Developing Your Life List - Men’s Journal Method
As mentioned previously, I used the method outlined in the Men’s Journal article “99 Things to Do Before You Die” to develop my first life list (text of the article can be found by searching online - unfortunately not at the Men’s Journal website). This was two years ago. This method involves setting aside some quiet time to think through everything you might want to do, group your ideas into categories, and brainstorm some more. After going through this process, I ended up with about 75 goals (with 7 of them accomplished so far).
The categories I ended up with were Travel (e.g. climb Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia, watch the Kentucky Derby, visit Pompeii), Volunteer/Charity (e.g. mentor someone every year), Material/Wealth (e.g. stay in a Presidential Suite), Self-Improvement (e.g. learn tai chi, become proficient at sketching, write and publish a magazine article), Adventure/Outdoor Activities (e.g. go white water rafting, try mountain climbing, hike Appalachian Trail), and Unique Life Experiences (e.g. watch a space shuttle launch, see northern lights, experience a complete solar eclipse).
At the time, this was a really good method for me. Looking back at it now, and having just evaluated a number of other life list development methods, I would come up with different categories. I notice there are also some items on the list that I’m not interested in doing anymore. That tells me that I need to review my life list a lot more often than I have been over the past two years.
In a future, I plan to take the original life list I developed using this method and merge it with the life lists from the other methods I’ve evaluated.