How to Create and Manage a Bucket List

We begin the New Year with a fresh view and ask ourselves a few hard questions: What happens after you pass away? How does your life influence other people? Will the world be the same without you? While we feel energized and ready for action in January, this feeling fades as the year wears on. If your resolutions are still outstanding, it may be time to start a bucket list.

Starting a Bucket List

A bucket list is an itemization of the things you wish you could do before you die, or "kick the bucket". The list will incorporate line items like, "compose a song" or "climb up a famous mountain".

Why Bother with a Bucket List

Most folks keep a bucket list simmering in the back of their heads. They just never earnestly believe their hopes could be realities. Composing a bucket list will support you in taking up the challenge to change your dreams into achievable aims.

Keeping goals in life is helpful. Your goals may facilitate persistence, helping you to see through an otherwise dismal workday by affording you a bright spot you can look forward to. You will recognize that you keep your not-so-satisfying job to earn money for your vacation to Italy. Goals will also help you focus on who you are as a person and what it is that you wish for in life. Looking at your existence on the whole, not merely a series of actions, will make a track you can pursue toward a happier and more gratifying life.

How to Start

To start your bucket list, put down those dreams that have been lurking in the back of mind. Preparing your initial list might take a couple of days, because thoughts will crop up at various times. Keep a little notebook and pen on your person for a few days.

You should set down all of your thoughts at first, not only the attainable goals. The point is to focus on what you can achieve. Make sure you spend some time thinking about what you may accomplish that can help other people. The most gratifying goals are the ones that change many lives for the better, not just yours. Once you have your bucket list in rough form, brainstorm for added goals you may want to achieve in life.

Be Specific

Make sure you are specific about your goals. If you write down "be a kinder person" or "be more extroverted", it will be difficult to decide when you have won your goal. Because you could always do a bit better at something, you may never be able to cross the item off your bucket list. It is likely that you are already a very kind person. Perhaps a specific goal like "recognize I am a kind person" would be more achievable.

Organize Your List

The next part of making a bucket list is ordering the list by attainability. If you are not an astronaut and you wrote, "go to the moon", it might be the right time to remove that item from your list. Replace it with a more doable goal like "experience weightlessness". Keep your list flexible so you can add, change or delete a goal at any time.

Here is an example of an attainability-organized bucket list:

• Make a bucket list
• Perfect my carrot cake recipe
• Go Whale Watching
• Give Blood
• Start a Website
• Get a promotion at work
• Finish a marathon
• Learn to Scuba Dive
• Write a Novel
• Own a Business

When your list is finished and you are satisfied with it, set a deadline to complete the easiest item on your list. When you have perfected your carrot cake recipe, cross the line off the list. Achieving a small goal, shortly after creating the list, will help you gain the confidence you need to stay motivated and on track.

Small Goals Can Make a Big Impact

Because of our economic woes, many people will pick small goals in 2009. These problems also make the need greater for those who would benefit from your volunteerism. Why not sign up to help those in need, bringing more meaning to your life and to the lives of other people? However you decide to work your bucket list, it will be a useful tool in aiding you to live a happier and more satisfying life.