Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how you can make progress on
Speaker 1: your bucket list. In a previous episode, I urged listeners
Speaker 1: to create something called a list of one hundred dreams.
Speaker 1: This list, which was an exercise shared with me by
Speaker 1: career coach Caroline Deniza Levine, is a completely unedited list
Speaker 1: of anything you'd like to do or have more of
Speaker 1: in your life. It's basically a bucket list, that is,
Speaker 1: those things you want to do before you kick the bucket.
Speaker 1: But most people's bucket lists aren't that extensive. One items
Speaker 1: is a lot. The upside of going all the way
Speaker 1: to one hundred is that you really have to think.
Speaker 1: You have to come back to the list again and again,
Speaker 1: and so you come up with dreams that are both
Speaker 1: big and small. The small ones, some of which could
Speaker 1: be done this weekend, can be incredibly motivating. But today's
Speaker 1: tip is not about the small ones. Today we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the big ones. I recently received an
Speaker 1: email from a listener who asked exactly how to tackle big,
Speaker 1: audacious goals. Let's say that your bucket list involves renovating
Speaker 1: a historic estate. Well, I applaud the ambition, but this
Speaker 1: is at best a multi year undertaking. Maybe it's a
Speaker 1: decade long undertaking. So how do you keep from getting
Speaker 1: discouraged or feeling scattered? Especially if your list also contains
Speaker 1: other big items, maybe such as scuba diving on the
Speaker 1: Great Barrier reef and by the way, you're not scuba
Speaker 1: licensed yet and you should brush up on your swimming too.
Speaker 1: Or maybe your list includes writing an epic historical novel.
Speaker 1: It's a good question, but I do think it's possible
Speaker 1: to build some big, complicated dreams into life. There's both
Speaker 1: a systematic way to do this and something i'll call
Speaker 1: the serendipitous route. You can do both. First, the systematic
Speaker 1: I encourage you to make your list of one dreams.
Speaker 1: Separate these dreams into categories. The first is those that
Speaker 1: are doable in a few hours. If you've always wanted
Speaker 1: to try soul cycle, or read The Great Gatsby, or
Speaker 1: attend a production of lam Is, well, basically you need
Speaker 1: a couple of hours on a Saturday. You can do this.
Speaker 1: The next category is those that will involve a few
Speaker 1: days or maybe a week or two. Most of your
Speaker 1: travel goals will actually go in here. They might require
Speaker 1: a fair amount of money, but in terms of time,
Speaker 1: a week or two is about where they land. Even
Speaker 1: fairly involved ones. Your bite tour of the Loire Valley
Speaker 1: is not going to take more than two weeks because
Speaker 1: your legs will be too sore to go longer. Eating
Speaker 1: at French laundry will likewise take some time to score
Speaker 1: your reservation and travel to call Fornya, but not that
Speaker 1: much time. Then create a category of those goals that
Speaker 1: will be far more involved but you do see a
Speaker 1: way to do, and finally, a category that's going to
Speaker 1: involve factors outside of your control. Revisit the list frequently.
Speaker 1: You can always choose one of the short ones to
Speaker 1: execute on, but in November or December of each year,
Speaker 1: think through your next year and maybe choose one of
Speaker 1: the more straightforward travel goals for a vacation, and finally,
Speaker 1: choose one of your more complicated or nebulous ones as
Speaker 1: a focus for the year, just one. You can really
Speaker 1: afford to be patient here, because you can accomplish a
Speaker 1: lot over a long time horizon. If you're listening to
Speaker 1: this at say age forty, you've probably got at least
Speaker 1: another thirty five years for active dream pursuit. If you'd
Speaker 1: like one dream a year will get you through a lot.
Speaker 1: But by aiming for one, you can focus us and
Speaker 1: not get discouraged. And even if you're not done with
Speaker 1: that goal by the time January rolls around again, which
Speaker 1: you won't be for the longer ones, that's fine. You
Speaker 1: have built up enough momentum that you can keep going
Speaker 1: while starting something else. So, for instance, let's say that
Speaker 1: this is the year of the epic historical novel. You
Speaker 1: aim to write five words four days per week, and
Speaker 1: so you'll have about a hundred thousand words by the
Speaker 1: end of the year. This is actually a fairly long book,
Speaker 1: and maybe you're done, or maybe you've got another fifty
Speaker 1: thou words to go, But by this point you'll be
Speaker 1: enough into the story that you can start the project
Speaker 1: of learning to paint portraits with oil pestels, with the
Speaker 1: goal of doing an exhibition at the end of that year.
Speaker 1: And so you spend the first four months of the
Speaker 1: year in intense study with a class on Wednesday, nights
Speaker 1: and Saturdays, and then you spend the next eight months
Speaker 1: producing work as you get feedback from the master painter
Speaker 1: you've enlisted to guide you. You see how this goes.
Speaker 1: Of course, you should leave room for serendipity too. I
Speaker 1: faithfully plan out annual vacations with my family's list of
Speaker 1: a hundred dreams in mind. That's how we wound up
Speaker 1: at Yosemite last summer and Yellowstone summer before that. But
Speaker 1: I'm open to other things, and as part of that,
Speaker 1: I publish my evolving list of a hundred dreams. From
Speaker 1: time to time. I put it up on my website,
Speaker 1: and then something fascinating happens. People read it and decide
Speaker 1: to help me. This summer, for instance, I'll be giving
Speaker 1: a speech somewhere that was on my bucket list precisely
Speaker 1: because someone read my list and sent an invitation. You
Speaker 1: really just never know what will happen, So tell friends, family, colleagues,
Speaker 1: and social media followers about your desires. That just might
Speaker 1: help you make more progress than you thought possible. In
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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