Failure as Part of the Bucket List Experience

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Failure as Part of the Bucket List Experience

This post was previously published on the BucketList.org blog in November 2014.

Are some of your bucket list goals pretty wild? Way outside your comfort zone, not to mention your budget, skill or ability zones? And are you afraid you may try and fail at some of these goals? Then you and I have some things in common.

My bucket list is the To Do list of an adventurous, athletic, wealthy genius. I love who I see when I look at that list: Michelle on top of mountains, Michelle racing cars, learning languages and living like an expat, owning a radio station and fighting with nunchucks.

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Prioritize Your Bucket List (Or, How to Die Happy Any Time)

Posted by On Filed under Bucket List, Pause for Reflection
Prioritize Your Bucket List (Or, How to Die Happy Any Time)

This post was previously published on the BucketList.org blog in August 2014.

If you’re like me, you have a lengthy bucket list and all of it sounds fun.  We want to skydive while traveling across Europe on our way to a meditation retreat at which we find the love of our life, right?

How do you prioritize your bucket list and make sure you actually start living your deepest dreams and goals?

Well, I took six steps toward my bucket list and the last two years of my life have been drastically different from the ones before. Give these a try and let us know how the steps work for you:

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My Dan Pallotta Inspired Halloween Costume: I’m Overhead

Posted by On Filed under Doing Business Differently, Pause for Reflection
My Dan Pallotta Inspired Halloween Costume: I’m Overhead

I’m personally and professionally fascinated by analytics and the idea of return on investment (ROI). I spend my working days in Google Analytics, Facebook and YouTube Insights, e-newsletter stats and more.

When it comes to my personal giving to non-profits, I’m just as intrigued by numbers.  I tend to “invest” my thoughts, energy, time and finances quite vertically: I drive deeply down into issues and give there, rather than here and there to many causes.

In doing this, I come across terms like effectiveness, efficiency and overhead, which are very often cited by non-profits as reasons to believe an organization is “good.” This is, of course, in addition to (and sometimes an after-thought to!) the actual impact an organization has.

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The Burning House Project: My List

Posted by On Filed under Pause for Reflection, Voluntary Simplicity / Minimalism
The Burning House Project: My List

On Tuesday, I blogged about the Burning House Project. The challenge is simple: If your house was burning down, what would you grab?

Many people have actually experienced this type of tragedy, whether from fire, flood, tornado or hurricane and many did not have a realistic chance at grabbing anything but themselves and a few basics. For those of us who have not had this experience, it’s a privilege to try this thought exercise under non-emergency circumstances.

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The Burning House Project

Posted by On Filed under Pause for Reflection, Voluntary Simplicity / Minimalism 3 Comments
The Burning House Project

Check out The Burning House Project: “If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.”

I love the challenge and intensity of this site!

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The Day After Thanksgiving

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The Day After Thanksgiving

It’s Black Friday. Or Buy Nothing Day. Or Flannel Friday. Or Block Friday. What the day after Thanksgiving is depends on your perspective. Let’s start with that last one.

There’s an amazing company, Holstee, that wrote the Holstee Manifesto and sells really great products, from clothes to cards to mounted Holstee Manifesto posters.  Check out their page today and you’ll see they’re diverting traffic immediately to Block Friday – away from their blog and even their sales page.  [Update 11/30/15: that link no longer works, sorry!]

They explain that Block Friday “started as a way to remind ourselves that even as we begin the holiday shopping season in earnest, we can still be mindful of the way we’re spending our time and money. What are you Blocking Friday for this holiday season?”

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Using Google Calendar to Prompt the Big Questions

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Using Google Calendar to Prompt the Big Questions

Did you know, if you put a numerical list in a blog title, you’ll get more hits?

  • “7 tips to…”
  • “30 lessons from my 30th year…”
  • “100 affirmations for…”

Some of these lists can be very hard to process in one sitting. How do you work your way through 100 affirmations for a full life? Or 40 questions to ask yourself to find out if the entrepreneurial life is for you?

I’ve tried to sit down with a few lists before and journal my way through the answers, but my interest fades shortly after question #7, like a drawn-out homework assignment.

I needed a way to take these valuable lists a bit more slowly and intentionally.

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