Life happens fast. Are you letting it happen by accident or living it purposefully?
Our careers are demanding. If you’re an entrepreneur, it can be difficult to step back and claim some of your time. But before you leave this earth, what do you want to experience?
Years ago, a mentor challenged me to create a list of 100 things I wanted to do during my lifetime. Not all of these things needed to tie to my professional identity —in fact, most don’t.
What I’ve found over the years of checking experiences off of my list is that many of them have made me a more well-rounded individual.
They’ve also empowered me to pursue more experiences in life than I might have otherwise.
In many ways, this list guides me to live my life more purposefully, which is why I want to share three tips on how to develop your own list:
1. Focus on experiences, not goals.
Originally, my list was titled “100 lifetime goals.”
I’m very goal-oriented, but my wife Jean is much more about enjoying the moment — she doesn’t like making decisions based on reaching a specific goal. She asked whether I was doing these things just to check the box. And she had a point.
These were things I wanted to experience in my lifetime. The list is about my journey in life, so I renamed it “100 lifetime experiences.”
2. Choose your experiences with intention.
It was easy to come up with the first 60 or so items on my list, but then I got stuck.
Jack Canfield, co-founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul, has a 101 Goals List, and I looked at it for inspiration. I pulled from some of his ideas and developed experiences that are more personal and meaningful for me.
The list I came up with is truly experience-based, and not all are easy to accomplish. As you think about your own list, consider…
- How could you choose experiences that deepen your understanding of others? (For instance, one thing on the list is to live as a person experiencing homelessness for a week. I think anyone can do this for 24 hours, but experiencing what it’s like for longer will help me understand what people go through. That experience for me is more about empathy.)
- What achievements do you want to aim for with a spot on the list? What skills would you like to develop?
- What aspects of life would you like t0 amplify? (I have experiences related to running, cooking, and travel —all important aspects of my life.)
- What experiences would help you spend time intentionally with loved ones?
There’s one thing on my list that bothers me a little. It’s to stay faithfully married to Jean as long as we are both alive. One of us has to die to accomplish it, which doesn’t feel great. But for me, it’s the spirit of what it means.
Choose experiences to add to your list with intention. Make them meaningful. Not all need to be as easy to check off as stamping a passport. Some of mine will take years, if not my whole life, to achieve.
3. Prioritize experiences at the beginning of each year.
At the beginning of the year, I look at my list and determine what should be prioritized for that year. These are typically more time-sensitive items.
A few experiences require a certain level of physical fitness. If I wait until I’m too old, I may not be able to accomplish them.
There are also experiences that I want to share with other people.
Three years ago, one experience I prioritized was to spend a full week with my dad. He was 84 at the time. Was that something I wanted to put off? I didn’t want to look back and say, “I never accomplished that, and I can’t anymore.”
We had a great week together and continue to talk about those memories.
While I fully support enjoying life as it happens and being present in the moment, our days can get busy.
Let’s face it. Demands from our customers, employees, partners, and others take up much of our time. Months and years fill up fast.
Start a list, regularly refer back to it, and let it guide how you prioritize your time. Taking a proactive approach forces you to schedule business commitments around the things on your list, which greatly increases your chance of experiencing them.
Read more about my 100 Lifetime Experiences list: