Balance is B.S.

CHAPTER 7It's All About the Journey: How and why to write your bucket list

There's an exercise you can do (that runs on a similar principle to the goal-setting exercise from Chapter 6) where you talk as though it's a date in the future, and you describe your life in as much detail as possible. It's the year 2040 and I'm sitting in a room filled with luxurious furniture and pieces of art and I have two children blah blah blah.

That can be a great exercise to do. But I think you'd write it differently every 10 years, wouldn't you? God, mine changes every year.

Instead of describing what's around you in that type of long-term exercise, I'd say go inward. Talk about your values and how you're living them out, not about tangibles like what type of room you're sitting in. The year is 2040. I'm blessed to still have my health because I've looked after myself. I'm content and I sleep well at night because I haven't burned any bridges. I failed at a lot of things but I know I always gave 100%. I love being older and I have no wish to be 20 again. That's what mine would sound like right now (but ask me another day and I'd probably say something different).

When I talk about not getting too attached to concrete goals, I'm talking about big-picture life goals—ideas like “I will be worth this many dollars when I'm 40” or “I will retire at this particular age” or “I will be surrounded by my three children who haven't been born yet.” You can't necessarily plan those things or know that they'll ...