I’ve been reading a lot over the last few weeks about people’s life goals, projects and passions and trying to form my own ideas about where things go from here, following on from my commitment to forging my own path on the blog last week.

Joel Runyon over at Impossible HQ recommends making a list of impossible things you want to achieve – his logic being that only by reaching for the impossible can we achieve the remarkable.

Others focus on awesomeness, bucket lists or things to do before you die.

All of these pages are great (and truly inspiring), but I’m don’t 100% side with any of these. For one thing, I’m a strong believer in the English language and that impossible is exactly that – 100% not possible. However, I also strongly believe that there is very little in this world that is genuinely impossible; most of the time the things that we deem impossible are just very, very hard.

What my week’s reading has done is to inspire me to create my own List of Infinite Possibilities.

Why Infinite?

This isn’t a bucket list (because they’re far too morbid), nor a comprehensive list of everything I want to achieve in my life ever.

It is intended to be an ever-evolving list of the things I most want to achieve in my life. I fully expect as I learn, grow and try new things, I’ll want to add more of the same or trim down some of the others.

More than that, it’s not meant to be a list of things that “everyone” should do before they die, it’s a personal list of things that mean the most to me, be they personal, professional, fitness or filmmaking goals. I’m not interested in doing things that I should do, but only in the things that I want to do1.

Some of them will be almost impossibly hard, others will be a doddle. Either way – and anywhere in the middle – they are unique to me and my life.

Why Possibilities?

As an ever-changing list of cool and challenging things, they are also not supposed to be strict instructions for things that I do, merely guidelines for the sort of way I want to challenge myself to move forward with my life.

That’s why they include things like “Run a Marathon” and not “Run the London Marathon” – yes, some of the things on the list are super-specific, but most are a way to make sure I can keep track of the things I want to achieve, whether financial, material, spiritual or otherwise.

They are also all things that I believe I can see through. If that changes, the possibility is removed and the list can evolve.

By way of example, I’d love to learn to scuba dive and go out in the ocean somewhere like the Great Barrier Reef. But I know that before my transplant the condition of my lungs prevented me from scuba and I don’t know if that’s still the case. If it is, then clearly, scuba becomes an impossibility and, as such, gets struck from the list.

I don’t want to feel any remorse for losing these possibilities or any sense of failure for not having achieved them. I’ve had enough low moments in my life due to my health invading an governing my life, so I don’t want to needlessly set myself up for that kind of fall again. At the same time, I hope that the public list will keep me accountable enough that I won’t be able to simply drop something because I think it will be too hard.

Impossible things can go; hard things must stay.

Community

I want this to be more than just my own little list of things I want to do; I want you, dear reader, to join me in my adventure.

Ideally, I’d have you all create, publish and share your own lists for everyone to see, but failing that I’d at least like to hear you’ve thought of a few things to challenge you with. You can drop it in the comments below, link to your own website or just drop me an email; any way you want to do it I’d love to hear your goals.

Equally, if we share any goals, I’d love for us to work together to achieve them at the same time, whether it be a physical event, a support group for running a business or a filmmaking collaboration: the more people getting involved and the more people who become a part of the community, the more support we all have for achieving the things we all want to achieve.

THE LIST OF INFINITE POSSIBILITIES

Without further ado, here’s the list (which will also stay at the top of the site on the menu bar from here on out):

Massive Lifetime Goals (MLG)

  1. Impact/inspire major change in 5 people’s lives.
  2. Raise £1million for charity.

    3. Personal & Professional Goals

    Travel

  3. Complete a trans-America trip.
  4. Visit every European country.
  5. Spend 3 months in Hawaii every year.
  6. Throw a dart in a map and travel where it lands.
  7. Complete a Monopoly board pub crawl.
  8. Spend Christmas on a beech.

    9. Writing / Speaking

  9. Make survivable money from writing.
  10. Be paid for public speaking.
  11. Speak at a TED Conference.
  12. Speak at SXSW.
  13. Publish a book.
  14. Publish a paid-for-book.

    15. Filmmaking

  15. Direct a short fiction film.
  16. Make a fiction feature film.
  17. Make a documentary feature film.

    18. Personal Challenge Goals

    Fitness

  18. Climb Mount Snowdon.
  19. Climb Scafell Pike.
  20. Climb Ben Nevis.
  21. Complete the 3 Peaks Challenge (Snowdon, Scafell Pike & Ben Nevis in 24 hours).
  22. Climb Kilimanjaro.
  23. Run a 5K.
  24. Run a 10K.
  25. Run a half-marathon.
  26. Run a marathon.
  27. Run an ultra-marathon.
  28. Be happy with my shirt off.
  29. Learn to rock-climb.

    30. Language

  30. Learn Italian.
  31. Learn 1 other European language.

    32. Minimalism/Lifestyle

  32. Work from a clean desk.
  33. Get rid of all my excess stuff.

    34. Random

  34. Learn to play golf.
  35. Reach a single-figure handicap.
  36. Play at least one Championship course.
  37. Learn to play the guitar
  38. Learn to play the piano
  39. Compete in a genuine motor race at Silverstone.
  40. Own a holiday home in Hawaii.
  41. Have a season ticket to Saints FC.
  42. Have a box at Saints FC.
  43. Watch every England 6 Nations game live in the Stadium.
  44. Learn to fly a plane or helicopter.

    45. Events to Attend:

  45. The Oscars.
  46. The BAFTAS.
  47. A TED Conference.
  48. SXSW.

Are you compiling/have you compiled your own list? Leave a comment and let me know and let’s help each other make this happen.

If you want to keep track of my progress, you can subscribe to the blog or register for the latest email updates to get all the goss before it hits the street.

Keep smiling!

  1. with thanks to Aunty Frizz for the inspirational mantra! [↩]