The panic list of 30 before 30
Being an obsessive list maker and panicking about turning 30, here’s the inevitable: a list of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30! This list was started on my last birthday but I never finished picking 30 out of all the things I want to do. And of course not much happened since I didn’t publish and commit to the list. So here we go: my panic list of 30 before 30.
A little bit about the process
Yes there’s a process, or rather, some basic rules of what made the list:
- I try to only pick topics I truly love and care, and balance the number of things in each topic. The categories I have includes traveling, food, design, writing, fitness, etc.
- I also try to mix things that takes long term efforts(e.g. learning a language) with bucket lists like “dye my hair”.
- Every goal should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. So instead of something general like“leaning a new language”, I phrase it like “pass Japanese language test level 4”.
- I use 3 or 30 a lot, not for anything specific, but just to make coming up with a number easier.
The 30 before 30 list!
1. Visit 30 countries. #travel
This was inspired by a co-worker of mine and is probably the hardest on the list. I love traveling and 30 is only 15% of 195 countries in the whole world!
Done! December 2017. Been to: Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nepal, Norway, Morocco, Portugal, Slovakia, Singapore, Sweden, Spain, Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, Vatican City.
2. Camping outdoor for 3 days. #travel
3. Work in a farm for 3 hrs. #travel
4. Go to Burning man. #travel
5. Eat at 3 three-michelin star restaurants in 3 different countries. #travel #food
Done! May 2017. Alain Ducasse in London. Kikunoi in Kyoto. Eleven Madison Park in New York.
6. Publish 30 articles on Medium or other blog. #writing
Progress: 7 on Medium.
7. Finish writing a book of some sort. #writing
8. Run a full Marathon. #fitness
9. Do a headstand and hold for 30 sec. #fitness
10. Go on a 3 hr bike trip. #fitness
11. Learn and surf at least 3 times. #fitness #learning
Done! Dec 2016.
12. Learn Japanese & pass Japanese Test(JLPT) N4 level. #learning
Progress: Took N5 test. Dec 2016.
13. Learn Ukulele. Play and sing 3 songs. #learning
Done!
14. Read or re-read 100 books. #learning
15. Watch or re-watch 100 movies. #learning
16. Finish 100 pages of sketching or painting. #design#learning
17. Shot & edit a 30-min short film. #design #learning
18. Speak to an audience of more than 100 people. #learning
Done! November 2016.
19. Build a mobile app. #design
20. Participant in a silent retreat. #life
21. Buy a property. #life
Done! May 2017.
22. Take my parents on a trip. #family
23. 30 hours of volunteering work. #dogood
Progress: 6 hrs in total. 4 hrs with Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. 1 hours with YAI. 1 hours with MSF ‘Missing Maps’ with Doctors Without Borders.
24. Donate blood. #dogood
Tried and can’t.
25. Skydiving or Bungee jumping or some other extreme sport! #adventure
Done! Paragliding in Nepal.
26. Fly a plane! #adventure
27. Get a tattoo! #adventure
28. Dye my hair! #adventure
Done! Dyed it brown.
29. Get a Scuba diving license! #adventure
30. Ride a hot air ballon! #adventure
Here’s the list and let’s see what happens. Happy Birthday to myself!
