Bucket list activity

My partner Andrew and I are at a dynamic period in our life where one or both of us may be traveling a lot for work, we may have a call to evaluate moving to another city, and we are looking into starting our own business. And so, when I heard an interview of Ramit Sethi by Mel Robbins where the topic of a 10-year bucket list came up, where bucket list was used to say wish-list, I thought: “hmm, I don’t know for sure what my beloved wants to do in the next 10 years, but I am curious.”

This “Bucket List” activity helped us open up conversations about our dreams.

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Step 1: Framing the Activity Think of this activity as asking your beloved "what can I support in the coming weeks/months/years?-- and thinking about what you want in that same time. This activity can be based on a specific chronological timeframe (this year, in the next 5 years, etc), or based on a more general phase of life. I find that framing this exercise with agreed upon boundaries really helped deepen our discussion. Some examples of framing your activity, that are not time bound, include:

• Before/after we retire.

• Before we move/downsize

• Before our parents move in

• After our children move out

• Before one or both of us have limited mobility

• Before we start a business

• Before a surgery

Step 2: Self-Reflection This step is optional, but it is something to try. For myself, without this step I realized that my mind drew a blank when I thought about what I really want: my brain is not used to this line of thought. So, for example, when Andrew began talking about quitting his secure corporate job to start a business, I took time to reflect and journal about how I would feel about this decision. I reflected on the potential loss of freedom as we start our business, financial constraints, as well as the sense of adventure we will have. I want to support wholeheartedly my beloved -- so what are those hesitations that may prevent me from doing so? What conversations do we need to have?

Step 3: Dialogue in the Sandbox If you have not heard of a sandbox dialogue before, think of it as a ‘what-if’ dialogue. As a child, we could play pretend (I was a spy who was also a secret princess and drove racecars professionally!.) As an adult, it sometimes can be difficult to actively imagine all the possibilities. Think of a sandbox dialogue as a playground where anything goes, where the world will yield to your bidding. You might begin by simply imagining that time and money are no longer constraints and share what you would do if that was the case. A sandbox dialogue might start off with “Something I would like to do if money and time were available is ….. because…..”