We’ve all got them- or at least, a mental one. The ones that lead to shouting out “Oh I’ll go to Paris one day!” when someone mentions a vacation they had in passing. Sometimes we have millions and millions of things on these lists… other times we just have three to five. But if you don’t have one written down you might want to look to it.

1. It helps you narrow it down: There is a lot we want to do. I know that more than anyone. But you probably won’t be able to do all of them- not from lack of effort but lack of money, time, physical condition- so writing them down helps you realize what’s even worth putting on paper (believe it or not that’ll knock out a lot of them).
2. It helps you prioritize them: Okay, so there is still a lot of them, but they seem a lot more manageable? Maybe? Well, the next step is to sort them into has to happen and want to happen. You have to go to Paris before you die, but you could do without jumping out of a plane… even though that sounds really amazing too! So keep them both, just drop the skydiving down, down, down. (puns)
3. It helps you build real goals to achieve them: Once you have them in order you can look at the one on the top of your list and figure out what it takes to get there. How much money do you have to save? How long would it take you? What kind of life changes do you need to get there?
4. It helps make you reliable: A bucket list is just that- a list but when the top five items are hung up and focused on intently, it takes them from being an idea to a plan. Ideas never happen. Plans do. It might seem silly to prop it up and show off a list, but these are your goals in life and nothing is silly if you want it hard enough. Remember you want it and remember what you have to do to get it.
5. It gives you perspective: So you’ve been to Paris, so it was the most magical thing you’ve ever done. So you move on to the next one, then the next one, then at some point you find yourself rewriting your entire list because some things are more important. Please do one thing for me- keep every list, it gives you insight to your life, it tells you to remember when Paris was your biggest dream when now it’s nothing more than an amazing memory. It gives you perspective on how far you’ve come… even if you only do three items and change the rest. That my friend says just as much.