You’ve probably heard of John Goddard; known as the real-life Indiana Jones, he’s one of the world’s most famous anthropologists, explorers, and adventurers.
As a 15-year-old John sat down and wrote out a list of 127 adventures he aimed to accomplish before he died. Since then he’s accomplished about 111 of those goals, which include things such as climbing the world’s tallest mountains, exploring the world’s greatest rivers, reading the complete works of Shakespeare, flying a plane, and visiting every country in the world. Some of the items he’s checked off his list are the following (go here to see the complete list):
- He’s climbed many of the world’s major peaks including Kilimanjaro and Fiji.
- He followed Marco Polo’s route through all of the Middle East, Asia and China.
- He’s run a mile in five minutes, broad jumped 15 feet, high jumped five feet and performed 200 sit-ups and 20 pull-ups.
- He led the first expedition in history down the entire 4,200 mile-long Nile, the world’s longest river. The Los Angeles Times called this “the most remarkable adventure of this generation.” He was also the first man to explore the entire length of Africa’s 2,700-mile-long Congo River.
Use John Goddard as inspiration and create a life list. You can also refer to your list as “List of 100 Things to Do Before I Die” or your “Bucket List”. Make 2009 count: resolve to create a bucket list and start checking off items. More information on how to do this is provided below:
Eight Lessons You Can Learn from John Goddard
1. You have to know what you want. Dr. Goddard explains: “If you really know what you want out of life, it’s amazing how opportunities will come to enable you to carry them out.”
2. Dream Big. Dr. Goddard has scaled 12 of the highest mountains in the world. He also set records as a civilian jet flier, setting a speed record of 1500 mph in the F-111 and an altitude record of 63,000 feet in the F-106.
3. Write it down. Other authors have also emphasized the importance of setting your goals down on paper. In fact, Brian Tracy claims that writing down your goals can increase the chances that you’ll accomplish them by 100%.
4. Put your list where you can see it every day. By looking at your list every day you’ll keep your goals constantly on the forefront of your awareness, instead of keeping them buried under an avalanche of daily minutiae.
5. Set deadlines. Another quote by Dr. Goddard illustrates this point: “It’s helpful to look at your life and ask: ‘If I had one more year to live, what would I do?’ We all have things we want to achieve. Don’t just put them off- do them now!”
6. Stop Making Excuses. There are countless excuses you could make as to why you can’t accomplish the items on your bucket list. If you think you don’t have the money to accomplish your goals, read through the creativity posts on this blog and come up with creative ways to get the necessary funds.
If you’re letting your child rearing responsibilities get in the way of your dreams, take into consideration that countless people have traveled with small children in tow. Think you’re too old to write a life list? Here’s another of Goddard’s quotes: “Age is only important in terms of wine and cheese . . . The man who taught me hang gliding was 76 at the time.” (Source).
7. Be ready to overcome obstacles and adversity. Dr. Goddard has been bitten by rattle snakes, charged by hippos, crocodiles, and a wart hog, was trapped in quicksand, survived plane crashes, and almost drowned twice.
8. Make your life motto the following: “no regrets”. Dr. Goddard explains that he was motivated to write his life list at the age of fifteen after listening to a friend of his parents talking about how much he regretted all of the opportunities that he had let slip by and all of the things he wished he had done, but hadn’t.
Create Your Bucket List by Having a Brainstorming Session
You’re going to create your list by having an individual brainstorming session. Set your kitchen timer to go off in forty-five minutes and find a place where you won’t be interrupted. Play Baroque music in the background, if you have it. Baroque music, such as “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi and Pachbel’s “Cannon” have been shown to slow brainwaves down to the Alpha range, the brain frequency which has been linked to increased creativity.
Do not criticize or evaluate what you write down during the brainstorming process: you’re trying to open yourself up to possibilities. Write down whatever comes into your head, it doesn’t matter how wildly impractical the idea seems. Basically, you’re going to have to quiet your internal critic, that little voice in your head that might be saying: “You can’t do that”; “That’s silly”; “I can’t afford that.” Push the limits on what you currently think is possible for yourself and think outside the boundaries of your current life.
You’re going for quantity and not quality, so don’t stop at 100; write down as many things as come to your mind. Later you can sift through the list you created and narrow it down to 100.
If you need help getting started, ask yourself the following questions:
- If you had a year left to live, what would you do?
- If you won the lottery, where would you go?
- What did you always want to do when you were a child?
- If you were lying on your deathbed, what would you most regret not having done?
- If you had an upcoming high school reunion, what would you like to be able to tell your former classmates that you’ve accomplished?
- What do you need to have more of in your life?
- Who do you admire? Why?
- You’re sitting with your grandchildren on your lap telling them about your exploits. What stories are you telling them?
- You’ve died and are listening to your eulogy. What are your friends and loved ones saying about you?
- If a genie granted you three wishes, what would you ask for?
Web Sites to Visit for Inspiration in Creating your Bucket List
The following web sites allow people to share their life lists with others. You can review what others wish to do in order to come up with ideas of your own.
In addition, I have a great squidoo lens with lots of ideas of things you can consider adding to your life list.
Conclusion
John Goddard emphasizes the importance of setting deadlines for your goals instead of simply making them open-ended. In addition, I wrote in my post “Six Tips to Make Ideas Happen” about the importance of accountability. Therefore, I’m going to put a time limit on five of my goals and I’m going to tell you what they are so that you can help hold me accountable. By December 31, 2009, I commit to checking off the following five items from my bucket list:
1. Learn to scuba dive
2. Go sky diving
3. Have my blog be in the top 1,000 (one thousand) Technorati
4. Run a marathon
5. Learn to Juggle
What are you planning to cross off of your bucket list in 2009?
photo credit: divemasterking2000
Recomended Book:
- The Survivor: 24 Spine-Chilling Adventures on the Edge of Death
by John Goddard
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