Apologies for the profanity, but you can’t beat this life list. It paints such a great picture of the writer, don’t you think?

Determined. Exhilarated. Creative.

And inspired. Right?

I love it! Couldn’t resist sharing. (Thanks for finding this shot, Jenn!)

Oh, well hello there! How are you?

You’re good? Great.
You’re hot? Yeah, I know. I don’t want to talk about it.

I’m kind of excited this afternoon. Well, and kinda nervous. I’m excitedly nervous. Or nervously excited.

I’ll stop now.

I’ve just created a permanent home for my oddball, selfish, embarrassing, little life list. Yay! See also: Yikes!

I wrote a blog post about my life list back in, umm, back in…crap, lemme look it up…oh here it is, back in October 2009.

(Wha? October 2009? Seriously?! The fact that I have been posting here on AS.com since, well, before October 2009 is astonishing. Where does the time go?)

Ok! The list! Instead of hiding out forever in a fifty-five year-old blog post, it now lives, here:

Annie’s Life List

So neat and tidy, huh? There is now a permanent link on my About page to this list, too, so anytime you need a good laugh or someone to poke fun of, it’s there for you.

By the way, as I mention on its main page, I publicize this list in the hopes that somehow, in some way, it will inspire someone.

Maybe you know that someone?
Maybe, perhaps, possibly that someone? Could be? You?

If me admitting to my list of dreams and silly aspirations encourages just one person to create a list of their own, or to live their life with a smidgen more joy or laughter or curiosity, then I think it’s worth it.

I hope you think so too.

—
Annie’s Life List
—

NOTE: Click HERE for Diary of a Classroom, Part 1

Well, a few weeks ago I promised more notes from a classroom and, you guys, I almost didn’t survive to tell this tale. The first half of my required classes in order to apply for my real estate license went pretty well. There was an adjustment to being in a classroom again, but the instructor was great, the company of the other students greater, and I enjoyed it.

The second half, however? Cripes. We were no longer prepping for an exam, but simply attending for the state-required certificate, so that changed the atmosphere a bit. Then the material was awful. And then the teacher couldn’t hold down a classroom to save her life, nor hear or understand what we were saying, nor find her sense of humor, nor be any, well, weirder.

Sigh.

It was one of those situations – rare, thankfully – where I stared at the clock on my cell phone willing it, pleading it, to move faster.

And it only moved slower.

I thought about nothing else except the giant list of items I could be working on if I weren’t sitting in that chair. About every place I wished I was instead. About what would happen – I mean really! – if I just up and walked out. No one would care! No one was requiring me to be there, and every cell in my body wanted to get as far away as possible from the embarassment that was that room.

As all of this was flowing through my head, somewhere around hour nine I finally resigned to the fact that I was going to stay. I wasn’t really ever considering to leave. I mean, come on, Annie. You knew you were going to push through from the beginning.

As much as I tried to convince myself it was, giving up wasn’t really an option. I mean, it was. But it wasn’t. There was a long-term goal at stake there. And that long-term stuff beats the short-term every, single time.

Sometimes you have to do things now to get yourself what you want later. And it might be painful. Paaaainfulllll. But you do it anyway. What’s that quote again?

“Do the things today that others won’t,
so that you can do tomorrow what others can’t.”

Yeah, that one. It’s those that push through the painful, tedious crap now that will reap the benefits later.

I want those commissions from our future investment properties. Give me that three-percent, please and thank you! I want an additional, more advanced way to learn about real estate, both commerical and residential. I want the inside connections that will come with getting to know local brokers, other investors, landlords, and developers. I want the additional time freedoms that come from multiple, residual streams of income. Therefore, what I’m doing now is worth it. WAY worth it. In fact, reviewing that list, those three extra days in that (terrible, awful, swear-inducing, torturous, need I continue?) classroom almost seems an inconsequential price to pay to have a lifetime’s worth of those advantages. Yeah?

So here’s the question: is what you’re pushing through right now worth it? What you’re not-so-happily suffering through? Will it pay off later? If the payoff isn’t immediately clear, hmm. Maybe change is something to consider.

What say you? Throw your thoughts below. As for me, all of these classroom memories are giving me the heebie jeebies, so if you’ll excuse me, I have a real estate empire to plan…

If you happen to follow me on Twitter you might have noticed lately that, uhh, I haven’t really been tweeting much to follow. I’ve been in class!

Nate and I have recently made things official: our first, solo, real estate investment property. Eek! We’ve had plans for years to get into real estate, and number 15 on my Life List is “Get my real estate license” so why not jump into both at the same time, right?

For 40 hours last week and 16 this week I’ve been sitting in a classroom in the middle of Kansas City, taking notes (actual, handwritten ones), and listening to a Southern-drawl’d teacher lecture on real estate laws, agency, and licensure.

Off the subject, but you guys, this teacher is a riot. He’s twenty minutes deep into a talk about general warranty deeds and fee simple title and then all of a sudden starts preaching about the business structure of Chick-fil-A. Earlier that day? A comparison between real property and personal property brought about the wonderful portrayal of fatherhood Laura Ingalls Wilder depicts in her Little House in the Prairie series. Don’t ask. None of us had any idea either. All of this between his accent that, sometime after hour 37 had several dozen, antsy, grown adults snickering until they cried. Dollars became DAWluhs and buyer came BIAar. It was awesomeness.

As I was driving home at the end of the week, I realized how rare of an experience I had. We purchasd the property we did right on the edge of barely knowing what we were doing. I enrolled to get my real estate license because I knew it would give us a leg up, but didn’t have any specific idea how or when or by how much. I hadn’t thought twice about anyone I might get to know during class, and five days later walked away with a half-dozen self-motivated, goal-driven, risk-taking, entrepreneurial friends.

It was a brilliant example of Ready, Fire, Aim.

Last week I realized that I need to stop aiming more often. In fact, let’s stop aiming more often…together.

You up for it?

More classroom “notes” to come. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Diary From a Classroom, Part 2

2010 is turning into quite the year for my Life List – it seems to be shrinking at lightening speed. The first weekend in May Nate and I took a quick, 24-hour trip to Omaha to attend the annual shareholder weekend for Berkshire Hathaway. Part of the deal, of course, was getting the opportunity to listen to the sage of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett, speak.

It was quite the event. Thousands and thousands of shareholders, an hour-long, parody-like movie showcasing several of BH’s companies, and Warren and his second-hand man Charlie sitting behind a basic folding table on stage. Questions go throughout the day. And…that’s it! Fascinating in its simplicity. One highlight – realizing Bill Gates was one of the few members of the board and, therefore, that we were in the room with two of the richest men in the world at the very same time.

Besides the main event, BH fills one of the exhibit halls in the Quest Center with elaborate booths from some of their companies – giveaways, huge shareholder discounts, funny mascots, etc. Free breakfast was also part of the deal.

All in all, it was awesome. Exactly what I had always wanted to check out. It was a gathering of thousands of interesting investors – some big, many small – that at the very least were curious, knowledge-seeking, business-minded folks. THAT is what made it cool.

…and also why attending the annual meeting and listening to Buffet speak was #73 on my life list.

…and yet another example of how community can be so powerful. I had publicized my life list several months ago, a friend of a friend of a friend was reading my website, read that I wanted to attend Berkshire’s meeting, knew she had tickets to attend that she wasn’t using, and offered to give them to me.

Wha?

Awesome.

High-fives and hugs to community. Cheers to crossing items off your list. So grateful!

What say you? How’s your life list coming? Do you have one? What items are you working on?

It occurred to me a couple days ago that I hadn’t reviewed my life list in several months. I *love* these realizations. It’s a known fact that simply writing down your goals and dreams is a massive step towards actually making them come true. Don’t ask me how, but writing them down clicks something in your brain. You can consciously “forget” about the item, yet your brain never does. Long story short, reviewing the list after a period of time often leads to wonderful surprises of accomplishment that, at the time, you didn’t even realize were happening.

Aren’t our minds weird?

Anyway, I love when I “remember” that I haven’t reviewed my list in a while, because every time that happens it’s usually a notification from that crazy, hidden part of my brain that, “Hey! You’ve accomplished something! GO SEE WHAT IT WAS.”

Upon reviewing my list, I realized that I just accomplished an enormous item:

My last day at The Corp was January 22, 2010. I’m 28, turning 29 this coming April. Which means I accomplished that item from the list exactly as I had said I wanted to – before I turned 29.

Awesome.

What’s interesting about this item, specifically, is that I absolutely couldn’t have “fired” all bosses besides myself it those bosses hadn’t been so amazing. Seriously. My former employer offered me so many opportunities to grow as a person, as an employee, and indirectly, as an entrepreneur. They were flexible, trusting, and encouraging. Both the company as a whole and the individuals I was able to call team members and managers.

They know who they are, and I sincerely hope someday that they land on this post. When they do, I’d love to say thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.

For the past several months I’ve been following one of my favorite bloggers, Maggie Mason of MightyGirl, as she detailed out the results of an amazing opportunity she received from Intel to fulfill 10 items from her LifeList on someone else’s dime.

Maggie is an accomplished author and blogger, in addition to an inspiring, creative, and fascinating person, so her posts on the life list items she choose to live out, the shenanigans that entailed, and the experiences she had were amazing. I’ve been following them religiously not only because of their high inspiration and entertainment value, but because I have a life list of my own. I know how it feels to cross out an item. And I can only dream how it would feel if a giant corporation called me up one one day and nonchalantly announced that not only were they going to encourage me to set aside my normal day-to-day routine for a few months and cross out ten items of my choosing, but they would fit the bill.

I mean. Wow.

Last week Maggie posted her final piece of the campaign and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve been adding and crossing out entries on my own life list since mid-2006 so I was inspired not only by Maggie’s experience the past few months but by the simple fact that her list is displayed for the world to see on her website. Everyone can see it! EV.ER.Y.ONE. Her dreams, goals, and aspirations, both serious and silly. Out in the open! So courageous.

Maggie inspired me, so I’ve decided to do something a bit crazy. I’m going to publicize my own life list.

OH MY GOSH I’M GOING TO PUBLICIZE MY LIFE LIST.

So, here it is, kids. In all of its glory. I’ll eventually get to creating a widget on the sidebar to permanantly display the list, but until then you can reference it within this post. The only reason I could convince myself to do this, and why I’d imagine Maggie also threw hers out to the big, bad, public Internet wolves, is that I hope it inspires someone. And not because I think that I’m personally more inspiring than anyone else, I’m most definitely not, but because if me showing my list of dreams and aspirations encourages even one other person out there to write a list of their own, it will be worth it.

—————–

ALS Life List
Est. 07/11/2006

1. Get married
2. Give birth to/adopt 2 children, if not 3…or 4
3. Get my master’s degree for no other reason than to formally learn something new
4. Ride RAGBRAI all 7 days
5. Own a lake home
6. Ski a black diamond
7. Own a business
8. Run a half marathon
9. Run a full marathon
10. Go on an Alaskan cruise
11. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
12. Be financially independent
13. Go deep sea fishing
14. Buy my Daddy the truck he’s always wanted but never reasoned purchasing
15. Get my real estate license
16. Write a published letter to the editor
17. Spend at least 2 weeks on a United States road trip
18. Own a black Range Rover
19. Watch fireworks in some location other than North America
20. Ride a horse on a beach
21. Re-learn how to play the piano…and play WELL
22. Volunteer at an animal shelter
23. Write/publish a best-selling book…or two…or three!
24. Enter a golf tournament
25. Join the PTA
26. Donate enough money to at least one thing in my community that it qualifies for a name on a plaque/bench/building/etc…and put my parents names on it
27. Win a public speaking award
28. Learn how to sew
29. Have a vegetable/herb garden
30. Attend the Olympics on a continent other than North America
31. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
32. Inspire a stranger in such a way that they rush up to me in an airport & share their success story about how they literally ARE living a better life because of something I created/wrote/said/filmed.
33. Tour California wine country
34. Professional decorate my home
35. Own and love a doggie
36. Decide on Monday to take a fabulous vacation on Friday to somewhere I’ve never been…and GO
37. Hike around a volcano
38. Swim in all of the world’s major oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Indian)
39. Dance in a city plaza in Prague
40. Host an exchange student
41. Step foot on all 7 continents
42. Comission a custom-made business suit
43. Own a Rolex
44. Drink a cappuccino in Italy
45. Visit the sailboat sail hotel in Dubai
46. Send an anonymous financial gift to someone, large enough that it changes their lives
47. Turn a house into a home that is decorated so perfectly that it truly makes me more comfortable waking in the front door
48. Go to Africa on a mission trip
49. Spend a month in Italy with my family…on my dime.
50. Finally have a haircut I love
51. Reach the point where I feel like I eat and live as naturally and healthy as possible
52. Take a weekend trip with a child under 1 year old
53. Slalom water ski
54. Take cooking classes
55. Host Thanksgiving dinner
56. Climb an Egyptian pyramid
57. Take a photo of a white-and-blue-dwelling-dotted Greece coastline
58. Stand under a waterfall
59. Zipline through the rainforest
60. Get invited to the set of Mythbusters
61. Own a Colorado mountain home for Nathan…and all of our extended family
62. Make a piece of furniture
63. Be a guest on someone’s private jet
64. Walk part of the Appalachian Trail
65. Try caviar
66. Affect enough people’s lives that some editor wants to put me on the cover of their magazine
67. Take/host our extended family on a beach vacation
68. Create a magnificent library in our home
69. Attend a black tie event
70. Visit Angel Falls in Venezuela
71. Be 100% my own boss (aka. FIRE any other bosses) before I turn 29
72. Sit in Central Park & people watch all day long
73. Attend Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting and listen to Warren Buffet speak
74. Eat dinner at Bern’s Steak House in Tampa, FL…home of the world’s largest restaurant collection of wine
75. Get invited to be interviewed on a national talk show
76. Eat dinner at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, CA

Cannot WAIT to see your lists.

Go. Dream. Be inspired.

Do you have a life list? Yes? No? Is it in your head or written down? Do you think lists like this are silly? If you do believe in life lists, send me a note when you cross an item off, I’ll save a high-five for ya…