Last Saturday I re-watched one of my favorite movies. It was The Bucket List starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin the ending for you, but it involves two guys who both get the news they’re dying of cancer and have just a few months to live. They put together a list of the things they want to accomplish before they die and because Nicholson’s character is quite wealthy, they have the resources they need and set off on their quest. The rest of the story is funny and a little sad, ending as you might imagine, with…well I won’t ruin the ending if you haven’t seen it.
Today I’m thinking about my own bucket list – things I’d like to do before having to answer the final bell. Here are some of them (and this list keeps growing):
- See Michelangelo’s mural on the Sistine Chapel.
- Tour every battlefield from the Pacific theater of WWII.
- Fight in a UFC mixed-martial arts event.
- Get full “sleeve” tattoos on each arm.
- Have lunch with Gene Simmons, Gordon Ramsay, John Tapper, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (but not all at once).
- Open a BBQ restaurant (Mad Mack’s Famous BBQ – I already picked the name out!)
- Win the Kingsford Pit Master BBQ challenge.
- Run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
- Shake hands with the President.
- Climb Ayers Rock.
- Sit on the 50-yard line in the Super Bowl.
- Speak in front of a crowd of 100,000.
- Have my own TV show.
Now I know it may seem a little morbid to put a list like this together. It’s also impossible to know when your time may finally be up.
Who cares?
If you knew exactly when you were going to die, you’d probably make the list. Since we don’t know that, why not treat every day like it may be the last? That means working hard on important relationships, mending ones that are broken. It means doing things that will create lasting memories. Leaving a legacy. Dreaming big dreams and taking steps to realize them.
This week, why not put a Bucket List together? At a minimum, it will help you reveal long time dreams. At best, it will be a great roadmap to help you navigate each day and allow you to give your very best to the people you care about the most.
