update 3/15/2013:
This post has been redone, and finally put in order. See it here.
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My list of the top 100 things I want to accomplish in life is finally complete. It’s taken me about a year to get to #100, but I think it was important that I put in the effort. You can almost say I’ve completed #1 of 101!
One of the things I’ve learned about success from all the reading I’ve been doing is the importance of thinking big, setting goals, and programming your subconscious mind. One of the ways I’m doing that is by creating a list of some of the accomplishments I plan on achieving, including some BIG ones.
Napoleon Hill, in ‘Think and Grow Rich’ said “What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve”. In the ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ David Schwartz goes into the importance of having big goals, of constantly telling yourself that you can achieve them and that you will achieve them. He goes into the concept of having two different voices in your mind, the negative – which tells you why you can’t do something, and the positive, which will tell you how you can. It’s up to us to decide which one we are going to listen to. Whichever we start concentrating on will be the one we hear. It’s time to start talking to ourselves about something positive instead of listening to our negative.
Orrin Woodward in ‘Resolved’ gives really good examples of the programming of the subconscious mind when talking about how TV commercials affect us. When we see commercials over and over again, it is essentially brainwashing us to think of those products when we are out shopping. we can remember theme songs from shows that haven’t played on TV for years, and probably some tag lines from really old commercials. By having some big goals, we can essentially brainwash ourselves to achieving them.
What all the really successful people say, is that you have to envision your goals in your mind over and over again if we are to achieve them. Creating this list is not going to be enough, but it is a start. The next step will be to play a commercial in my mind over and over again of what it will be like achieving them. For example, one of the things on my list is to be earning enough money to leave by job and not work again, so I’ve written out what my last day at work will be like, and I think about it when I wake up, and when I go to bed.
By picturing the achievement over and over again in your mind, you will start making decisions that will eventually lead you to your goal
This list is about long term thinking. I will not add those things I want to do, but haven’t done yet, if I could easily go do it tomorrow if I chose to. Everything on my list had to require some kind of work or effort on my part. They will all take time and/or money (hence one of the items being to earn enough money in a business to no longer need to work)
It was important to make some of these goals BIG. If we only set small goals, we will probably only achieve small goals.
Here we go, in no particular order (too many items to weigh the value and re-order them!)
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1. Find that special girl (yes, still single – see why here!)
2. Have kids
3. Get 1000 followers on my blog (feel free to help :))
4. Leave my job (without needing another!)
5. Get to the point of earning $1 million a year (in 2012 dollars!!)
6. Help someone else earn enough money to no longer need a job
7. Mentor someone into helping someone else leave their job
8. Donate $1 million to different charities (over time)
9. Donate $1 million to finding a cure for diabetes (this is self serving, so it doesn’t count as charity)
10. Own my dream house (haven’t decided all the attributes yet…)
11. Own a Nissan GTR (this will be a baby step towards my real dream car a few years later)
12. Own a Lamborghini …the real dream car 🙂
13. Go on the Oasis of the Seas Cruise
Oasis of the seas
14. Vacation in Maui
15. Vacation in Japan (spend a month)
16. Vacation in Venice, Italy
17. Vacation in Paris, France
18. Vacation in Carcassone, France
carcassonne
19. Vacation in Rome, Italy
20. Vacation in the Maldives Resort
21. Watch Olympic hockey live – all the medal rounds!
22. Go bungee jumping
23. Go skydiving
24. Go scuba diving (especially the great barrier reef!)
25. Ride in a hot air balloon
26. Get a motorcycle (ride one first!)
27. Go to space (it will be happening by the time I can afford it!)
Virgin Galactic
28. Swim with dolphins (this will happen on my Oasis of the seas cruise!)
29. Write a book (will probably be a mix of both freedom and leadership principles, with some economics of course)
30. Drive on the Autobahn ( I like to speed…)
31. Drive a race car (on a race track)
32. Go jet skiing
33. Go on a helicopter ride
34. Learn to play guitar
35. Learn to Kayak
36. Ride the top 10 craziest Roller-coasters in the world
Intimidator, Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virginia
37. Go bobsledding
38. Go see Nightwish in Finland (hopefully with the orchestra being live!)
39. Get one my favorite groups to play at a celebration of mine (birthday, retirement, etc) – preferably Nightwish
40. Own a yacht
41. Spend a week with my girlfriend on a yacht, out at sea (get to really know each other… and be on a yacht!)
42. Get to the finals in a big board game competition
43. own 100 board games (that I like to play!)
44. Be in a movie
45. Travel across Australia
46. Travel across Europe – without a car
47. Get a cottage out in the woods by a lake. Have a zip line or Tarzan rope over the water
48. Help someone through a difficult situation in their life
49. Drive from the 19th hole at the Legends Gold and Safari resort in South Africa
19th hole, 400 meters below the tee
50. Go on a Safari
51. Get an Air Hockey table (big one!)
52. Get elected into parliament with a party I can support (will need to start a new one if it doesn’t first appear…)
53. Speak on a stage in front of thousands of people – and be comfortable with it!
54. Visit 10 medieval castles
55. Rent a castle with a bunch of friends and hang out for the weekend
56. Go to a BIG medieval fair
57. complete an authentic medieval knight Halloween costume (got the chain mail shirt and coif, sword and bracers already, though I would like better quality)
Costume as of 2006 (ever thought of putting bowling in chain mail on your list?)
58. Take a ride on a fighter jet
59. learn a martial art
60. learn to sword fight
61. Build a Calvin & Hobbes style snowman scene
and of course.. I’ll probably do the bowling one
62. Go see a sandcastle competition
63. Be a recognized economist
64. Go hand gliding
65. Sponsor the Great Canadian Board Game Blitz finals, providing some REALLY nice prizes
66. Visit my family in Calgary (your not really #66 on my list of priorities!)
67. Host/Sponsor a family reunion in Hawaii for a week
68. Read 500 books on leadership and personal development
69. Play in the WSOP championship (final round)
70. See a volcano
71. Attend all the final games in the world cup of hockey (and all other Canadian games)
72. Go Base jumping
72. Go surfing (and learn how!)
73. Vacation in Las Vegas for one month (spent two days there.. 1 month might not even be enough!)
74. Get in shape!
75. Spend the whole Olympic games at the Olympics
76. Walk along the Great Wall of China
77. Get an archery range in my back yard (when I have a house, or cottage)
78. Learn how to ski …I’ve skied before, but I want to do while knowing what I’m doing 🙂
79. Take bowling lessons from a professional
80. Get my bowling average above 200 for a season
81. Bowl a perfect 300 game
82. Go camping for a month with friends.. will require #6 first I think 🙂
83. Fly on a Global Express
84. Go horseback riding again, as an adult (learn how first!)
85. Buy an Island, or own piece of one with friends
86. Go to Lego land
87. Go down one of the worlds longest zip lines
88. Vacation in Norway
89. Vacation in Finland (spend a month)
90. Vacation in Zurich
91. Go to the Ludwig von Mises Institute and take a course in person
92. Vacation in Cape town
93. Vacation in Bora Bora
Bora Bora
94. learn how to play golf
95. influence politics enough to reverse the state of decline in my country – start giving freedoms back instead of taking them away
96. Go to a celebration in a limousine (will be part of #4)
97. Go on a cruise across the Atlantic
98. Bring my parents on a cruise
99. explore the ocean on a submarine
100. Start a school that teaches kids how to live a successful life and think for themselves, instead of to not take chances and only how to be an employee of someone else’s successful life
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So there you have it. I can promise you one thing about this list. As time goes on, I’m sure some of these will change as somethings become more important to me than others.. for example, when I have kids, I’m sure I’ll add bringing them to Disneyland on this list. And when I accomplish #1, It will be more important for me to things with her, that she wants to accomplish. When you make you list, don’t be afraid to make some changes. And never let everything on your list be accomplished. What I mean by that is, as you start accomplishing things, cross it off and something else on your list to strive for. always have something to look forward to over the next horizon!
I hope this encourages you to start a list of your own if you haven’t already done so, and maybe even give you some ideas. Do you have anything crazy I didn’t include here? let me know, maybe I’ll change the list sooner than I thought!
Leadership to Freedom 
Great list! Ha! Bowling in chain mail made me laugh. ^_^
How big of a medieval fair are you talking about? I suppose I don’t know if the Renaissance Festival goes up to where you live or not…. It’s the only medieval fair that I know of around where I live, but it’s great fun.
One that attracts thousands, I’ve been to one near Montreal but there as very few attractions, and it had maybe 50-100 people there at any point.
I plan on having to travel to it, and it probably won’t happen until after I leave my job. so time and money and distance will no longer matter
where is the one you are referring to?
It’s in Kansas City. Here’s a link to the page: http://www.kcrenfest.com/
I don’t know how many people there are at any one time, exactly, but it always seems pretty big to me.
awesome, thanks for the info!
There’s one in Charlotte, NC (Concord, NC) every fall too. One of many I think.
Thanks for the advice!
when I’m ready to go, I’ll come back to this post and go through all the suggestions.. and maybe go to all of them 🙂
I hope you achieve everything on this very ambitious list. Good luck!!
Thanks for the encouragement! Not to worry, no luck is needed for these goals – just hard work combined with smart work 🙂
This list has got me thinking about my #100 things I want to do in life… in particular I agree with going to see Nightwish live! Good luck with everything on your list (I know you said no luck is needed, but it can’t hurt, can it?)
luck can make it happen faster than planned 🙂
Cool list! We have a few in common (Lamborghini, speaking on stage, wife, kids, donating millions of dollars…). I wish you the best of luck as you start on them, be sure to cross them off on this post so we can see how you’re doing!
Will do!
You won’t see much done done for the first couple years, but within 10 years I expect to have 90% of it done 🙂
I hope you achieve it all! I will definitely be adding some of these to my own list and hopefully you’ll be able to take some from mine as I continue blogging 🙂
Lee – I once had a list although not as extensive as yours. Madri Gras, spring break in Daytona, live in L.A. on the beach, Manhattan, big house, travel through Asia and Europe, ride an elephant, lots of money, etc. I got married at 32 because I just didn’t feel ready and also because I hadn’t met Miss Right For Me. I had my first child at 35 and I will never forget that moment. They laid my son onto bowl they used to weight babies wrapped in cloth while they attended my wife who had a tough time during the birthing process. As he lay there screaming next to me I remember knowing that everything I had done to that moment was irrelevant. I had another son 2 years later and we had a miscarriage on our third. My sons are now 20 and 18 and nothing in my life that I have ever done was more significant or fun than having children. I should have a lot of regrets, and do, but my biggest is not getting married earlier and having more children. You never have enough money and your time is more limited than you think….
absolutely! That’s why my primary item (even if not listed as #1) is to get out of my job and have my time back. once that is done, I’ll have all the time in the world to enjoy with my family 🙂
Great List Lee. I may have to borrow a few as I continue to create my list!
I’ll only charge $1 each 🙂
26. Get a motorcycle (ride one first!) I FORBID this!!
22. Go bungee jumping – Dont’t tell me until you are done! : )
yes mom…
about #22 anyway.
I can try to not ride the bike to your house if helps 🙂
wait… does that mean your OK with me skydiving? and base jumping? 🙂
Wow, that’s quite an impressive list! I have done a few of those things (the lesser impressive ones, ha – skydiving, Rome, Venice, Maui, Paris, hot air balloon etc)) – and definitely enjoyed them! The thought of skydiving scared me to death, but once I actually did it, I felt on top of the world – it was amazing. I’d love to go again sometime.
Enjoy. =)
That’s awesome! I’m really looking forward to it – even if it doesn’t happen for a year or two 🙂
Safari & Sword fight – yea! On my list, too! I’ll race ya! 😉
you should give ‘the bowling in armor’ a try too.. I don’t know if you can find anything more challenging 🙂
I’ve ridden the Intimidator at King’s Dominion, it was unbelievable! The g-forces cause you to black out at the bottom of the drop, as you go straight into the turn 🙂 great list!
I can’t wait until I have a chance to go there. As soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was going to be on my top 10 list of roller-coasters to ride 🙂
Great list! I like that you include big and small things. Have you ever heard of Chuck Pahlaniak’s book “Stranger than Fiction?” He has a piece he wrote on people who built/live in castles in the USA. A couple of them are actually within 50 miles of my house and I had no clue. Most of them were totally normal people – not the affluent that I would think would live in a castle. That might help you with #55 🙂
I remember seeing a movie by that name 🙂
I’ll have to check it out, thanks!