Bucket List Ideas: Things to do before you die

The majority of bucket lists you’ll come across are usually pretty lame.

A few days ago, I was surfing online when I came across someone’s bucket list. It inspired me to create my own bucket list and write a post about it at the same time.

What’s a Bucket List?
If you have never heard of the term “bucket list”, it is a list of all the goals you want to achieve, dreams you want to fulfil, and life experiences you wish to experience before you die.

Why Create a Bucket List?
If you don’t live your days by goals and plans, chances are that you spend most of your time caught in a flurry of day-to-day activities. Ever felt that your days are passing you by without any tangible output? What did you accomplish in the past month? What are your goals for the next three months? Look at the things that you have been doing and the things that you’re planning to do next — do they mean anything to you if you are to die today? Having a bucket list reminds you of what’s really important to you so that you can act on them.

Even if you live by goals or to-do lists, they are probably framed within a social context, e.g. performance, career, health. A bucket list opens up the context for your life. It’s a list to identify everything you’ve ever wanted to do, whether it’s big or small, purposeful or random.

It’s just like planning all the highlights for YOUR life. 😀 Even though I already set goals by default, I still found many new things to do while writing on my own list. It was an incredibly insightful exercise. What’s more, coming up with my list gave me new-found enthusiasm knowing what I have planned ahead for my life!

The objective of creating this list isn’t to create some fear-based mentality toward death. I don’t see our existence to be limited to our physical years on Earth — our physical lifespan is but a short speck of our existence in the universe. The whole point of creating a bucket list is to maximise every moment of our existence and live our life to the fullest. It’s a reminder of all the things we want to achieve in our time on Earth so that instead of spending our time on pointless things, we direct it toward things that matter to us.

Welcome to my ginormous bucket list, which was started in 2006.

It’s a never-ending work in progress, continuously being updated and improved/,

Before you even ask: Yes. I know the bucket list is huge. Yes. I do think that I can complete everything on it.

Create Your Bucket List

If you don’t have a bucket list, I highly recommend you to create one. How much will it cost? Zero. How long will it take? Probably 30 minutes to an hour; more if you get really caught up in writing it. 🙂 What do you stand to gain? Significant clarity in what you want from life. It’s an invaluable exchange. 🙂

If you already have a bucket list, take this opportunity to review it. See if there are new items you want to add on. If so, add them in. Check if all the items listed are still relevant. If not, remove them.

Now, take out your pen and paper or open up a text document. Start writing down what comes to mind as you read these questions:

• What if you were to die tomorrow?
• What would you wish you could do before you die?
• What would you do if you had unlimited time, money and resources?
• What have you always wanted to do but have not done yet?
• Any countries, places or locations you want to visit?
• What are your biggest goals and dreams?
• What do you want to see in person?
• What achievements do you want to have?
• What experiences do you want to have/feel?
• Any special moments you want to witness?
• What activities or skills do you want to learn or try out?
• What are the most important things you can ever do?
• What would you like to say/do together with other people? People you love? Family? Friends?
• Any specific individuals (celebrities, famous people, world leaders) you want to meet in person?
• What do you want to achieve in the different areas of your life: Social, Love, Family, Career, Finance, Health (your weight, fitness level), Spiritual?
• What do you need to do to live a life of greatest meaning as defined by you?

Come up with as many items as you can. The items should be things you have not done yet. Don’t stop until you have at least 101 things! If you find yourself stuck, chances are you are mentally limiting yourself.

Release those shackles — your bucket list is meant to be a list of everything you want to achieve, do, see, feel and experience in your life. Check out the next section for added inspiration.

101 Things To Do Before You Die

Here are 101 items to consider for your bucket list. 🙂 Look through the list — is there anything that resonates with you? ​Note that the list below is a sample list of things you can put for your own list. Not all of them will work for you, and you shouldn’t do them for the sake of it. Take the items that resonate with you and use them for your own list! For your convenience, I’ve included useful resources (hand-picked by me) to aid you in your bucket list quest.