March 11, 2020 • 7 mins
A listener asks how to handle multi-year goals
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how you can make progress on
your bucket list. In a previous episode, I urged listeners
to create something called a list of one hundred dreams.
(00:25):
This list, which was an exercise shared with me by
career coach Caroline Deniza Levine, is a completely unedited list
of anything you'd like to do or have more of
in your life. It's basically a bucket list, that is,
those things you want to do before you kick the bucket.
But most people's bucket lists aren't that extensive. One items
(00:48):
is a lot. The upside of going all the way
to one hundred is that you really have to think.
You have to come back to the list again and again,
and so you come up with dreams that are both
big and small. The small ones, some of which could
be done this weekend, can be incredibly motivating. But today's
(01:10):
tip is not about the small ones. Today we're going
to talk about the big ones. I recently received an
email from a listener who asked exactly how to tackle big,
audacious goals. Let's say that your bucket list involves renovating
a historic estate. Well, I applaud the ambition, but this
(01:30):
is at best a multi year undertaking. Maybe it's a
decade long undertaking. So how do you keep from getting
discouraged or feeling scattered? Especially if your list also contains
other big items, maybe such as scuba diving on the
Great Barrier reef and by the way, you're not scuba
licensed yet and you should brush up on your swimming too.
(01:51):
Or maybe your list includes writing an epic historical novel.
It's a good question, but I do think it's possible
to build some big, complicated dreams into life. There's both
a systematic way to do this and something i'll call
the serendipitous route. You can do both. First, the systematic
(02:11):
I encourage you to make your list of one dreams.
Separate these dreams into categories. The first is those that
are doable in a few hours. If you've always wanted
to try soul cycle, or read The Great Gatsby, or
attend a production of lam Is, well, basically you need
a couple of hours on a Saturday. You can do this.
(02:33):
The next category is those that will involve a few
days or maybe a week or two. Most of your
travel goals will actually go in here. They might require
a fair amount of money, but in terms of time,
a week or two is about where they land. Even
fairly involved ones. Your bite tour of the Loire Valley
is not going to take more than two weeks because
your legs will be too sore to go longer. Eating
(02:54):
at French laundry will likewise take some time to score
your reservation and travel to call Fornya, but not that
much time. Then create a category of those goals that
will be far more involved but you do see a
way to do, and finally, a category that's going to
involve factors outside of your control. Revisit the list frequently.
(03:17):
You can always choose one of the short ones to
execute on, but in November or December of each year,
think through your next year and maybe choose one of
the more straightforward travel goals for a vacation, and finally,
choose one of your more complicated or nebulous ones as
a focus for the year, just one. You can really
(03:39):
afford to be patient here, because you can accomplish a
lot over a long time horizon. If you're listening to
this at say age forty, you've probably got at least
another thirty five years for active dream pursuit. If you'd
like one dream a year will get you through a lot.
But by aiming for one, you can focus us and
(04:00):
not get discouraged. And even if you're not done with
that goal by the time January rolls around again, which
you won't be for the longer ones, that's fine. You
have built up enough momentum that you can keep going
while starting something else. So, for instance, let's say that
this is the year of the epic historical novel. You
(04:21):
aim to write five words four days per week, and
so you'll have about a hundred thousand words by the
end of the year. This is actually a fairly long book,
and maybe you're done, or maybe you've got another fifty
thou words to go, But by this point you'll be
enough into the story that you can start the project
of learning to paint portraits with oil pestels, with the
(04:42):
goal of doing an exhibition at the end of that year.
And so you spend the first four months of the
year in intense study with a class on Wednesday, nights
and Saturdays, and then you spend the next eight months
producing work as you get feedback from the master painter
you've enlisted to guide you. You see how this goes.
Of course, you should leave room for serendipity too. I
(05:03):
faithfully plan out annual vacations with my family's list of
a hundred dreams in mind. That's how we wound up
at Yosemite last summer and Yellowstone summer before that. But
I'm open to other things, and as part of that,
I publish my evolving list of a hundred dreams. From
time to time. I put it up on my website,
(05:24):
and then something fascinating happens. People read it and decide
to help me. This summer, for instance, I'll be giving
a speech somewhere that was on my bucket list precisely
because someone read my list and sent an invitation. You
really just never know what will happen, So tell friends, family, colleagues,
(05:48):
and social media followers about your desires. That just might
help you make more progress than you thought possible. In
the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
(06:11):
love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media
(06:31):
dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(06:53):
your favorite shows. You
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how you can make progress on
your bucket list. In a previous episode, I urged listeners
to create something called a list of one hundred dreams.
(00:25):
This list, which was an exercise shared with me by
career coach Caroline Deniza Levine, is a completely unedited list
of anything you'd like to do or have more of
in your life. It's basically a bucket list, that is,
those things you want to do before you kick the bucket.
But most people's bucket lists aren't that extensive. One items
(00:48):
is a lot. The upside of going all the way
to one hundred is that you really have to think.
You have to come back to the list again and again,
and so you come up with dreams that are both
big and small. The small ones, some of which could
be done this weekend, can be incredibly motivating. But today's
(01:10):
tip is not about the small ones. Today we're going
to talk about the big ones. I recently received an
email from a listener who asked exactly how to tackle big,
audacious goals. Let's say that your bucket list involves renovating
a historic estate. Well, I applaud the ambition, but this
(01:30):
is at best a multi year undertaking. Maybe it's a
decade long undertaking. So how do you keep from getting
discouraged or feeling scattered? Especially if your list also contains
other big items, maybe such as scuba diving on the
Great Barrier reef and by the way, you're not scuba
licensed yet and you should brush up on your swimming too.
(01:51):
Or maybe your list includes writing an epic historical novel.
It's a good question, but I do think it's possible
to build some big, complicated dreams into life. There's both
a systematic way to do this and something i'll call
the serendipitous route. You can do both. First, the systematic
(02:11):
I encourage you to make your list of one dreams.
Separate these dreams into categories. The first is those that
are doable in a few hours. If you've always wanted
to try soul cycle, or read The Great Gatsby, or
attend a production of lam Is, well, basically you need
a couple of hours on a Saturday. You can do this.
(02:33):
The next category is those that will involve a few
days or maybe a week or two. Most of your
travel goals will actually go in here. They might require
a fair amount of money, but in terms of time,
a week or two is about where they land. Even
fairly involved ones. Your bite tour of the Loire Valley
is not going to take more than two weeks because
your legs will be too sore to go longer. Eating
(02:54):
at French laundry will likewise take some time to score
your reservation and travel to call Fornya, but not that
much time. Then create a category of those goals that
will be far more involved but you do see a
way to do, and finally, a category that's going to
involve factors outside of your control. Revisit the list frequently.
(03:17):
You can always choose one of the short ones to
execute on, but in November or December of each year,
think through your next year and maybe choose one of
the more straightforward travel goals for a vacation, and finally,
choose one of your more complicated or nebulous ones as
a focus for the year, just one. You can really
(03:39):
afford to be patient here, because you can accomplish a
lot over a long time horizon. If you're listening to
this at say age forty, you've probably got at least
another thirty five years for active dream pursuit. If you'd
like one dream a year will get you through a lot.
But by aiming for one, you can focus us and
(04:00):
not get discouraged. And even if you're not done with
that goal by the time January rolls around again, which
you won't be for the longer ones, that's fine. You
have built up enough momentum that you can keep going
while starting something else. So, for instance, let's say that
this is the year of the epic historical novel. You
(04:21):
aim to write five words four days per week, and
so you'll have about a hundred thousand words by the
end of the year. This is actually a fairly long book,
and maybe you're done, or maybe you've got another fifty
thou words to go, But by this point you'll be
enough into the story that you can start the project
of learning to paint portraits with oil pestels, with the
(04:42):
goal of doing an exhibition at the end of that year.
And so you spend the first four months of the
year in intense study with a class on Wednesday, nights
and Saturdays, and then you spend the next eight months
producing work as you get feedback from the master painter
you've enlisted to guide you. You see how this goes.
Of course, you should leave room for serendipity too. I
(05:03):
faithfully plan out annual vacations with my family's list of
a hundred dreams in mind. That's how we wound up
at Yosemite last summer and Yellowstone summer before that. But
I'm open to other things, and as part of that,
I publish my evolving list of a hundred dreams. From
time to time. I put it up on my website,
(05:24):
and then something fascinating happens. People read it and decide
to help me. This summer, for instance, I'll be giving
a speech somewhere that was on my bucket list precisely
because someone read my list and sent an invitation. You
really just never know what will happen, So tell friends, family, colleagues,
(05:48):
and social media followers about your desires. That just might
help you make more progress than you thought possible. In
the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
(06:11):
love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media
(06:31):
dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(06:53):
your favorite shows. You
Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
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