Elevate Your Life: What is a Bucket List?

I think we should address the obvious question first…what is a bucket list? 

In its’ simplest form, a bucket list is a list of goals, or dreams, we would like to achieve, or experience, before we kick the bucket, pass away, breathe our last, shuffle off this mortal coil, expire, or simply die. 

However, and these points are important:

1. A bucket list IS NOT about dying, quite the opposite, it’s about living, but not just living, living our best lives. 
2. A Bucket list IS NOT just a fad or a tick box exercise. Every experience we have, every dream we achieve, creates precious memories, that not just we, but our loved ones too, hold on to for a lifetime. They help you smile on a rainy day. 

Achieving a Bucket List of goals and dreams can go on a lifetime, whether that lifetime is short or long, usually starting as we enter adulthood although for some it starts in childhood, and continues through to reaching a ripe old age, which takes us to the crux of the matter.

As mortal, imperfect human beings, we are constantly aware of time, the irreversible, continued sequence of our existence. You may be interested to hear that research has shown that the age bracket leading on bucket list focus, is 30-54 and this is closely followed by both age brackets 18-29 and 55-70, which are pretty much neck and neck, so in reality, age and bucket list creation or achievement are not connected.

The importance of goal setting in life

Creating a bucket list is about setting goals, and setting goals is about taking control of your life, and how you want it to be. 

So why you? Well… we all have hopes, dreams and goals, creating a bucket list is simply a way of extracting them from our heads and hearts, and logging them on paper or electronically, to act as a reminder. We are often so busy with the day-to-day stuff that we forget about our dreams, and everyone deserves to achieve their dreams, live their best life, avoid regrets and ‘what ifs’ or ‘if only’s’, and Grasp Life is here to help you with that, irrespective of who you are, how old you are, or any of the other insignificant details you might consider a barrier.  

Why bother? Your dreams arise from a cherished ambition or desire linked with your motivations in life, which makes them really important to you, and once they appear as an idea in the part of your brain marked ‘I really want to’, they don’t tend to disappear, they will sit and nag at you.

We are good at making excuses as to why we shouldn’t follow our dreams because of fear or worrying about failure, but that is just a mindset. The journey to achieving your goals can be as exciting as achieving them. We know not everything we wish for is possible, particularly those dreams and wishes that sit outside of human control, but for those things that are within human control, then we should go for it. As American Entrepreneur, Jordan Belfort famously said, “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it”,  so why bother? Because in the majority of cases YOU CAN achieve your dreams.

What do I put in my bucket list?… creating your achievable plan

The easy answer is whatever you want, that is humanly possible, but that would be a cop out really. 

Usually the items we include, we don’t have to think about very hard, because they are at the forefront of our mind, our greatest dream…. travel destinations, skills to achieve, sights to see, adrenaline experiences, fears to overcome, music or exhibitions we would like to see, food we would like to eat, wonders of the world we’d like to explore. All bucket lists are as individual as we are, don’t worry how obvious or individual your goals are, it is your bucket list.

To prevent disappointment though, remember your goal needs to be realistically achievable. So, for example, if your dream is to walk on Mars, you need to have a think about the logistics of this, do we have the capability to walk on Mars currently, if the answer is no, then, depending on whether you have any time constraints, it might be that you pop it in a ‘maybe’ list to start, as who knows what may be achievable in years to come. If your dream however, is to meet a mermaid, then, based on the fact that Mermaids are folklore, we would suggest that you reconsider this as a goal.

How many goals or dreams make a bucket list?

A list is one or more things written down, all generally relating to a specific category, in this case your goals or dreams for your life. So, it can be as long or short as you want it to be. Apparently, the average American has 11 items on their bucket list, but who’s counting? it’s your bucket list. Just remember the words realistically achievable. Also writing a Bucket List isn’t a one-time thing, you can keep adding to it.

If there are time constraints linked with achieving your bucket list goals, this could be your own time constraints, or time constraints linked with your goal such as wanting to see an animal species that is near extinction, or an environmental structure that is eroding or melting, like the polar ice caps, then you might want to prioritise those certain goals.

Real barriers to achieving dreams

Sometimes we do have personal barriers that will stand in our way to achieving certain dreams, maybe you have asthma that might stop you climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, or a serious allergy that might prevent certain experiences. In these cases, if it’s important to you, get some more advice, maybe adjust your dream, sometimes, when we think outside the box, it’s the things we don’t think about achieving, that give us the greatest pleasure.

When should we start ticking things off the bucket list?

Why not now? We are back to the subject of time again. As yet we have not learnt to control time, and we don’t know the length of our existence, all we know is that, unless you are Dr Who, our time is finite. So why put off until tomorrow what we can do today? Why wait to do what we really want to do? And Grasp Life is here to help you, today, tomorrow, whenever you are ready.

Keeping Motivated with your Bucket List

We all tend to create lists of one sort or another. Some people live by them, to the letter, and they have a library of notebooks full of lists. Some people just use them for certain things, like Shopping lists. Other people struggle with lists, whatever they might be, they start, get bored, and find them stuffed in the back of a drawer 2 years later. Some lists though are extra special, like your Bucket list, so… 

1. Make them special, make them stand out, and then put them somewhere visible to you every day, we are not suggesting tattooing them on your arm, however, it has been done, if tattoos are your thing, or maybe a tattoo is on your bucket list, two birds, one stone? 
2. Put pictures linked with your goals around your home, your office, the forget-me-not places we all have. This way you will constantly be reminded and that will help you stay motivated. 
3. Research and make a plan of what you would need to do to achieve your dreams, this will help you feel invested in your goals.
4. Connect with other people who are achieving goals on their bucket list. There is no greater driver than seeing someone else achieve their dreams and hearing or seeing the affect it has on them, and they also may be able to help you or give you ideas.
5. Tell your loved ones about your Bucket List goals, they may want to help you achieve them.
6. Set up a savings account or maybe an online fundraiser for your more costly dreams.
7. Do good while you’re achieving your dreams. Help your favourite charity with fundraising, maybe if you want to jump out of a plane, or walk The Great Wall of China. Some charities actually run incredible once in a life time activities, and you just have to raise a certain level of funds for the charity to be included, and it’s all organised.
8. Don’t forget, your dreams matter, they shouldn’t take motivation, but sometimes we lose sight of what’s important, so surround yourself with what matters.
9. Let Grasp Life help you achieve your Bucket List goals by signing up to our community!

Final words from Oscar

So, as it says on our tin, we are here to help you grasp the life you have, and live it the best way you can.