Since I’m spending the first couple of days of the week in a secluded cabin in the wilds of Victoria to work on my book (yes…for real), I’m going to dig back into the archives. Specifically, archives from original material I posted on my Tumblr blog. There’s a good chance you’ve never seen them. Here’s one (slightly edited for content and the like) from September 7, 2010.1
The term “Bucket List” has become a commonly used term in today’s society. It is a list of things that you need to before you die…or “kick the bucket”, which is where the term find its origin. I’ve even talked to the team of Victoria boys known as The Buried Life who’ve brought a list (of sorts) like this to MTV over at Eventualism.
While this kind of list is a great idea, it’s been watered down due to overuse. I mean, it’s a list of things you plan to do (or aspire to do) before you shuffle off this mortal coil. Death is a pretty big thing. So, too, should this list be a big thing. But it seems to have lost its power considering that it’s been -– you’ll pardon the pun -– “used to death.”
What I propose is a new type of list. One that has the same sort of guts and glory behind it as a Bucket List but has more of a…relentless nature to it. This list should say something like:
“I’m going to do these things no matter what, and I don’t care what anyone thinks of me for doing them.”
It needs to scream out loud the idea that time is short and you’ve got to do the things you really want to do while you can.
I call it The F#@k It List.
Things that go on your F#@k It List should be things that you are so afraid to do -– or were afraid to do but realize that you won’t be complete without doing them. The F#@k It List can have a bunch of things on it…or just one. But it must have something on it. Why? Well, if you put one thing on your F#@k It List and you do it, it’ll lead to you putting more stuff on it. One item done will lead to more items you’ll want to do.
I’m not saying be irresponsible about it. That would be, well, irresponsible of me.
What I’m saying is that while your F#@k It List should have things that are going to take guts to do, you should use a traditional to do list to get them ready to be done. Remember those times when you jumped into a swimming pool despite the fact that you knew you’d be cold once you hit the water? But you did it, right? You did it because you knew that jumping in was way better than slowly getting in. You thought to yourself:
“F#@k it, I might as well just jump right in.”
And you did. The F#@k It List is just a bigger version of that. It’s something everyone should have -– a bigger, better companion to your daily to-do list. Start building it today.
Then jump right in.
Photo credit: Neil Mallett (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
1 Choosing this particular piece was inspired by a post I read today by Brian Thompson.
