A few thoughts on bucket lists and now pages
2023-11-25
A few days ago, I watched this video from Niklas Steenfatt about the negative effects of a bucket list and the advantages of a so-called "now page", which really resonated with me. As I wanted to update my "About me" section anyway for quite some time now, I used this impetus to finally do it and also add a now page. Therefore, I want to share some of my thoughts relating bucket lists and now pages with you in this rather spontaneous article...
To get the major complaint I already here you saying out of the way, I have to admit that there certainly is a value to long-term planning and thinking about what you want to achieve in life. Even I myself sit down every 6 to 12 months and think about where I want to be in 10 years from now. This allows you to think backwards from where you want to go to where you are currently and make the right decisions to reach you destination (or at least get closer to it). But I have also noticed that these goals and dreams change rather quickly and not only in my relatively young age class - everyone has dreams and most of them turn out to not suit us very well, when we think about them a bit more. Nowadays we are literally flooded with role models, things anyone seemingly must have done to have lived a "good life" - what ever that even means - and the success of seemingly everyone else, just not us. This leds to many of our values and dreams actually being copied from someone else and not being intrinsic, therefore rendering them useless, as we often lose interest in them rather quickly.
If you now create a whole list of things you want to do before dying just based on the dreams of a random dude from the internet, you are not only not following who you are, but also putting pressure on yourself to actually do these irrelevant hings. Every goal on such a list is a "to do goal", not a "to be goal" - once you have accomplished the task, there is nothing more to work for and you are guaranteed to fall into an emotional hole after a short flight of emotions. This is the same reason why the best athletes often face post-olympic depressions - they work towards a single to-do incredibly hard, reach it and suddenly have nothing to live for anymore. So, why even create such a list in the first place, create contraproductive pressure and always think about the future instead of enjoying the moment?
This is where the concept of a now page come into play - instead of publishing a long list of things you want to do eventually, you think about what you are CURRENTLY interested in, CURRENTLY working on and CURRENTLY struggling with and share that list with anyone you like. This ensures you appreciate the present more, regularly reflect on the things you do and ultimately also gives you an excuse to say a more deliberate "No, I'm not interested in this" to random ideas that come along your way. Deciding whether or not this suits your lifestyle, is obviously entirely up to you, but do me a favour and at least think about it for a moment.
Personally, I will continue to regularly think about the far future, but not give these thoughts as much weight as I used to and invest a greater amount of planning into where I currently want to go. Reaching a difficult goal is worth nothing, if you don't care about it anymore and very distant ones are extremely likely to fall into this category. So, take a look at what I'm currently doing on my now page , share your thoughts and experiences in the comments down below and have a lovely day...