Friday, January 24, 2014

50 by 50 or a Bucket List?

I've noticed a trend lately. A lot of my friends turning 40 this year are starting a 50 by 50 list. It's full of the things they'd like to accomplish in the next ten years before they turn 50.

I thought it would be a good idea. Then I tried to think of 50 goals.

It was harder than I thought, and I only came up with 25 34. Well, I can think of lots more, but I was trying to pick things I could realistically see me doing in the next ten years. So maybe I should do a general "bucket list" instead and not give it a time line? Of course deadlines make you work harder to accomplish the goal.

There are a few months before I turn the 40, can you help me out? I'll add the new goals in another color as we go.

Help me think of 25 16 more goals!

Just add them to the comments, please.

Here's what I've got so far.

1. Run a marathon
2. Go to Disney World with my kids
3. Go to Scotland
4. Learn to play the cello
5. Publish the rest of Talia's story (3 novels, 2 novellas)
6. Visit the Sequoia National Forest
7. Make a will
8. Donate blood
9. Go to Napa Valley
10. Write a letter to all the people who are special to me
11. 30 days of Random Acts of Kindness
12. Set up a formal dining room
13. Get floor to ceiling curtains for the living room
14. Make the front landscaping awesome
15. Get Fade Into Me Published
16. Write and publish Last Christmas
17. Take ballroom dance lessons
18. Take a hot air balloon ride
19. Visit volcanoes in Hawaii
20. Visit the Grand Canyon
21. Walk the Inca trail at Macchu Picchu
22. Return to the Smokeys for 20th anniversary
23. Write and publish unnamed Contemporary YA idea
24. Purchase bedroom furniture
25. Launch my own editing business
26. Have my author webpage professionally designed
27. Learn how to design and create webpages--html, css
28. Participate in a play at the local community theater (this could just be helping with costumes or sets--bonus if it's Into The Woods)
29. Take my kids to see a play on Broadway (not picky about which one)
30. Learn how not to yell at my kids
31. Take the whole family on a cruise (snorkeling!)
32. Learn how to scuba dive (because I want to and so my hubby can swim with sharks)
33. Update my grandmother's genealogy book that I put together 10 years ago. (lots of births, deaths, marriages and divorces to record!)
34. Convert front room into a guest room or a really kick butt craft room (depends on what we need the most).

12 comments:

  1. Fifty things before you're fifty? Crap, I am so out of time.
    Any plays or performances you'd like to see? Any skills you'd want to learn? Anything you'd like to accomplish spiritually?

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    Replies
    1. Great questions Alex! They sparked a few more goal ideas...

      27. Participate in a play at the local community theater (this could just be helping with costumes or sets--bonus if it's Into The Woods)
      28. Take my kids to see a play on Broadway (not picky about which one)
      29. Learn how not to yell at my kids

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  2. Yes, I'm afraid I'm too late for that game but I love your list :)

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  3. I'm a year into my 40's and will have to start late, oops.
    Here are some things I/we plan to do in the next few years that may give you ideas--take the kids snorkeling, go on a 20th anniversary vacation, visit my family in Memphis, replace our countertops, finish our landscaping, do more indexing on family search, learn to cook thai food, get eye surgery.

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  4. Ooh, and get or build bookshelves and a window seat for our living room.

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  5. @mshatch, it's never too late to pick some bucket list items and work on it. Maybe just x number of goals for the next x number of years? I really need the deadline. :)

    @Edith there are some great ideas in there! Just by reading your ideas I can add:
    31. Take the whole family on a cruise (snorkeling!)
    32. Update my grandmother's genealogy book that I put together 10 years ago. (lots of births, deaths, marriages and divorces to record!)
    33. Convert front room into a guest room.

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  6. Learn how to not yell at your kids. Are they teenagers? If so, I wish you the best on that one.... That one alone could take up a lot of time in the perfecting.

    Other ideas? Anything you wish you did better? Or more often? Any habits that you would like to make a daily part of your routine?

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    Replies
    1. Well, at the end of the ten years the last one will almost be ready to move out. So, in ten years I should be able to reach that goal. LOL. I really hate fussing at them, but it seems like they can't hear anything else.

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  7. Those are all amazing goals. I'm turning 50 in three years and making a list like that makes me feel awfully old. Blah!

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    Replies
    1. Me too! Luckily I'll only be 40 this year, but it still makes me feel old. However, I'm trying to look at it as a new start. The first 40 I was passive and unsure of myself. Now I know what I want, and I understand it's okay if my goals don't line up perfectly with everyone else's. It's time to take charge of my life (I've been working on this for the last 3 years) and come into my own.

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  8. Good luck on your goals. I had not heard of this trend. I'm just a little too old.

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