74 Examples of a Bucket List

John Spacey, August 19, 2021

A bucket list is a list of experiences that you would like to have in your life or some specified period of time such as a summer. This is a type of end-goal planning whereby an individual lists their goals for future consumption of experiences. This may be done for fun or as a motivational device. The following are common elements of a bucket list.

Adventure	Altruism
Art	Business
Calculated Risk Taking	Coding
Concerts	Crafts
Creative Projects	Cuisine
Cultural Activities	Dancing
Design	Dieting
Diy	Education
Entertainment	Events
Exercise	Family
Fandom	Farming
Fashion	Festivals
Films / Television	Food Cultivation
Friendship	Games & Puzzles
Gardening	Habits
Health	Hiking / Camping
Historical Sites	Holidays
Housework	Immigration
Investing	Languages
Learning	Leisure
Luxury	Media
Museums	Music
Nature	Parenting
Performing Art	Pets & Animals
Picnics & BBQ	Play
Professions	Reading
Recreation	Research
Restaurants & Cafes	Rites of Passage
Road Trips	Romance
Science	Shopping
Sightseeing	Social Dining
Social Media	Social Status
Space	Spirituality
Sports	Tattoos
Technology	Theme Parks
Travel	Video Games
Volunteering	Well Being

Notes

Bucket lists are often a form of idle entertainment whereby you imagine your personal consumption of experiences. This isn't necessarily a good form of personal development as end-goals often aren't actionable. Developing intentions and allowing experiences to flow to you may be a more pragmatic method for achieving things in your life.

Generally speaking, self-discipline beats motivation such that dreaming of great things in the future doesn't necessarily increase your chances of achieving such things. In fact, listing and communicating the things you'd like to do may be satisfying such that it decreases your motivation to actually do something.

Life bucket lists may encourage negative thinking such as the idea that life is a checklist or a score whereby whoever consumes the most interesting experiences wins.

Short term bucket lists adopted by families or friends can be a type of game that help to make a holiday or vacation entertaining. For example, listing the experiences that you'd like to discover on a road trip. This can be irrational and silly but nonetheless gives you a shared purpose and mission.

Etymology

Bucket list is based on the old English idiom "kick the bucket", meaning to die. In this context, a bucket list is a list of things you'd like to do before you die. The likely origin of the phase is the 2007 film Bucket List and is attributed to its writer Justin Zackham.

74 Examples of a Bucket List

Notes

Etymology

Personal Development

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