Mindset

Ok, so you managed to find a couple of spare hours and sat down to write your bucket list. You thought it through and managed to write down a 100 things that you want to do before you kick the bucket. No doubt the cynical side of your brain is thinking, “Yeah well – so what?” All you’ve done really is transfer those “could have dones” and “should have dones” to paper right? Well not exactly. more »

We all know that we are only on this Earth for a short time, sadly, so we must make the most of the time we’ve got. You’ve probably heard of a bucket list, you may have even seen the movie of the same name but have you ever taken the time to sit down and think about the things you want to do before your time is up?

Seriously give this some thought – what do you want to do with yourself, what milestones do you want to achieve?

What really interests you?

If you’re at all like me life gets in the way of being able to do what you really want. You know what I mean; you have to go to work, (a job and boss you hate), you have a mortgage (I really can’t afford to take that holiday) and perhaps you’re in a relationship you really shouldn’t be in (I’m with him/her because…  I don’t remember anymore).

Really think hard about that above sentence. The fact is if you don’t make the time and effort to sit down and really think hard about what you want out of life then your dreams WILL NEVER HAPPEN…

Make no mistake it’s a hard thing to do, I have done it, and it took hours. I had a friend do it and it took hours.

Below are some steps to take, to get you started:

First Step

You need to allocate some time. I recommend scheduling about two hours for this exercise, in order to do it properly.

Now, I want you to look long and hard at all the things you done last week in your free time, not the time you spent at work or on domestic/family chores, but the time which was exclusively your own.  Now, be honest…

Were you down the pub on Friday night (or any night)?

Did you have a long nap on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon?

Did you watch more then 2 hours of TV?

For most of us these are habits, things we do without realising, things we do just to waste time. But as I said, we’re on this Earth for just a short stint. Time is precious and life is a limited-time-only offer – it’s there to be lived to the fullest, not wasted.

Sure, sometimes it can be fun to have a few drinks and a few laughs with the guys (or gals). But if your social life starts to feel like you’re simply going through the motions week after week then it’s time for a change. Having a few drinks is supposed to be fun, but when it becomes part of your routine, just like going to work every morning, where’s the fun in that?

A nap on Sunday afternoon or a lie-in on Saturday morning can be a beautiful thing, particularly if you’ve had a stressful week at work. Lying in the bed all cosy and warm without that annoying beeping bastard of an alarm clock constantly nagging you whilst you try to find the snooze button – you don’t need to tell me about it! But then I remind myself that this is the weekend; this is my time – so why would I want to waste it by simply sleeping?

Then there’s the telly. Seriously, sit down now and try think back about all the things you’ve watched on TV. I’ll bet you can’t even remember what you watched yesterday. Why? Because it’s all rubbish! Most of us we just sit ourselves down in front of the thing and just watch whatever crap’s on, regardless of whether it’s any good or not. You might have maybe one or two shows a week you really want to watch, plus maybe the news and weather, the rest you just gawp at mindlessly. And I’ll bet you another thing; I’ll bet more than half of what you watched last week you’ve seen already, at least once, because most of it’s all just the same old movies and the same old bloody reruns!

Now, they say the average family in the US watches 4 hours TV a night, which is in-or-around the average for most western countries, I’d say. That means by the end of the week you’ve watched 28 hours straight, that’s more than a day. In fact if you take that the average adult needs eight hours sleep a night, that still leaves you with twenty hours. So really, your entire week is spent either working for the man or sitting on your backside watching television.

The rest of the time you’re asleep.

I’ll bet once you do these calculations yourself, and work out how much time you’re really just wasting away on doing absolutely nothing, you’re going to be pretty shocked by it. If so, congratulations, you’re ready for step two…

Second Step

Get a pen and paper, find a quiet place to sit for a couple of hours, and think back to when you were around 18 or 19. That was a great age for most of us; it was the moment of realisation, a time when you were full of ideas and ideologies and so many goals and aspirations. The golden age before that dreary awful thing called “real life” got in the way.

Now start writing things down; it doesn’t matter what comes out, but I want you to start thinking about all those things you wanted to do in life but never got around to – write them all down.

To help you here are some different areas of your life you might want to focus on:

•  Relationships
• Travel
• Money
• Gadgets
• Work/career
• Creative endeavours
• Life experiences
• Food and drink you’d like to try

I believe 100 is a good number to try and target, if you don’t get there in one sitting, try again tomorrow. Don’t forget you’ll have a lot more free time now that you’ve finally switched off that idiot box!

Below are some items that I wrote on my 100 to do list, as you can see there’s quite a bit of variety in there. Also note the completed dates; these aren’t things you need to do all in one week, some of the things on this list could take me five, ten years, maybe more. It doesn’t matter as long as I continue crossing items off of it.

I really don’t mind how long it takes me to do my list, I just don’t want to get through my life and not come to the end of my journey regretting that I never done this or tried that or find myself wondering what could have been. The thought of that makes me feel uncomfortable, and that’s what drives me to do what I do.

I hope this helps. Try it yourself, you’re sure to discover some things about yourself you never knew before.

Then, in PART 2, I’m going to show you how you can make even more time to do all those things you want to do but never seem to have the time.

By the way, the movie is a great laugh, about Two old buggers that do exactly that – making a bucket list then crossing them off.

Written on August 25, 2007 by Dr. Lauchlan A. K. Mackinnon

J.D., reviewing Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker in his Get Rich Slowly blog, argues that people who become wealthy think differently to the average pundit in 17 specific ways:

Rich people believe: “I create my life.” Poor people believe: “Life happens to me.”
Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.
Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people.
Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time. more »