the 10 things i REALLY want to do in life

[Climb01742]

we all have "to do" lists. but have we ever made a "want to do" list? have you ever asked yourself "what do i want out of my life?" think of your life so far as what you "had" to do...as a breadwinner, spouse, parent, child, whatever. now imagine the rest of your life as "your" life, not "their" life (who ever "them" is...a boss, a parent, a spouse, the taxman.) what would your list look like? don't worry about order. see if you can get to 10. it isn't easy. here's mine, unfiltered, untweaked, unedited:

1. live in santa barbara
2. lessen my sense of financial stress
3. raise my daughter well
4. take my company to the next level
5. succeed at love/marriage this time around
6. see if i can get fitter
7. start a dog rescue ranch where_lots_of dogs could romp
8. find more inner peace
9. be more emotionally generous
10. actually write something meaningful (if i have anything meaningful to say)

until someone asked me to write this list two days ago, i had never done it. i had never sat down and said, what do i_really_want in life. i'm stuck in the "should" list. i'm 51. 51 years of a lot of "shoulds" and "needs". do i have the courage to make the next 51 filled with more "wants"?

[Ginger]

James,

Who was it who said:
I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank page.

And yep, thanks to some leads from this forum, I've been working through that sort of list for the past year. Not actually writing it up, but figuring out where I am and where I want to go...I guess the list is next. :)

[BumbleBeeDave]

I'm only the second poster, but I already know exactly where this thread is going when certain folks start thinking on THIS subject! . . . :rolleyes: ;) :eek:

BBD

[stevep]

climb,
no bike related stuff on the list. thats progress.
last week you would have given your lifes greatest goal would be to kick the jerks *** on a long ride!
work toward them... they are attainable.
but i think you need one of the new time bikes to reach those goals.

[Fixed]

nice post bro
we all need dreams I hope all your's come true .
cheers

[Lincoln]

climb,
no bike related stuff on the list. thats progress.
last week you would have given your lifes greatest goal would be to kick the jerks *** on a long ride!
work toward them... they are attainable.
but i think you need one of the new time bikes to reach those goals.

He snuck one in there (number 6). Still admirably restrained.

No.s 1 and 2 could easily be at odds with each other (unless you really solve no. 2!

[Sandy]

1. Be a better husband.
2. Be a better friend.
3. Be a better father.
4. Walk and interact with more dogs.
5. Live a long, healthy, and more productive life.
6. Enjoy many years of safe cycling with wonderful friends that I have.
7. Appreciate the gifts that I have.
8. Improve myself where I can, and accept that which I am unable to improve.
9. Don't be so critical of myself.
10. Become more organized and clean up the paperwork that I have.


Sandy

[Fixed]

bro mine is to get closer to god all the other good things come from him
i.m.h.o. cheers

[amg]

1. Be a better husband.
2. Be a better friend.
3. Be a better father.
4. Walk and interact with more dogs.
5. Live a long, healthy, and more productive life.
6. Enjoy many years of safe cycling with wonderful friends that I have.
7. Appreciate the gifts that I have.
8. Improve myself where I can, and accept that which I am unable to improve.
9. Don't be so critical of myself.
10. Become more organized and clean up the paperwork that I have.


Sandy

Very nice list, Sandy.

Antonio

[Sandy]

Very nice list, Sandy.

Antonio

Thanks. I appreciate it. I guess that it took 65 years to find out what is really important in my life.


Sandy

[Lincoln]

1. Be a better husband.
2. Be a better friend.
3. Be a better father.
4. Walk and interact with more dogs.
5. Live a long, healthy, and more productive life.
6. Enjoy many years of safe cycling with wonderful friends that I have.
7. Appreciate the gifts that I have.
8. Improve myself where I can, and accept that which I am unable to improve.
9. Don't be so critical of myself.
10. Become more organized and clean up the paperwork that I have.


Sandy
Sandy,
Re. no. 10, see no. 8 (2nd part). LOL, I'm procrastinating no. 10 right now.

[93legendti]

1. Be a better husband.
2. Be a better friend.
3. Be a better father.
4. edited, see below.
5. Live a long, healthy, and more productive life.
6. Enjoy many years of safe cycling with wonderful friends that I have.
7. Appreciate the gifts that I have.
8. Improve myself where I can, and accept that which I am unable to improve.
9. Don't be so critical of myself.
10. Become more organized and clean up the paperwork that I have.


Sandy
4. Get over my allergies to dogs and cats. :)

[Chief]

Isn't life all about setting goal and then seeking to achieve them?

[Len J]

I've been doing a list somewhat like this since about 1985. Mine is the 10 things I want to do before I die........when I do one, I replace one.

In no particular order:

1.) Ride my bike across the US
2.) Write a Novel
3.) Develop a regional approach to Support for the Family Disease of Substance Abuse
4.) Impact one person a day in a positive way
5.) Be a better Grandparent than I am a parent
6.) Ride my age in miles an my birthday....when I'm 80
7.) Work towards becoming a Licenced Mediator.
8.) Pay better attention to my own weaknesses
9.) Learn how to be a genuine Brother to my Brother and Sisters
10.) Be proud of the only thing I can control...me.

It is a focusing exercise.

Len

[Rapid Tourist]

1. Treat every person I encounter better than they expect and better than I hope to be treated in return
2. Love more generously
3. Become a better cyclist
4. Work less
5. Play more
6. Find something special and interesting in everyone
7. Someday have a yard that doesn't look like the ghetto

This is all I can think of right now. Great post.

[Dr. Doofus]

1) be good to mrs. doof
2) publish a real piece of criticism -- not that junk doof got published in grad school
3) figure out how to be a good teacher
4) figure out how to be a good reader
5) get on the same page with the dog

[saab2000]

1. Race in the Tour de France (this won't happen anymore, but once, about 18 years ago I still believed it possible)
2. Captain a widebody passenger airliner across the North Atlantic
3. Never break someone's trust in me again.
4. Find love again (3 & 4 might be related.... :no: )
5. Cycle 'til I die
6. Ride really fast again and be really fit again.
7. Own a home I really want to live in.
8. Live in Wisconsin again
9. Live in Switzerland again (8 & 9 are related, German-speaking people came to Wisconsin, AKA God's Country in the old Old Style commercials!)
10. Remain financially secure, not through wealth, but through good decision making regarding spending - i.e., spend what I have, not what the bank has.

[jerk]

1. be able to hold fstrthnu's wheel....
2. do everything else that the jerk does....
3. spend more time with mrs. jerk.....
4. ride more....
5. win one more race....
6. vanessa paradis

jerk

[Ti Designs]

Hmmm, let's see.

1) Pick up the pieces of my life and move on.

Yeh, that's about it.

[spiderman]

bro mine is to get closer to god all the other good things come from him
i.m.h.o. cheers
i don't think there's anything else on my list...
...that one thing leads to everything else...

it reminds me of my new favorite poem
that i tried to memorize this week.
...to my recollection...
this is how it goes:

IN THE HOLY PLACE

His priest am I, before Him day and night
Within His holy place.
And death, and life, and all things dark and bright
I spread before His face.
Rejoicing with His joy, yet ever still
For silence is my song.
My work to bend beneath His blessed will
All day and all night long.
For ever sharing with Him converse sweet
Yet speechless, for my gladness is complete.

Gerhard Tersteegen

[shinomaster]

Buy a house in the country
Build my own ceramics studio
Go to Japan to see the pottery
Buy a real road bike
Do a road race
win a bike race
loose my beer belly
quit drinking beer
meet the woman of my dreams
get married

die

[Ti-Boy]

One goal: happiness. Everything else falls into place on the path to that one goal.

[Tailwinds]

And yep, thanks to some leads from this forum, I've been working through that sort of list for the past year. Not actually writing it up, but figuring out where I am and where I want to go...I guess the list is next. :)

Me, too.

Great post, Climb.

[slowgoing]

I want to buy a secluded place in the Sierras.

[Climb01742]

I want to buy a secluded place in the Sierras.

would this be a place to take your friends...or your enemies? :beer: :D ;)

[slowgoing]

Enemies? That's what the ocean is for. Yo, Vinnie, swim with 'da fishes.

The Sierras do it for me. Complete relaxation. When I close my eyes at work, that's where I go.