How to Create a Bucket List

What is a Bucket List?

A bucket list is a personal inventory of exciting, meaningful, and aspirational experiences, goals, or achievements that one hopes to accomplish during their lifetime. 

It can include a mix of travel adventures, personal challenges, and unique activities, reflecting each individual's desires and dreams. 

Bucket lists serve as a source of motivation and inspiration, encouraging people to pursue their passions and live life to the fullest. 

Creating a thoughtful bucket list can provide you with a sense of direction, inspiration, and the motivation to make your dreams a reality. When I created my first one it was my mini-bucket list. 

Camping along the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon! 

Steps to Make a Thoughtful List

Starting My First Bucket list was a struggle but over time it gets easier. Here are some steps to get you started.  

Reflect on Your Passions

Step 1: Self-Discovery - Start by introspecting. What are your passions, interests, and values? Reflect on what truly makes you happy and fulfilled. 

Step 2: Dream Big - Don't hold back! Let your imagination run wild. Think about the adventures, experiences, and achievements that resonate with your heart and soul.

Set Realistic Goals

Step 3: Prioritize - Not all dreams are created equal. Determine which items on your list are more important to you. Which are financially doable? What do you want to accomplish first?

Step 4: Make SMART Goals - Ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This makes them more attainable and actionable.

Embrace Variety

Step 5: Diversify Your List - Include a mix of short-term and long-term goals. Balance your list with travel adventures, personal development, and philanthropic aspirations.

Challenge Yourself

Step 6: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone - Don't shy away from goals that seem daunting. Challenge yourself; growth often lies just beyond your comfort zone.

Seek Inspiration

Step 7: Gather Inspiration - Look to books, documentaries, and people who have achieved similar goals. Draw motivation from their journeys.

Stay Flexible

Step 8: Be Adaptable - Life can be unpredictable. Be open to altering your list as your priorities and circumstances change. You would be surprised what happens when you can adapt and change course. 

Step 9: Create Milestones - Break down your larger goals into smaller milestones. Track your progress and celebrate each achievement.

Live the Adventure

Step 10: Take Action - A bucket list is meant to be more than a wish list. Start taking concrete steps towards your goals and make them a reality. I have even created my 50 before 50 list and now am currently working through my 60 before 60 list. 

Reflections of My Bucket List

Periodically, I engage in self-reflection, reevaluating the person I've evolved into. I notice my goals, aspirations, and desired experiences tend to shift with time. In response, I take a moment to sit down and update my bucket list.

Over the course of the last decade, I've revisited and modified this list multiple times. I've made an effort to structure it in a way that allows me to look back and appreciate the significant growth and progress I've achieved.

Ever Evolving Bucket List

Release my Past
Get Healthy
Forgive Myself
Love Myself
Make time for family visits
Visit Iceland
Visit Scotland with my boys (there roots)
Overland across the US up thru Canada to Alaska
Visit My Family Farm in Norway 
New Orleans with my niece
Head back to Rausch Creek for last Jeep Badge of Honor Crawl Daddy/wheel Rock Creek 
Visit the Keys
Overland across the US up thru Canada to Alaska
Visit Crater Lake 
Visit a "Dude Ranch" in Wyoming
Attend a Murder Mystery Dinner
Go on a Treasure Hunt
Read More ➤➤ E-bike

Completed Goals

Become Lutheran again
Find a Job I love
Mesa Falls, Idaho - August 2023
Revisit Yellowstone - June 2023
Camp in the Grand Canyon - October 2022
Read More ➤➤ Jeep the Rubicon Trail - July 2020
Sturgis -December 2021
Wheel in Arizona -- 2019 & 2020
Visit Lake Tahoe - July 2020
Wheel Colorado -Still doing this to this day
Take a dip in the hot springs -  2020 & 2023
Read More ➤➤ Visit Bourbon Street in New Orleans
Read More ➤➤ Attend Bartender's School
Wheel in Uwharrie
Dickey Bell Badge of Honor
Peters Mill Jeep Badge of Honor 
Read More ➤➤ Jeep in Moab - 2017
Read More ➤➤ Visit Utah State Parks
Visit Zion National Park
Visit a Ghost Town
Ride a Mechanical Bull 
Complete my 50 Before 50 List 
Lift My Jeep with 35's May 2016
Read More ➤➤ Visit the San Francisco Area 
See the Redwood Trees
Walk the Golden Gate Bridge
Read More ➤➤ Visit Yosemite National Park
Read More ➤➤ Alcatraz
Read More ➤➤ Ride a Cable Car in San Francisco
Read More ➤➤ Visit Wells, Maine (my family settled that town)
Bar Harbor, Maine
Acadia National Park 
Sliders for My Jeep  
Tattoo #2   July 18, 2014
Tattoo #1  June 9, 2014
Read More ➤➤ Off Roadin' in a Jeep  May 27, 2014
Read More ➤➤ Warrior Dash Race May 13, 2014
Read More ➤➤ 10K Race - December 3, 2013
Read More ➤➤ Camping & Hiking with my Boys - August 13, 2013

As I reflect I take items off my list. I still would do them but they are not priority

Join a monthly Poker Game 
Climb a Volcano in Hawaii
Hike & Wheel Big Bend National Park
Visit Bond Falls Houghton, Michigan
Wheel Silver Lakes Sand Dunes
Canoe the Boundary Waters in Minnesota
Sturgis during bike week
Hike Old Rag
Hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail
Wheel the Kentucky Adventure Trail
OffRoad at Windrock Off-Road Park 
Visit San Diego to watch the Navy Seals Train