List #26: 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
30 Lists of 30 to Celebrate my 30th Birthday
The What & Why Behind This Project:
This year I turn 30. And my gosh, I have been thinking about it a lot. I don’t know if it’s the pandemic, or the fact that this milestone is loaded with many societal expectations, but my mind has inundated me with reflections and memories from the past, with questions arising about my life choices and lesson learnt, about my expectations of being a human and about my desires for the future. And this combined with pandemic reflections has meant there has been a lot on my mind….🤔
I started writing a series of questions and lists of all the elements I wanted to capture and articulate. There were a lot, unsurprisingly; 30 years is a long time really! So I gave up on the 1 list idea that I normally write (30 reflections/lessons turning 30) and decided to write 30 lists.
30 Lists of 30, for my 30th Birthday.
Who are these lists for, you might wonder? I started writing reflections many years ago to get to know myself better. And when I shared these raw and real accounts with friends I discovered that what I wrote about my individual journey, touched upon something universally human. Beyond the masks and labels we wear is a messy, beautifully complex life, with highs and lows. And more similar to others than we might think.
So I share them in the hope that you too might feel something — intrigue, joy, resonance or maybe even difference — as you reflect on what it means to be a human. I recognise that my experiences are my own, that some come from a place of privilege and that they may not all be relatable or interesting to you. I know I can’t please everyone, so take what you can…(and let me know what lands!).
So, Back to Lists…
The Why Behind List #26: 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
When I was growing up, I had a sense of some of the things I wanted to achieve in life, and I gave most of them a deadline of 30 years. Beyond 30… I didn’t exactly think about it as it seemed so long away. And yet, here I am, 30 is days away and so I’m living the question… so, what next? Who do I want to become? What goals do I want to achieve? I’m learning to aim high with the ‘what’, backed up by a strong intuitive ‘why’, but to let go of the exact when and how they will happen…
List #26: 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
1. Become an Author. Publish 2–3 books (I suspect the topics will be conversation, human connection design and something to do with being human — maybe these lists?!)
2. Speak at TED (not just TEDx) about something I am passionate about.
3. Design and execute 2–3 immersive art experiences / exhibitions (at the intersection of behavioural science and experience design).
4. Find an art studio and create a weekly practice of painting. Make hundreds of pieces of art.
5. Become a parent with a partner.
6. Save 25–50% of my annual income and create enough savings to feel a sense of psychological financial stability such that I don’t have to stress about taking periods off.
7. Design, build and live in house from scratch that have space to host others (as a child I wanted to become an architect and was obsessed with the SIMS and drawing floorplans).
8. Design and deliver a postgraduate university level module (semester+) module in interaction / conversation / people skills.
9. Start a foundation / charity.
10. Complete my PhD (Imperial College, Human Connection Design at the School of Design Engineering, starting in 2021). Have my research published in 3+ peer reviewed journals.
11. Build an organization (or rebrand and grow Trigger) with a new mission to engineer a more human world. Have a global impact.
12. Build up my body again to be able to run long-distance pain free. Train for and complete another marathon (and an ultra-marathon — the Marathon des Sables!)
13. Climb mountains in New Zealand, Nepal, Argentina/Chile.
14. Become an advanced-level zouk dancer (non professional).
15. Learn to play the piano to an intermediate level. Be able to play one of Ludovico Einaudi’s songs. Perhaps start the violin too.
16. Travel to and explore 20–30 more countries across the globe.
17. Learn 1–3 languages relatively fluently. One would most likely be Spanish which I have some skills in). Another a coding language (such that I can understand the fundamentals).
18. Take 1–3 months off ‘work’ a year to deepen my relationships, explore the world, invest in learning and reading and rest. Whilst also staying true to my everyday work life boundaries such that I can write, read, relate with others, play and not feel rushed every day.
19. Move to and live in at least 1 new country for 3+ months.
20. Read at least 2–3 biographies/ autobiographies each year.
21. Meet, interview and collaborate with people I find inspiring who align with my work (e.g. Brene Brown, Tim Ferriss etc)
22. Becoming a Podcast Host with ‘Conversations with Georgie’. Interviewing conversation specialists across a spectrum of disciplines to deconstruct their learnings. I’ve been sitting on this idea for at least 3 years and even completed two trial podcast episodes, but haven’t published anything yet. It is around the corner!
23. Help create a human connectivity policy (and best practices) that are implemented at an organisational, institutional and national level. Create and publish frameworks and to support this.
24. Train in (more) Non-Violent Communication, Authentic Relating, Somatic Experiencing and Internal Family Systems and Facilitating Conflict.
25. Consistently show up to my work in embodied awakening, learning to be present to, to welcome in and love what is happening, not what I want to be happening.
26. Define a list of charities I want to support and set-up a system to give consistently.
27. Stay connected to my family. Go on holiday with my family once a year, ensure I see my siblings every few weeks,
28. Become a ninja (or at least intermediate) at skiing moguls/ bumps!
29. Spend time (1 week+) living a life that is significantly different to my own such that I can truly begin to understand inequality, privilege and different ways of being in the world.
30. Learn Kriya yoga and undertake more set(s) of somatic experiencing sessions to progress on my spiritual journey of clearing all the prana energy blockages in my body, such that it flows freely through all channels. So far, the energy is rushing through my spine and head, but I need to invest more time in my meditation and yoga practices to progress.
☕ If you enjoyed reading this list and want to support my writing I would love a coffee!
👉 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/30Listsof30 👈
Your support will help me fund my PhD starting in October 2021 at the School of Design Engineering, Imperial College, London. The subject: Human Connection & Conversation Design. This research lab > interactionfoundry.com
Want To Read More Lists?
I’m publishing one list every day in August (and will add the hyperlinks below).
- 30 Reasons Why I’m Writing 30 Lists of 30
- 30 Questions I’m Living Right Now
- 30 Ways To Have An Awesome Conversation
- 30 Risks I Took & What I Learnt
- 30 Ways to Create and Cultivate Community
- 30 Questions I Reflect on Every Saturday Morning
- 30 Essential Items I Pack Backpacking
- 30 Skills We Need But Don’t Teach
- 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
- 30 Reflective Questions that Lead to Fascinating Conversations
- 30 Signs I am Most Definitely an Adult
- 30 Beliefs I Changed about Myself & Life
- 30 Games I’m Playing in Life
- 30 Confusing Messages I’ve Internalised About Who To Be & How to Live
- 30 Ways I’m Totally Imperfect
- 30 Considerations for Designing Meaningful Human Connection Experiences
- 30 Mundane Experiences That Can Actually Be Quite Magical
- 30 Words To Describe Elements of My Pandemic Experience
- 30 Things I’ve Learnt About Human Behaviour That Show Up Everywhere
- 30 Words I Love
- 30 Parts of Me
- 30 Principles I Live By
- 30 Lessons from 5 Years of Entrepreneurship and Creating
- 30 Health, Productivity, Creativity and Happiness Optimisation Experiments I’ve Explored And The Life Hacks that Resulted From Them
- 30 Things I am Proud of (Achieving) Before 30
- 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
- 30 Things I Need To Let Go As I Move Forward Into The Next Chapter
- 30 Journal Entries from the Last 20 Years
- 30 Lists That Didn’t Make it to the 30 Lists
- 30 Reflections Writing 30 Lists of 30
