Big Dreams
“What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”
~ Robert H. Schuller ~
Last week I finally found myself flying over the canyonlands of southern Utah in a helicopter. Doing this has been a goal item from my Big Dreams list for over five years. That Big Dreams list has kept me excited about the possibilities of life; and has been key to many of the prized adventures and accomplishments of my life.
When facilitating workshops I want clients to be excited about the possibilities for their lives too, so I will frequently have them start their own Big Dreams list. The Big Dreams list is like a bucket list, except in a Big Dreams list, we also include things we want to be, to learn, and to have in addition to things we want to do. Creating a Big Dreams list is exciting and motivating.
You may have heard of the adventurer John Goddard. When John Goddard was fifteen years old, he wrote a list of goals he wanted to accomplish in his lifespan. This list included items from learning to type on a keyboard to climbing Mt. Everest. “When I was fifteen,” he told Life Magazine, “all the adults I knew seemed to complain, ‘Oh, if only I’d done this or that when I was younger.’ They had let life slip by them. I was sure that if I planned for it, I could have a life of excitement and fun and knowledge.” As a teenager, he wrote 127 goals. He ended up accomplishing over 100 of those original goals. He explored rivers like the Nile and the Congo, climbed mountains, learned to play musical instruments, composed music, studied primitive cultures, became an accomplished typist, taught college courses, became an Eagle Scout, served a mission for his church, married and had children, and maintained his weight at 175 pounds all his adult life—all goals he set at fifteen. A person like this doesn’t stop adding to his list. Later in his life, he revealed to an acquaintance how the original list written by his fifteen-year-old self was just the beginning. He now had over 600 goals, and at that point, he had achieved 520 of them. John Goddard wrote his original list in 1940. One of the items on the list was to live into the twenty-first century. Goddard died in 2013, having lived a full life. I suspect he had very few regrets. Goddard once wrote the following:
“From early childhood, I had always dreamed of becoming an explorer. Somehow I had acquired the impression that an explorer was someone who lived in the jungle with natives and lots of wild animals, and I couldn’t imagine anything better than that! Unlike other little boys, most of whom changed their minds about what they want to be several times as they grew older, I never wavered from this ambition.”
Write your own Big Dreams list. Do not limit your list by thinking something is impossible. John Goddard had “visit the moon” on his list. He didn’t make that one, but he thought that big. Make each item on your list specific. For example, do not write “visit Europe” but list each country, city, monument, fountain, and museum. Make each item on your list quantifiable. Rather than “read more classics,” choose a number like “read one hundred classics books.” List languages you want to learn, people you want to meet, sporting events you want to attend, skills you want to learn, and objects you would like to possess. Start with fifty items but don’t worry if you struggle to get to fifty at first. Once it is on your mind, you will begin thinking of new items to add, and in the process of accomplishing one, you will think of two more.
Goals such as “My son is a lawyer,” or “My wife is a size six,” or “My mother quits smoking” are off-limits. You cannot have Big Dreams for someone else. However, if you have a life companion, you may want to compare Big Dreams and see what you want to do together. If you have children, sharing your Big Dreams lists is a great family activity. I had a client who struggled coming up with his own Big Dreams list. Immediately after one of our meetings, he left for a family road trip with his wife and teenagers. I encouraged him to brainstorm ideas with his family while they drove. He later reported the discussion had been a great success. He completed his list, and his kids had so much fun they want to do it again.
When I first started my Big Dreams list, I would delete items when I accomplished them. I am appalled that I did that! Now, I put a little check by the dreams accomplished. If you do something awesome and it wasn’t on your list, add it and mark it off. Our daughter, Summer, keeps two Big Dreams lists. One is her To-Do list, and one is her Done list. Make sure you keep a record of all you have done. One thing you might want to do that I didn’t think of soon enough is to add the date when you accomplish an item.
My list now has 149 items and well over 100 completed. I have been to all fifty states, over fifty countries, I have had rides in a NASCAR, on an elephant, a camel and now a helicopter. I have a few things in the works, and a lot left to do. Because accomplishing one goal gives rise to other Big Dreams, I will always be adding more items to my list. You can see an updated version of my own Big Dreams List at https://lifemasteryinfo.com/life-mastery-big-dreams-list/