipe
- Make a video and post it on YouTube
- Try 5 new foods
- Take a class (other than French)
- Eat at a restaurant with at least one Michelin Star
- See Stonehenge
- Go see the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
- Visit a jazz bar in Paris (how is it possible that I haven’t done this already?!)
- Reconnect with someone from the past
The point of this little project is not to compete with myself and make sure I cross off every item in order to avoid a self-instigated guild trip, later. It’s to motivate me to make the most of myself and of my time. Relaxing is a great thing, and we all should do it. But how often does relaxing turn into just being lazy? Too often, in my case. Time to step up my game.
I will update you as I cross things off the list, and you can check in on my progress anytime by going to the new tab on my home page called My List. Some of these things will make for interesting posts, I’m sure.
So that’s it… wish me luck (if you want to)! 🙂
Tagged: another year, Birthday, bucket list, expat, goals, list, motivation, to do list, Travel
The Perpetual Passenger 
all the very best.. 😀
Haha, I know the feeling. I make lists all the time. It just makes me feel more organized and motivated.
Thanks for the mention! Makes me realise that I’ve been adding to my list a lot lately (it’ll smash 300 soon enough) but I haven’t been doing much ticking off! I really need to work on that so maybe we can keep each other accountable this year 🙂
That sounds great – I’d love for us to check in with each other and encourage progress. I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get! 🙂
I definitely need all the help I can get these days, I’ve gotten so swamped with other projects. I’ve made a commitment to myself to do 5 silly, frivolous things from my list this year like learning the ukelele or taking king fu classes 😉 Haven’t decided on the final 5 yet but I’ll check back in soon. What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I’m starting to get back into running (for my getting in shape objective), and also for my breathing and 10K objective… I actually just signed up for my first 10K ever, yesterday! I’m pretty nervous, but I’ve got 10 weeks to train, so it’s time to get cracking! 🙂
Hmmm, running. I never “got” running, it just feels like hard work. But you chase after that goal (literally) and I’ll cheer you on from the cyber sidelines. Good luck!
Fantastic list! Good luck!! Have you started already?
Wrote a blog post yesterday on discovering things in your expat country – first thing on the list was Start right away!!
http://globatris.se/2013/03/21/1065/
In a way, I’ve started already, yes. I’m starting to run and practice breathing, I’m looking around at options for classes, I’ve got some tickets to some sporting events in my pocket, and it’s almost bicycle weather! Let’s see how this goes, haha. And I definitely agree that the first thing to do in a new country is explore whatever you can, as soon as you can. Looking forward to reading your blog!
The list-maker in me is very excited about your project!