You Are Going to Die Within the Year

Everyone says they have a bucket list, but most of us probably won't get started on it until we're 58, have had a sever mid-life crisis and have decided we want something new with our life. Well, luckily for me, I had my mid-life crisis early :)

I have created a 53-item to-do list, but I've given myself a challenge. Looking at my list, most people might choose to do all these before they die. But I want to really experience life, so I decided to give myself a one-year timeline to accomplish all of the items. Why? Because then when I've accomplished all of these items, I will have SOO much life left to accomplish and experience SOO much more. Why do we limit ourselves? Why, when we can soar like eagles, do we settle for flying like a seagull? This is where your list from yesterday comes in.

Whip out your 3 things that you wrote down that you have wanted to accomplish for some time. Why have you been stopping yourself from accomplishing them? What, in your perception, stands in your way? All our beliefs, fears, truths and perspectives are 100% valid, because WE, as the beautiful human being we are, chose to create them. Now just because they are valid does not mean that they cannot be proven wrong, or turned on their head. For instance, when I started my list, I wrote down that I wanted to learn Arabic. The only way I knew how to do that is to either learn it in college or to go to an Arabic country and live there for a while and pick it up that way. Both of which require money to happen, right?That was my belief about learning Arabic. Same goes with Chinese.....Then, lo and behold, about two days later, my friend asks me to catsit, and I come across Mandarin Chinese and Farsi (Persian) on his computer. It's just sitting there waiting for me to transfer it to my computer. For free. No money to stop me. Crazy, right? The Universe was just sitting there waiting -- just WAITING -- to turn my beliefs on their head.

I am very inspired by my friend Jana, whose blog you can find at http://firemama29.blogspot.com/ if you are interested in reading it... In her second blog, she talks about how she is going through this scary time right now, because she is radically shifting her life, and the lives of those around her, by looking at where her life is at and adjusting it to where she wants it to be. It is so beautifully vulnerable, honest and full of love..it inspires me to continue to shift my life to where I want it to be. The key is: you can make as many fancy lists or blogs or WHATEVER that you want to, but without following it through with action, it is simply an exercise in you writing down how stuck you/your life is.

So here is MY one-year bucket list! The upload graphics thing wouldn't work for me for some reason, so I just copied and pasted....so it should be really clear to see this time (compared my earlier blog Your Personal Brand)! Haha.
For the record, I have taken action on or completed numbers: 3, 6, 17, 18, 22, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 39, 40, 43, 46, 47, & 50. And it's only been three weeks since I created this list, and, realistically, only two or two and a half weeks since I took action on my list. So that's proof that we can all make great, easy progress in our lives if I can do that much in such a short amount of time, Haha!

TO ACCOMPLISH WITHIN THIS YEAR
(JUNE 25, 2009 – JUNE 25, 2010)
1. Learn Italian
2. Learn French
3. Learn Chinese
4. Learn Korean
5. Learn Russian
6. Learn Arabic
7. Learn Portuguese
8. Open Get Smashed!
9. Have Get Smashed! be a premier date spot in Utah
10. Have Get Smashed! be a profitable and reputable mental health avenue in Utah.
11. Go to Belize on vacation
12. Take an all-inclusive trip to either Atlantis or Sandals Resort in the Caribbean
13. Take a vacation to Italy
14. Take a vacation to London
15. Take a vacation to Taiwan before Sara leaves it.
16. Have Get Smashed! make revenue of $50,000+ per day
17. Have completed my personal brand
18. Have committed 100% to and taken 5+ steps toward fulfilling my personal brand.
19. Have a modeling career.
20. Learn and commit to memory basic HTML
21. Learn basic typing/computer skills until I feel I know enough
22. Take an auto class: learn the basics of cars and how to fix an automobile.
23. Own a MacBook Air and a regular MacBook Pro.
24. Go to a challenging, distinguished university –
deservedly en route to earning my degree to become U.S. Secretary of State.
25. Meditate every morning and every night.
26. Document ALL volunteer hours I serve.
27. Document EVERY item I donate, along with the amount of its value.
28. Have taken one quantifiable step toward beginning a (meaningful) non-profit.
29. Live a self-disciplined life.
30. Live a peaceful, joyful, fulfilled life.
31. Live healthily.
32. At least quarterly, throw fun, engaging, fabulous parties that are talked about
(for happy reasons) long after they happened.
33. Know as much as possible of ballet.
34. Know basics of simple, elegant ballroom dances.
35. Fully understand human anatomy.
36. Read Book of Mormon, King James’ Bible, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants.
37. Read the Koran
38. Study Hinduism
39. Study Buddhism
40. Read the Jewish holy scripture
41. Read the standard Catholic holy scripture
42. Go on an African safari with Will, Jackie, Mom, Nicole, Kris, Court and my significant other.
43. Quarterly, write thank you letters to the Orvises for the impact they’ve had on me.
44. Spend money wisely.
45. Save money wisely.
46. Know money.
47. Have a beautiful, tranquil, generous living space.
48. Take $30,000 home to my personal bank account every month.
49. Be able to play piano, guitar and drums very well.
50. Read one book per month.
51. Have an immaculately defined muscular body.
52. Have removed all the hair on my back and shoulders.
53. Go to Gili Meno in Bali for two weeks and live in introspective silence.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "Oh, this is a pretty good idea...but I won't really ever do it."
WHY???? You could be dead within a year. You will never know when you will die, and you will die one day and there you will be. Dead. And what will you have done in your life to create happiness, joy, peace..your true self? what will you have shown the world, concerning your life? Michael Jackson died suddenly. Everyone around him was surprised because they thought, for the most part, he was fit as a fiddle. And then BOOM, one day he has a heart attack. (If you're keen, you will have noticed my list was created the day he died.) Will you waste your life, or will you Create your life? Will you kill your time? Or will will you live your time?

I look forward to your responses, immediately and a year from now. What will you be for yourself within the next year?

With Love and Gratitude,

Ryan!