This January, I checked off one of my long-time bucket list items — attending all four grand slam tennis tournaments.  So I have now attended the US Open (attend every year for the last 30+ years), French Open (2012), Wimbledon (2013), and now the Australian Open (2018).  Some of my other relatively recent checked bucket list items include getting courtside subscription seats at the US Open, attending the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and at COTA, skydiving, surfing (which I did at Bondi Beach in Australia, on my recent trip), SCUBA diving, going to the Americas Cup (2017 in Bermuda), watching the Ryder Cup (2012), racing cars on various tracks around the world (Nurburgring, VIR, Limerock, Pocono), attending ski camp in Deer Valley with the Mahre brothers, driving around Europe after taking European Delivery of my new car, etc.  Of course, a major item was losing weight to get down to my law school weight after my girlfriend passed away.

A good list, and there are more items to check off — go to Hawaii and Alaska (the only two states I have not visited), camera safari in Africa, attend various tennis tournaments and F1 races around the world (e.g, Barcelona, Spa, Rome, Silverstone), see polo being in Argentina, attend Carnival in Brazil, visit Japan, pick up another new car in Europe, etc. I also want to again be in a committed relationship, but that is a bit more challenging, since it takes two to make that bucket list item occur, and it is not completely in my control.  Another current item is to lose the weight I put on after my rotator cuff surgery, by my 40th high school reunion, which is in October of this year.

I think it is extremely important to have aspirational goals in our lives, as it focuses and motivates us in our lives, and helps inspire us to fine that inner drive to make impactful changes in our lives.  It also helps us to focus on the bigger picture of our lives, and not to get too immersed in the day to day challenges in life. In coming up with these bucket list items, it is helpful to try and be as specific as possible about what you want, and then start thinking about and researching the steps needed to accomplish a goal.

Keep in mind, it will take time to accomplish some of these goals, and maybe years to plan. For example, my trip to the Monaco GP took almost of two years of planing to pull off the way I wanted. Which brings up another point to consider, once you set a bucket list goal, think about how you want to implement that goal. For me it was not just watching the race from a grandstand, but from one of the premier hotel in Monaco, which in my case was the Metropole. Well, to book a room for the Metropole hotel, during race weekend, must be done a year in advance, and payment made in full at least 6 months before the race. So I set about saving money for this trip years in advance, and a year prior to the race, made my hotel reservation. As the old saying goes, the fun is in the journey, and it is.

So start setting those bucket list goals, and setting about checking them off in the upcoming days, months and years.