“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” — Bethany Hamilton
2020 was supposed to be the year. I was going to get all of these things done before my 50th Birthday but then COVID-19 hit, and all of my plans were hijacked (check out my first blog post here). Now it’s 2021, the world didn’t end, and I still have my list. So, want to be brave with me? I’ve created a template for you to make your own list of 50 (or whatever number you choose) things to do this year (and likely into next year). If you need ideas or just want to see what mine looks like, here it is and below is my process:
STEP 1 – Brainstorm: think about all of the things you have never tried, never liked, never read, never visited, and have never done and put them on a piece of paper. There will likely be more than you can possibly get done in a year.
STEP 2– Once you have captured all of your ideas, go through your list again and make sure you have at least 10 items that push you out of your comfort zone. Remember, this is the year to be brave.
STEP 3 – Once you have your list (including some hard things), now think about areas that you may have missed: physical, mental, spiritual, and social, where you could get some more ideas.
STEP 4 – Now that you have your complete list (or mostly complete), go through it again and think about the amount of time and money each item will take and mark each one with this information. While we want to be able to do everything on our list, some things may not be feasible.
STEP 5 – Now, go through the list again and remove those items that aren’t feasible right now. You aren’t going to delete these completely, you’re just going to add them to another list to save for later.
STEP 6 – Now, go through the list one last time and make sure you really want to do everything on your list. If you don’t have a full list, that’s fine. The most important thing is that your list reflects YOU and what YOU want to accomplish over the next year (or however much time you want to give yourself). Avoid putting things on your list that others want you to do or you will get discouraged. Remember that this is YOUR list and it doesn’t matter what other people think.
STEP 7 – Now, transfer everything on your paper to my template and add when and how you plan to accomplish everything on your list. This is very important because it helps you pace your activities and put some structure around your plan.
STEP 8 – You are done! Now that you have your list, print a physical copy of it and put it on your bathroom mirror or next to your computer–somewhere that you will look at it every day and be reminded. Save your digital copy.
