Tag Archives: free challenge

Intentional Life 5-Day Challenge – Starts Monday!

Have you been intentional about the way you speak, think, and spend your time over the past few months?

When we put thought into what we’re saying, how we’re thinking, and what we’re doing with the time we have, we can better reach our goals and make the most of every opportunity.

This free 5 day challenge will give you a push toward approaching your life in a more purposeful way, based on your values and goals.

The challenge takes place in The Goal List Community on Facebook, starting Monday, April 24. Request to join the community and then RSVP to the challenge event to get your place on the scoreboard.

HOW IT WORKS:

Each day, there will be a prompt posted in the discussion for this event.
Follow the prompt, and then check in by replying to the post to say you did the activity for that day.
Get 1 point for completing the activity, and 1 point for checking in (2 points max/day).
If you can’t do one of the activities on that day, instead check in with your plan for when you’ll complete it. This will give you 1 point max.

The person with the most points by the end of the challenge gets a surprise!

Want in? Click here to join the community and get access to the challenge.

The benefits of being bored

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In our culture of FOMO and YOLO (Fear Of Missing Out and You Only Live Once), of celebrating being busy, and of always looking for the newest and best, sometimes I feel pressured to keep moving and never slow down.

As a bucket lister I’m often looking for the next new adventure but I also like taking some time to let myself do nothing, without goals or agendas, and to see what happens. It’s an exercise in flexibility and patience (which I need to practice) as well as a way to let my brain relax and to experience creativity with fewer boundaries.

Better ideas

I get some of my best ideas when I’m bored or not trying to think of good ideas. I also pay closer attention to what’s going on around me when I’m bored (trying to find something interesting – and there’s always something if you look), which makes me think in a different way and usually generates additional ideas. I also learn things I wouldn’t normally learn because I feel like I have the time and nothing more interesting to do. I’ve read detailed posters and pamphlets, watched documentaries and other videos, and skimmed books I probably wouldn’t have otherwise read, all because I was bored.

Appreciation for the small things

Because I’m taking time to look around and not be so busy, I notice some of the smaller, easier-to-overlook things in my life. The sound of the crunchy leaves on my walk, the slightly silly happiness of being able to perfectly color a picture (yes, I love coloring books!), the way that perfect stranger just smiled when we made eye contact. Those kinds of things are so hard to notice if I never take the time to stop and pay attention.

Leads to bigger things

My “crunchy leaf walk” tradition really got established after being bored at university one day. I went out for a walk just to do something random that I remember doing with my mom and brother during childhood and now it’s a yearly personal event. I’ve also had moments when I realized I haven’t connected with someone in a while and decide to send them a nice note, which then leads to bigger opportunities. It doesn’t always happen that a single moment of boredom leads to a life-changing habit or opportunity, but it happens often enough to list it.

Provides a restful space

Sometimes everything just gets to be too much and I really appreciate taking some time to be bored. I’ll do nothing but daydream or sit with a blank look on my face and to have no expectations of myself. It took me a while to be okay with this, but now I really enjoy it because it helps me acknowledge that I don’t have to be doing something in every moment.

On the other hand…

I think it’s good to let boredom refresh you and give you opportunity for creativity and appreciation. However, I know that sometimes I go the opposite way with this and begin to feel like I have nothing new or exciting in my life. I’ll be bored because I’m doing the same thing every day: wake up, work, go to bed, repeat. It’s not fun or interesting and it slowly drains all the energy and motivation from my life.

That’s when I like to do something small to change things up, to shake myself out of the rut and notice the things in life that are enjoyable, instead of focusing on the negative. My bucket list comes in handy for this a lot, and so does going on random adventures or talking to new people.

This feeling of being stuck in a rut is something I know we all experience from time to time. That’s why I thought it would be fun if we did something to get out of that, to challenge the boundaries we’re putting on our own lives, and to notice something or someone new.

I’m hosting the 31 Days of Everyday Adventure challenge and I’m inviting you all to join me. I’ll provide suggested daily activities to help you bring a little adventure into each day. You can decide if you want to do them all or only some, and can share your experiences in the blog comments and on social media (especially Instagram or Facebook).

If you’re interested in learning more, sign up for the Insiders list to stay updated or leave a comment here (The Insiders list is different than just signing up for blog updates). Also please let me know: what’s your favorite part of being bored?

Bucket lists, road trips, and everyday adventure – Summer recap and fall sneak peak

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Goodbye, summer!
Golden Gardens Park in Ballard, Seattle, WA at sunset

Summer seemed to go by so quickly! It’s been a crazy summer for me – my brother’s wedding, only a few things off the summer bucket list (I’m never good at finishing those!), and a 3 week road trip with a person I barely knew (we met on my Austin, TX trip in the hostel a few months ago)!

There’s no way I can tell you all the good stuff (recommendations, travel stories, pictures, etc) in just one post, so keep an eye out for future posts as they come. For now, I want to give a quick recap of this season and a sneak peak at what’s coming up this fall.

Summer Bucket List Progress

Of the 15 items, I did 3 that I feel are actually accomplished:

There are a few others I sort of did but I’m not sure if I’m going to count them:

look out the window on the top floor of a downtown skyscraper (went to the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas, but I’m not sure I’d consider that “downtown” and went to the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, but wouldn’t exactly call either a skyscraper in the way I was thinking of it – super tall office buildings in a place that gives you a perspective of the downtown/business district of a city that you wouldn’t normally see)
write an article for publication (I wrote a more in-depth article about the floating sky lanterns for an online publication, but what I was really thinking when I put this on the list was an article in print)

Do you have things you want to do, but only a certain way? Sometimes I’m more picky than others, for example, I counted riding a camel at the State Fair, but didn’t count the skyscraper thing.

Road Trip… by the Numbers

21 days, drove 3007 miles, visited 3 states (but mainly California)
Slept in 11 different places, plus 1 more if you count the one place we stayed up all night instead of sleeping
Met 2 famous people
Accomplished 5 official list items, and added many more retrospective list items
Have infinite stories to tell

Road Trip… by the Favorites

Favorite attraction/single location: Alcatraz – really want to go back during the day and see more/spend more time there (we did the night tour)
Favorite city/town: Las Vegas – this was my second time in Vegas and it still had its magic. We stayed with family and it was the first time on the trip we’d stayed in one place for longer than one night, so we felt really relaxed and welcomed. One of the best nights on our trip happened in Vegas. (Do you have a travel story of when everything worked out so perfectly and you had the best time?)
Favorite bucket list item accomplished: learning to surf (yes, even more fun than skydiving!)
Favorite “craziest thing that happened” story: You’ll have to ask me in person someday 😉 (it’s mean to tease, I know, but some things are just better told in person… or, if I eventually change my mind about sharing, I’ll still wait to get permission to share on the blog)

Of course, I’ll be updating you over the next several months on this trip and the rest of the things that have happened, but for now I’ll leave it at that.

What were some of the highlights of your summer? Did you accomplish any bucket list items?

Fall Sneak Peak

Every day can’t be an amazing bucket list travel adventure, but we can choose to be a little adventurous every day. Starting November 1, I’m going to be hosting a 31 Days of Everyday Adventure challenge here on The Goal List. If you are interested in learning more and/or want to join me, sign up for the Insiders list to stay updated. (The Insiders list also gives you access to cool bonuses throughout the year, so there’s plenty of reasons to sign up!)

Looking forward to hearing about your summer adventures and supporting you in your goals for fall!