50 x 50: A Bucket List – The Origin Story
A few years ago, I had a couple of friends who introduced this X-Before-X, or X-By, idea to me and in full transparency…I stole it.
One friend did a 40 By 40 where he had an activity and/or met with a friend every day during the forty days before his 40th birthday. Another friend put together her 50 By 50 list (50 new experiences by the time she turned 50 years old), three years before her golden birthday.
Yes, this is very much like a bucket list but one that is set within a targeted time frame to motivate a person to focus on their goals sooner than later and create greater urgency to actually get them done.
In reality, this is not a new idea. A quick Google search for “50 Before 50 lists” brings up more than 10 Billion results (I think I’m reading that right). And I’m sure there are just as many 30 Before 30s, 40 By 40s, and so on. But, this is my take.
I created a 50×50 list a couple of years ago and have been chipping away at it VERY SLOWLY. I’m now at the point where I will be nowhere close to finishing it unless I put some serious effort into it starting now. But it is what it is and I’ll just do what I can.
Yes, this is a bucket list but one set in a targeted time frame to create an urgency to complete it.
Regardless of how far I get, I will share my adventures here, creating another way to give you ideas on things to try yourself. In this category of blog posts, I’ll talk about my thought process behind my list, provide recaps of my activities, and some mental musings about trying to accomplish the things on my list.
Of course, I encourage you to think about your own X-By or X-Before-X list; whether your target is a milestone birthday, a specific year, or even a significant event. If you’ve only got a couple of years or months or weeks until your designated milestone, you can easily make it 6 Before 60, 7 By Palm Sunday, or 17 By September. Really, this is your game, your rules. Do what you like…or just join me as I work on mine.
Am I, Are you ready?
