100 Life Goals to Complete in a Lifetime Before You Die

Do you have a bucket list of life goals? You should! I took a challenge to write a list of 100 goals, and it changed my life and my outlook. Here’s why having life goals can change your outlook.

I was recently inspired to create my own Bucket List. I realized that there was no turning back the clock to recapture the years that are had lost.

We all have issues with regret and a lack of reason for being in our lives. Many of us feel like we are just floundering along.

I came across the same concept in Laura Vanderkam’s book, “ 168 hours – You Have More Time Than You Think Full Disclosure: We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. “. In her book, Vanderkam talks about Caroline Ceniza-Levine a career counselor to youth specializing in helping them realize what they want to be when they grow up. Vanderkam tells how Ceniza-Levine often requires her clients to complete a list of 100 dreams.

168 hours – You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam Price: $13.60 24/7 adds up to 168 hours—one week—and, according to Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours, it is the ideal unit by which to examine our lives. Buy Now on Amazon Full Disclosure: We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: 10/11/2018

Write Down Your Life Goals

Writing down a list of 100 life goals that you would like to do or accomplish in your lifetime is surprisingly hard but well worth the effort.

The exercise listing life goals helps you find out what you love to do, find out more about yourself, find your passion, narrow down your passions to find out what you want to be when you “grow up,” and can really give you drive in your life.

See the complete list of my 100 Life Goals

Below is my list of 100 Life Goals (or Dreams) to accomplish before I die. It took me a while to sit and think about them and write them all down, but it was an awesome exercise!

I challenge you all to write out your own list of 100 Life Goals. The lined-through life goals are the ones that have already been completed. Did I miss any that you really want to accomplish? Are there any really awesome ones that I’m missing and should add? Be sure to leave a comment in the comment section below…

Below is my list of One Hundred Dreams or Life Goals. It took me a while to record them all, but it was an awesome exercise!  I challenge you all to write out your own list of One Hundred Goals. The lined-through goals are the ones that have already been completed.

1. Zero credit card debt
2. $10,000 emergency fund
3. Reach financial independence
4. See a round of the Master’s golf tournament
5. Jump out of an airplane
6. Open several small businesses
7. Build my own driving range
8. Become fluent in Spanish
9. Visit every continent in the world (N. America, S. America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, & Antarctica)
10. Open my own bar
11. Learn how to play the guitar
12. Own a Gibson Les Paul guitar
13. Tour the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (The U.S. Mint)
14. Buy 10 acres of land
15. Visit all 50 states in America
16. See the ball drop in person on New Year’s Eve
17. Take a tour of one of the Federal Reserves (July 2013 – KC Fed.)
18. Run with the bulls in Spain
19. Earn my doctorate
20. Teach a college course
21. Drive the entire length of Route 66
22. Build a homeless shelter
23. Go whitewater rafting
24. Publish a book
25. Shake the hand of the President of the United States
26. Own a British bulldog
27. Eat better consistently
28. See a play on England’s West End
29. Visit the battlefield of Normandy, France
30. Go deep-sea fishing
31. Stop drinking soda
32. Exercise five days a week for 1 hour without cheating
33. Tour every country in Europe
34. Hit a hole-in-one with a witness
35. Golf 18 holes, under par
36. Buy a house
37. Shake Dave Ramsey’s hand
38. Earn a Master’s Degree
39. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
40. Have children
41. Get married
42. Start a website
43. Have a street named after me
44. Build a public park
45. Take a cooking class
46. Own an Armani suit
47. Tour the White House
48. Own a convertible car
49. Play in the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas
50. See New York City at Christmas time
51. Be in Washington, DC during a Presidential Inauguration
52. See the Great Wall of China
53. Snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef
54. Visit Walt Disney Land
55. Visit Cuba
56. See the Grand Canyon
57. Go on a Mission Trip
58. Help Build A Habitat For Humanity Home
59. See the Hoover Dam
60. See a volcano erupt
61. Spend the night in Alcatraz
62. See Aurora Borealis
63. Visit the Holy Land in Jerusalem
64. See the Great Pyramid in Egypt
65. Drive the entire length of the Pacific Coast Highway
66. Drive up and down Sunset Strip
67. See the Hollywood Walk of Fame
68. See Stonehenge
69. Swim in each ocean
70. Drive on the Autobahn
71. Go To Octoberfest in Munich, Germany
72. See Mardi Gras in New Orleans
73. Drive a race car on a racetrack
74. Own a Rolex watch
75. Visit all 30 MLB baseball stadiums in a single year
76. Go to a World Series Game
77. Attend a Super Bowl
78. See an MLB All-Star Game in person
79. See an MLB clubhouse behind the scenes
80. Take batting practice with an MLB team
81. Throw out a first pitch at an MLB game
82. Visit Niagara Falls
83. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY
84. Hear the reenactment of the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19th in Gettysburg, PA
85. Read the Bible from cover to cover
86. Go to the top of the Washington Monument
87. Visit every Hard Rock Cafe in America
88. Swim with dolphins
89. Own a Porsche 911
90. Ring the opening or closing bell of the NYSE
91. Bike a century race
92. Build a kit car

As you can see that I haven’t made it to 100 Goals. The task was harder than I imagined. I’ll continue to add to the list and cross off items as I finish them. Maybe the list will continue to expand past one hundred goals while I add more.

I realized a while ago that I hadn’t updated my list of 100 goals in a long time. Some people even pointed out in the comment section one or two, that seeing a space shuttle launch is not even possible to accomplish.

So, I went back through and looked at my 100 goals and revamped some of them from your bucket list. I even deleted some of the goals to complete before I die. And, although it is 100 goals, I actually only have 90 or so listed on there. Is that okay too?

Is It Okay To Delete Goals?

Is it okay to delete some of the goals on your bucket list that you have listed on your bucket list? I’m a little torn by this. It is definitely okay to delete some of your goals listed if they are not goals anymore.

I wrote my list of 100 goals almost five years or more ago. Some of the goals on your bucket list have actually changed. But, if you are going to change your goals, you have to make sure that you are doing it for the right reason.

Are you deleting them because you don’t think that they are really obtainable? Did you stretch too far with them? Is it something that you really want to do still? Maybe then you actually shouldn’t let those 100 goals go. You should re-look at what it will actually take to accomplish that goal and devise a strategy on how to accomplish them.

Is It Okay to Not Have 100 Goals?

Is it okay to have less than 100 goals even though that is the task at hand? Is it okay to only have 90 and 10 left that need to be filled in? If they were really lifelong goals on your bucket list, wouldn’t you already know those missing ten?

Part of me wants to think that 100 goals are just some arbitrary number that I came up with, but others have far more than 100. Surely I can find ten more things that I really want to accomplish in my lifetime. I should have the other ten easily, but I am just having trouble figuring them out.

How Do You Decide What Your Goals Will Be?

Have you ever heard of SMART goals? Most people have heard of the acronym. It is a great way to build your goals and develop them into something that you can reach. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and based on a set timetable.

When you develop your goals, it is important to consider the 5Ws of who, what, when, where, and why. Why do you want to accomplish that as a goal? When do you want to accomplish it?

Why should your goals be measurable? It is one thing for you to set a new goal on your bucket list of doing better at work, but how are you going to measure that? Are you going to grade yourself against how much new business dollar value you bring in? Your goals have to be specific as well.

For example, if you say that you have a goal of losing weight, that’s not specific enough. It’s measurable but not enough details. How much weight do you want to lose? What’s your time frame? How much do you want to lose per week? By following these smart goals, you have a better chance of actually following through with the goals that you list.

We all have dreams, but there’s a huge difference between a dream and a goal. A dream is something we would like to have “someday” whereas a goal is something we plan to achieve and actively pursue. In addition to the model of SMART goals, which most people have had rammed down their throats since school, there are certain things you can do to catalyze your success in terms of achieving your priority goals, and this article looks at some of those factors.

How to Achieve Your Goals

You can achieve your goals. Here are five simple ways that you can learn how to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.

Get Specific

The first thing you need to do is to get specific – as in, you need to be crystal clear on what it is you are pursuing and why this is important to you. Do some research and fill in the details. For instance, if you would like to rent a private jet, one day, then a simple Google search can reveal the realistic finances. This way, your goals have gone from being airy-fairy dreams to a much more tangible thing you can plan on achieving.

Therefore, you want to focus on the specific detail. If it’s a car, then go through one of those online car configurators where you work out exactly what trim the seats will have. The more specific you get, particularly in terms of the cost of your dream, the more you can break it down and work out how much it will cost.

You might be surprised, as often, we feel our dreams are so far out of reach – yet actually, in the case of renting a private jet, for instance… it’s much more affordable than you might imagine.

Having a bucket list is a fantastic resource, but it’s imperative you turn some of your dreams into goals – in order to achieve them.

Visualize What You Want

Our subconscious mind thinks in pictures, and therefore, in addition to thinking in logical terms about the tangible reality of your goal, such as the practical details and how much it will cost – you always want to be visualizing your goal, in terms of looking at pictures of what you want to achieve and allowing yourself to temporarily get lost in those pictures – as if you’re already there, already experiencing it.

That visualization isn’t merely visual. In fact, if you think about what connects you most to experiences – it’s often your olfactory sense, smell, and taste… indeed, there’s no more potent emotional trigger than that of taste and smell.

Use visualization to your advantage, just like how athletes do – and focus on achieving your goal.

Write It Down

Many studies demonstrate the power of writing your goals down; in fact, people are twice as likely to achieve the goals they have written down, rather than those that are just kept in their heads.

When you THINK about your goals you do this from the right hemisphere of the brain, which is definitely important… but when you write it down, you activate the left side of your brain… which is what puts us into action.

Essentially, writing down your goal transforms the way your brain thinks about it – rather than merely being away it is something you would like to happen. In writing it down, you are giving your brain a command… you are, quite literally commanding your brain to take the action necessary to achieve the particular result you’ve just programmed into it.

Share Your Goals with a Trusted Friend

When you share your goals with a friend, it adds more motivation, providing the all-important catalyst of change — accountability.

When you become accountable to someone outside of yourself, you tend to make more of an effort to produce the results you desire, as you don’t want to lose face. It’s all too easy to keep pushing the goalposts back, when we only have ourselves to be accountable to – yet when it’s someone we respect, we have a psychological desire to remain congruent with doing the things we say we are going to do.

Chunk It Down

It’s very easy to become overwhelmed when faced with a huge goal – indeed, we can sometimes get lost in the space between where we are now and where we want to be, ending up feeling sad and unmotivated that we haven’t already achieved what we want.

This is where the process of chunking a large goal down comes into play. Let’s say you want to earn $100,000 a year. For many people, this is an unrelatable figure, as they haven’t earned this before… but, it roughly breaks down to $2,000 a week. We can then break that down to $400 per working day (presuming a 5-day working week)

Now, we have something a little more relatable to work with. We could go one step further and say, if someone works eight hours a day, then they need to earn $50 per hour.

Suddenly, we have much more context.

If we’re currently only earning $20 per hour, then we know we need to do something different, and we can see the space between as something a little more manageable. To jump from $20 per hour to $50 per hour might seem like quite a leap – but with a pivot of position, where rather than working for someone else, you set up a consultancy practice, let’s say, and charge your time out at $200 per hour – then you know you only need to charge ten hours a week.

It’s all about breaking down a big goal into smaller chunks until it feels more relatable, and manageable.

Get Started

The final point is to just “get started,” as Nike says “Just Do It!”

So many people are trapped in a state that they keep putting off their dreams, by failing to take the required action – usually because of the fear of failure or not being ‘good enough’. This will hold you back more than anything else; procrastination will literally rob you of your life… as your life passes you by. All the while, you could be walking the path that leads to your dreams – marching to your destiny, rather than sitting on the sidelines, watching your life go by.

In a nutshell. Take action – do it now, lean into it, and you’ll be amazed at how far you get. One thing’s for sure, you’ll get much further by taking a few baby steps each day, then never getting started!

Do you have a plan on how to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true?

What about you? Have you developed your bucket list? Is it 100 goals or less or even more? I’d love to hear your thoughts on if you can delete or change goals in the comment section below.

What’s on your Buck List? Is there anything that I’ve forgotten that’s on yours that should be on mine?

A bucket list is a list of experiences or achievements that a person wants to accomplish before they “kick the bucket” or die. Having a bucket list can help a person focus on their goals and aspirations, create a sense of purpose, and give them a sense of adventure and excitement in life. It also provides opportunities for personal growth and can lead to a greater appreciation for life’s experiences and memories.

Did I miss any that you really want to accomplish? Leave a comment in the section below…