Two Steps to Achieving Things on Your Bucket List
This past weekend, I was blessed with an opportunity to run a race inside Crater Lake National Park. A special experience like this one reminded me of how I got there and helped me rewind the clock back a year. When I entered 2022, something inside of me began to change. It was a slow process, but ultimately, I began to do a few things I had always wanted to do. I finally started taking action on my dreams. Much of it began from a few simple things: getting married, publishing a book, and in the summer, visiting Crater Lake National Park. I still remember looking at pictures of the park in my early high school years, gazing at its wonder and telling myself that somehow, someway, I’d get there. Then, only two years after graduating college, I found myself on a flight to Oregon with my wife to visit the park. But what happened in between those two events? What caused me to switch from dreaming to doing?
First of all, I don't claim to have all the answers, and I can ultimately only tell you what has worked for me. I started following a two-step process to think about my bucket list: 1. Envision what you want to do. 2. Take immediate action steps to make it into reality. When I first wrote this down, I nearly laughed at myself. I know it might seem like an oversimplified approach, but sometimes it’s the simplest approach that works the best. Of course, planning a weekend trip to see a state park is less action than starting a business, yet both find themselves in the same predicament. When you have a dream, you need to envision it clearly so you know exactly what you want, and then you need to take action to make it happen. Envisioning is important because it helps you decide if that is something worth pursuing, and while we learn a lot from experience, we can learn from setting sights on a dream, too. Visualization can be a powerful tool, and the more detailed your visualization, the deeper you ingrain it inside of you.
The other reason it’s such a simple approach is this: if we have too many complex steps, we will never do anything. There are a million ways to live your life, hundreds of careers to choose from, and more access to information and travel than we’ve ever had. If you sit too long with a dream, you will stay idle. I’m not sure who first said it, but someone once shared this quote with me: “the longer you keep your dreams on life support, the less likely they are to happen.” Envisioning is important, but you ultimately need to take action to make it happen. When you have decided that you want to pursue something, think of an immediate action step you can take. If it’s a trip, book a flight. If it’s a race or competition, sign your name up. If it’s a person you want to know, call them.
We all spend time thinking about things we want to do without translating them into reality. Think about those items on your bucket list, if you have one, and what it would be like to accomplish them. Some things might take years to take place, just like me going to Crater Lake did. Other times, life hits hard and the vision you had in your mind doesn’t go as planned. Maybe not pursuing certain dreams will end up being for the best. I can’t tell you that life is perfect or that everything you envision will come true exactly as you plan it, but I think you’d agree that it’s worth taking the risk.
