Monday, September 28, 2009

How To Fulfill Your Dream of Travel...And Other Things You Thought Impossible

How To Fulfill Your Dream of Travel...And Other Things You Thought Impossible


A few years back I read an article in Men's Journal magazine called "99 Things to Do Before You Die."

It listed out all of these people who wrote down what they wanted to accomplish in life, and just simply set out to do it.

The key to travel and other seemingly far off goals is to:

  • Sit down in a quiet place.
  • Write down the goals. Don't stop until you have 99.
  • Review list periodically.
  • Get back on course if you not moving toward the top goals on the list.
  • Cross off goals as you complete them.
  • Repeat.

In fact my list I wrote out in May 2005 is still valid to me, because I accomplished some goals without referring back at the list. That tells me that that particular goal was important to me because I did not have to be consciously reminded of it.

There is ONE major rule:

The goal can be as outrageous as you want to be. Travel to the moon was one of mine. People think so many things are outrageous, until the next person has passed them and DONE it.

There is no limit on what you put on your list. If you can't think of 99, then you are not thinking hard enough. Just LET GO and don't think about the practicality of it. Just write it down.


This concept was portrayed in the movie "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. For those of you who haven't seen it, Nicholson and Freeman portray two terminally ill cancer patients. They create a list of things to do before they die and have experiences of a lifetime.



I hope you're not terminally ill. And we really shouldn't wait until we are before we get up and do what we really want to do.

Life is much more interesting when you do something out of the ordinary. Another word for interesting is 'challenging'. What is there to remember or be proud of if the task did not somehow make you learn, expand your view or make you do something new?

Here are some tasks from my original 2005 list:

1. Visit Egypt and see the pyramids
Done.

2. Visit Japan
Done.

3. Visit Hong Kong
Done.

14. Learn to speak Spanish proficiently
Not so much. We'll see.

15. Visit Hawaii
Done.

16. Visit Australia
Next time. But from my round the world trip, I have people in Oz now. One step closer...

31. Travel to Mars
Richard Branson has Virgin Galactic. We'll see what happens in the next 50 years.

32. Meet the leader of a country
Nope.

33. Appear on television
Not yet. Working on it.

62. Catch a foul ball at a baseball game
Almost. I was standing in a stadium, moved to another spot and five minutes later a foul ball was hit right where I was standing.

85. Visit Antigua with my father
Did that this year.

90. Fly a hang glider
2007. Fun time.

91. Learn how to play Texas hold-‘em poker
I'm not a pro, but I know the basics of the game and can follow on TV.


So what on your '99 To Do List?' Just sit down and do it. Whether travel, losing weight, finish school or other goals, your life will be so much better for it.







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