Your Bucket List
YOUR LIFE LIST
CREATE A BUCKET LIST!
WHEN I WAS 15 YEARS OLD I WAS INSPIRED BY THE AMAZING STORY OF JOHN GODDARD .
I SET 156 GOALS! I HAVE 21 LEFT TO GO!
I started my LIFE LIST in the summer of 1969 when I was just 15 years old. On a hot summer afternoon I attended a workshop on “Goal Setting” at local Church. The presenter was an animated teacher and he told us an exciting story about an extraordinary explorer by the name of John Goddard. John had written a list of 127 inspiring goals when he was 15 years old, the same age as I was at the time! John had made up his mind to become an adventurer. He set his goals and then spent much of the rest of his life pursuing those incredibly ambitious goals.
From the seminar I took home a mimeographed handout listing John’s goals. I poured over his list and I drank it up like a man drinking water in the desert. Some of his goals seemed easy but others not so easy — “Learn to type, become an Eagle Scout, explore the Nile River, study primitive cultures in the Congo, climb Mt. Everest, go to the moon!” His ideas and dreams went on and on. His list started my mind boiling with ideas. That very day I sat down and began to make up a list of my own! Some goals I borrowed from John’s list. Others were quite uniquely my own. John’s story was a great motivator for me. I thought to myself, “If he can do it, then so can I!” My first hand-written list of goals grew rapidly over the next few days and weeks as I thought about what I wanted to do with my life. My parents encouraged me, and programs like Scouting helped me get a good start on many of my goals.
Two years later, in 1972, I was a senior in High School. Thats when I checked off Goal #54 —“Own a typewriter and learn to type”. My first typewriter was a Smith-Corona portable and the first thing I did was that I sat down and typed up my hand-written list of goals. Today the typewriter is long gone, but I still have that original hand typed list of goals! All laid out in columns on two pages, my 156 goals were taped to the wall in my room for the next 10 years. Later, with matured perspectives and new goals to add, I framed the type-written pages and hung them on the wall in my office as motivation to always set goals. These pages prompt me every day to KEEP ON GOALING!
MY BUCKET LIST CONTINUES TO GROW
As the years have come and gone I have continued to add to my Life List, but I’ve never forgotten John’s example and my first, original 156 goals that he inspired me to set for myself. Of that list I have just 18 goals left to accomplish (see those goals in red below)! All the others I have been able to check off over the past 40 years √. Some of the goals I have listed here link to other pages where I tell “THE REST OF THE STORY” as Paul Harvey used to say. — What motivated my goal? How did I achieve it? What lessons did I learn in the process? I hope my list inspires YOU to GET GOALING. I challenge you whether you are 15 or 150 to write up your own list of goals. Then get out there so you can GET WHERE YOU’RE GOALING.
EXPLORE
1. Pyramids of Egypt √
2. Nile River in Africa √
3. South Pacific Islands
4. Amazon River in South America √
5. Caribbean Islands √
6. The British Isles √
7. Forbidden City in China √
8. The Grand Canyon √
9. Mayan Ruins in Mexico √
10. New Zealand or Australia
11. Mt. Fuji in Japan √
12. The USSR √
VISIT THESE PLACES
13. Tower of London √
14. The Capital in Washington D.C. √
15. The Louvre & Eiffel Tower in Paris √
16. Broadway in New York √
17. Sea of Galilee in Israel √
18. Tower of Pisa in Italy √
19. Olympic Village in Germany √
20. Every country in Europe √
21. Epcot Center & everglades in Florida
22. Sacred Well of Chicen Itza √
23. Alaska
24. Far East (Holy Land) √
PLAY THESE INSTRUMENTS
25. Violin √
26. Mandelin or flute √
27. Banjo √
28. Guitar √
29. String Bass √
30. Cello √
LEARN THESE PIANO PIECES
31. Clair De Lune √
32. Rhapsody in Blue
LEARN THESE LANGUAGES AND CARRY ON A CONVERSATION
33. Spanish or Latin √
34. German or French
35. Oriental Language √
READ THE FOLLOWING BOOKS
36. Works of Shakespeare √
37. Works of Talmage √
38. Brigham Young
39. Joseph Smith √
40. Church Standard Works √
MEMORIZE THESE THINGS
41. Memorize one entire book √
42. Memorize 50 poems or quotations √
43. Memorize 15 hymns for the piano √
44. Meet and learn the names of 50 people a year √
LEARN THE FOLLOWING SKILLS
45. Learn to sing well √
46. Rebuild a car engine √
47. Paint a car √
48. Operate heavy equipment like a D-12 Cat bulldozer or a loader √
49. Drive a loaded 10 wheeler diesel √
50. Photography √
51. Electronics √
52. Welding √
53. Sewing or knitting
54. Own a typewriter and learn to type √
55. Prospecting or panning for gold
56. Scuba dive or surf √
57. Paint or watercolor √
58. Produce a hobby or craft profitably √
59. Learn to farm and plow or harvest a field
60. Make a musical instrument
61. Sculpture
62. Learn genealogy and visit the birthplaces of my 8 Great Pioneer Grandparents
63. Learn wilderness survival √
OWN THE FOLLOWING THINGS
64. Motorcycle √
65. Snowmobile √
66. Boat √
67. Plane √
68. Balloon or glider or kite
69. River raft
70. Horse √
71. Cow √
72. Sheep √
73. Duck √
74. Chicken √
75. Dog √
76. Cat √
77. Monkey
78. Garden √
79. Antique car √
BUILD OR MAKE THE FOLLOWING
80. Build a home or a cabin √
81. Build an electrical device √
82. Invent something useful
ACCOMPLISH THESE PHYSICAL GOALS
87. Do 125 Pushups √
88. High Jump 5’
89. Snow Ski √
90. Water Ski √
91. Diving (double summersault) √
92. Ski in Europe
93. Mountain Climb √
94. River Raft or kayak √
95. Swim 5 miles in a river √
96. Swim 1 mile in a pool √
97. Ride a horse √
98. Ride 30 miles on a bike √
99. Hike 50 miles in the primitive area √
100. Run 5 miles √
OTHER GOALS
101. Become a Student Body officer √
102. Graduate from High School and Speak at Commencement √
103. Attend College √
104. Always keep a daily journal √
105. Be on television √
106. Be on radio √
107. Operate a two-way radio √
108. Become an Eagle Scout √
109. Serve as a scoutmaster √
110. Drive a Corvette √
111. Make a cake and a pie from scratch √
112. Compose a song √
113. Make soap √
114. Shave with an antique razor √
115. Be in or make a movie √
116. Be in business with my brother √
117. Travel to Mexico, Spain, or South America with my brother √
118. Travel to Saipan, Guam, Marshall Islands, Titian, Wake, Midway, and other islands with my father
119. Sing a duet with my sister √
120. See a Broadway show with my mother
121. Become an eloquent speaker √
122. Write a book √
123. Play with a Symphony orchestra √
124. Participate in a ski race √
125. Take a horse and sleigh ride in the winter √
RELIGIOUS GOALS
126. Always pay a full tithe √
127. Play the organ in church √
128. Live till the Second Coming
129. Spend a day in fasting and prayer in the wilderness √
130. Be a Sunday School Teacher √
131. Fulfill my “Earthly Duties, priesthood duties, daily work duties.”
132. Find out what my heavenly assignment or calling in life is √
133. Trace genealogy 15 generations √
134. Serve a full time mission √
135. Marry in the temple √
136. Have 6 children
137. Teach children the gospel of Jesus Christ √
138. Teach children to read before age 6 √
139. Meet a living prophet √
VISIT THESE TEMPLES
140. Mesa √
141. Idaho Falls √
142. Hawaii √
143. Manti √
144. Nauvoo √
145. Kirtland √
146. Salt Lake √
147. Cardston √
148. Provo √
149. Ogden √
150. St. George √
151. Logan √
152. Oakland √
153. Los Angeles √
154. London √
155. Switzerland √
156. Washington D.C. √