I am embarrassed to say that, until last week, I wasn’t completely aware of the origin of the term “bucket list.” I understood the concept that comes along with it as a list of things you want to do before you die, but I never recognized that “bucket” came from the age-old analogy to one’s death. This admission highlights the fact that I have never seen the movie by the same title, and am sometimes not quite as aware of pop culture as I should be.
Understanding the concept is only the beginning to emptying your bucket. The first step in emptying your bucket is putting things you want to accomplish or experience in the bucket. You rarely accomplish anything that you do not plan to do. So, it’s safe to assume that if you don’t decide what’s in your bucket, it’s unlikely you’ll accomplish it.
We all have hopes and aspirations. We think of things every day that we would like to do. These things may vary from trips we would like to take, to things we would like to buy, to relationships we would like to enter, to things we want to see; the list goes on and on. The limit to the list of things one might want to do is limited only by the imagination of the person filling the bucket.
Thinking about what you want is not enough. You have to take steps to do the things you want to do. Life rarely brings the things in your bucket to you. I would guess that the things in most people’s buckets are not things they run into in their everyday lives; otherwise, they would not be in the bucket. If skydiving or seeing the Great Wall of China is in your bucket, neither will happen without you taking some effort to make it happen. Unless you are kidnapped and taken to these events, you have to take steps to make them happen.
That being said, who says that the things in your bucket have to be exotic or far away? Is it possible that filling your bucket list with more modest goals would actually make you happier in the long run? For instance, what if one of the items in your bucket list was financial security? I don’t mean being rich; I’m talking about living your life in such a way that was financially responsible and limited the amount of effort you had to spend in your day-to-day life worrying about money. How about creating and/or maintaining close relationships with your friends and family? There are a lot of people that say that relationships with others are the only true way to find happiness. What will make you happy?
Going back to my skydiving example: Will you deem your life a success because you got to go skydiving or [enter your item here]? What will have to happen for you to be happy with your life? Everyone is an individual, so the answer is different for everyone.
Do you have a bucket list? If you don’t, why haven’t you given enough time to the question which asks what makes you happy and what do you want to do before you die? No one knows when their time is up, and your time for planning might be dwindling.
If you do have a list, it might not be a bad idea to get the bucket out and re-evaluate what you have put in it. That way, you can make sure those things are really what you want. Nothing is final until it is actually final. When it is final, it’s too late no matter what you do. Play your game to the end. Play your game in the way that makes you happy. Happiness in one’s own life is the true key to happiness. That’s true for everybody, especially those of us sitting way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Ark. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com