Today’s reflection is on my progress (or lack thereof?) with my List of 100 Dreams. So what is a List of 100 Dreams? It’s pretty much right in the name… The list can include little dreams, big dreams and all the dreams in between. The idea is that by the time you get towards the end of writing it (or honestly, after the first third) you’re really digging deep to come up with things you want to do at some point in your life, besides just listing dream places you want to travel to.
I first heard about this idea from Laura Vanderkam, time management author and podcaster, several years ago. (the idea of a List of 100 Dreams didn’t originate with Laura, but she continues to promote the idea on her different platforms). I wrote my first draft in 2023. My original list included about 25 destinations I wanted to visit… but in 2024 I decided I wanted to change that. I made it a goal to update my list to exclude travel (now it’s a separate list) because I wanted to push myself to think of other things, and I did!
I think I’m drawn to this idea because all of my other lists are usually time bound, and I feel pressure to get them done. There’s no real rush to achieve the List of 100 Dreams; and the list can evolve over time as we ourselves evolve. Laura has had many iterations of her list. After so many years, she’ll note what she’s accomplished and cull some or all of what remains and replace with new, more relevant dreams to her current self.
While I like the idea of no firm deadline, I think maybe that’s why I’m not really making any progress on this list. I do try to include a few of the items on my yearly goals list… but we’ll get into that more with my commentary below.
So what’s on my list? Continue reading to find out– plus I’ll note anything I’ve achieved, if I’ve started/attempted and my notes accordingly, or any other commentary I see fitting as I revisit the list. Shall we?
First, my annotation guide:
- Actively working on it
- Achieved, technically…
- Started/attempted but not achieved
- Reconsidering
- Other notations
List of 100 Dreams
Self
- Manifest something…
- Become a better conversationalist – a couple of years ago, I read a lot of books on how to do this and/or about small talk, but it just doesn’t come naturally to me. That’s not to say I haven’t improved… but not achieved based on my original thoughts here…
- Improve my vocabulary and spelling
- Learn alphabet in ASL – this will be part of my August curriculum coming up…
- Learn to let my hair down! I’m working on this in stages. Step one, that I just started implementing, is to not censor myself if I’m singing along with the radio (enthusiastically or otherwise) when I stop next to a car in traffic — that sounds so silly but that’s my first step. Still a work in progress. Sometimes I feel embarrassed and stop my sing-a-long…even though no one is looking at me, right?
- Participate in a book club…I got accepted into my alma mater’s Good Read’s book club but have yet to actually participate. Mostly because I’m not interested in the book choices thus far…
- Perfect my charcuterie board game
- Figure out who I am… I’m doing this currently by taking all of the various personality, values, strengths tests, journaling, etc.
- Get a tattoo – something small, mostly hidden and one that looks like watercolor, no black outlines– I like those, and if I would ever get one, that’s the kind it would be. Color or B&W TBD…
- Get nose pierced– I like the look of this, not sure if I would actually enjoy having it…
- Have purplish hair for a period of time – I tried to do this with a temporary dye but I think my hair is too dark to really notice a difference. MAY try again with a different dye.
- Study astronomy (and astrology)
- Learn how to make good southern BBQ
- Bake a pie from scratch – I have this as a very loose idea of a goal for this year…
Health
- Do 100 pushups – what was I thinking with this one??? Maybe 10 is what I meant… even that will be a stretch!
- Learn to ride a bike again
- Practice kickboxing
- Participate in a color run
- Complete Yoga with Adrienne January challenge – Does Adrienne still do this?
- Practice meditation regularly – I have tried this off and on and I struggle to get into it, but I probably haven’t given it a long enough go. Have a Headspace free trial and still not practicing regularly…
Wealth
- Become a millionaire
- Earn $60,000/yr from LAF Lines
- Earn 6 figures in one year before I die
- Pay off my mortgage
Love
- Take a date to a wedding
Friends & Family
- Become a crazy cat lady :::meow:::
- Rescue a dog from a shelter
Community
- Coordinate a block party
- Host a dinner party / supper club
- Join a CSA
Home & Auto
- Build a chicken coop (and raise chickens!)
- Buy (or build!) forever farmhouse
- Own a house with a pool
- Own a house with a view
- Own a lake house
- Plant a fig tree
- Plant a lemon tree
- Be crunchy…have a compost bin and/or rain barrel
Hobbies
- Write a collection of poems – I am currently writing a haiku every month. Would I call it a collection? Not really, it doesn’t have a theme, but technically? I guess it could be a collection, technically.
- Learn how to ballroom dance
- Learn how to juggle
- Learn how to knit a sweater
- Learn how to play chess
- Learn how to play guitar
- Learn how to play poker
- Learn how to quilt
- Make time for hobbies (new + old) – I am doing this! I’m really into junk journaling so even if that’s the main hobby I think that counts. And reading, there’s always (too much) time spent reading!
- Paint a mural
- Paint pottery
- Practice intentional photography
- Read all of Jane Austen’s books
- Solve a Rubik’s cube
- Try pickleball– hmm, do I still want to do this? Not so much…
- Complete at least 1 sky painting
Experience
- Drive a boat on a lake
- Drive a corvette
- Eat a deep fried Oreo
- Fly first/business class
- Go indoor rock climbing
- Go kayaking
- Go skinny dipping
- Go to a drive in movie
- Go to a music festival
- Go to a performance every quarter-ish
- Go to a trampoline park
- Go to a water park
- Go to an aquarium
- Go ziplining
- Go “camping” (glamping)
- Make s’mores over a campfire
- Ride a horse on the beach
- Ride a jet ski
- See a Cirque Du Soleil show – I was so close to checking this one off this year. You can read about what happened HERE.
- See Hamilton (on Broadway?)– I may just watch the movie on Disney+
- Stay in a tiny home
- Stay in a tree house — been trying to find one locally…
- Stay in a yurt
- Stay in an air bnb
- Tour a brewery
- Visit a butterfly house
- Volunteer with elephants
- Get a facial
- Get a massage
- Host a pool party
- Take a glass blowing class – I’ve watched some of Blown Away on Netflix and I’m reading a book where the main character blows glass and the idea of me actually doing this is petrifying lol, so I’m second guessing it.
- Order room service
Entertainment
- Catch up on Jennifer Garner movies – I have started this….
Work
- Be featured in a “magazine”
- Open a brick & mortar store
- Open an Etsy shop – technically I have done this. I only have one listing and have no sales, but technically the shop is open.
- Renovate a house flip
- Start a furniture refinishing business
- Table at a craft fair/flea market
- Attend a design/blog conference
- Create my own greeting cards
- Design a merch line
- Exhibit in an art show
- Publish a short story
- Write and publish an e-book
- Sell an original painting
For 2-3 years in, I think having 5 in progress is pretty good, No? And only 4 that I am reconsidering changing isn’t bad at all. I’m looking forward to sprinkling more of these in to my goals in the coming years. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey, right?
Do you have a List of 100 Dreams?
Photo by Keller Chewning on Unsplash