[Last UPDATED: March 19, 2016]
In 2011, after watching the MTV show, “The Buried Life” my wife asked me a question, “What do you want to do before you die?”
I had no answer.
The day after my wife asked that haunting question I opened up a blank Word doc and started my list. Every now and again over the last year, I’d think, “Oh, Yeah- add that to the list.” And sometimes I did add it to the list and sometimes I forgot.
It was a slow process for me and although there are 101 items on the list, I’d still consider it a work in progess.
Tomorrow, March 16th, 2013, I am running my first marathon (you’ll find that one on the list somewhere around the middle or so). It was around the time I started training for this race that I realized I needed to finish my list- so, today- 1 day before the longest I will ever run in a single day- I have completed it.
Tomorrow, I scratch the first one off the list.
Inspired by my wife’s question, my own curiosity, my friends, my family as well as Ted Leonsis and Geoff Livingston’s lists – I have now an answer of my own.
To be sure, some of things are crazy, outlandish, sterotypical or seemingly impossible. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to do them any more or any less. I know that over the course of my life things will change- I will change- life will throw a curve ball and my dreams and desires will change. That’s part of the journey.
I also realize that maybe I won’t accomplish all of these things in my lifetime, but why not try? This is my list.
In no particular order:
Go to Paris with my wife[Completed- February 2014]
Celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in Hawaii
Walk along the Great Wall of China
Visit the Great Pyramid in Egypt
Skydive in the Alps
Climb Mt. Everest- (base camp counts)
Snowboard in Canada
Fly my Grandma to Italy
Visit Ireland
Visit Rome
Play in a poker tournament in Las Vegas
Take a mission to Africa
Swim in the Nile river
Celebrate New Years in Australia
Wine taste in Napa Valley
Hike a leg of the Appalachian Trail
Take my family on an International Trip
Visit all seven continents
Travel into outer space
Walk on the moon
Drive across the country with friends
Start a company and sell it
Have zero debt
Cook Christmas dinner for family at my house
[Completed- Christmas 2013]
Own a really nice suit
Go back to school and get my MBA[Graduated March 2016]
Volunteer as a mentor in a local school
Make an anonymous donation to a charity
Help create an education program for children
Start a family charity
Have dinner with Warren Buffet
Have dinner with Dave Matthews
Dinner with Ted Leonsis
Meet the President
Be a guest on a late night talk show
Meet Bill Clinton
Own a home.
[Completed November 2013]
Have a kegerator in my house
[Christmas present 2015]
Swim with dolphins
Ride an elephant
Run a marathon–
Completed March 16th, 2013: See the detailed run here.
Bench press my body weight
Complete p90x
Have a child
[Mason Thomas Toner- Born March 18th, 2015]
Live to be a grandpa
Own a bar called O’Malley’s
Be a waiter
Own a boat
Own a Ferarri
Own a beach house
Own a famous painting
[Completed March 2015]
Go to the Super Bowl
Go to the Summer Olympics
Go to the Winter Olympics
See the running of the bulls
Write a book
Make a movie
Restore a car with my father-in-law’s help
Paint a self portrait
Get a tattoo
Hold an elected office
Get my pilots license
Get my motorcycle license
Go to a music festival in a tour bus
Play drums in a band
Record a studio album
Perform in a community theatre stage play
See my children walk
Drive a NASCAR
See my children graduate college
Read the Bible
Read Shakespeare’s plays
Complete a 365 photo project
Patent something
Enter a Chili cook-off
Solve a rubiks cube
Pay off College debts
Be on the cover of a magazine
Go to the Oscars
Go to the Grammys
Swim with sharks
Brew beer on a large scale
Speak at
Go to an opening day baseball game
Speak at a major conference[The Financial Brand Forum- May 2015]
Learn a second language
Learn to scuba dive
Host a television show
Write my will
Learn sign language
Take guitar lessons
Take dance lessons
Take cooking lessons with my wife
Write a song
See SNL live
Take a cruise–
Completed October, 2013
Ride a horse on the beach
Write handwritten letters to all of my best friends
Build something that will outlast me
Leave behind a million dollars
Tell my wife I love her everyday
Renew our wedding vows
Grow old together
We need some check marks or crossed off items around here – you have to have some of them. Nice list by the way.
You’re right Phil, I have completed a few of these already! I plan on updating the list come the New Year. Give me a few weeks and I’ll start crossing some off..