Inspired by MightyGirl, Annie’s Life List

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.

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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…

Tagged as: Blogroll, goal-setting, inspiration, lifelist, motivation