What Inspires Me: Blueprinting a Life in Full

It was “The List.”

I can trace it all back to Goddard’s List. Back when I was a really bored teenager living on the farm with my father in Indiana, I read about a fellow named John Goddard. The article was in a 1972 issue of LIFE Magazine and it was about this fellow who, when 15 years old, wrote down 127 goals he wanted to accomplish in his life, hence The List. He had done this in the 1940s and this article was on how he was doing so far. He'd basically done pretty well by 1972 with getting lots of check-marks on his List. This List wasn't like some fleeting obsessive to-do list that just fizzles out after a few attempts at accomplishment and was then lost to time in a drawer.

Nope, instead it became a blueprint for his life.

Being an impressionable youth, the moxy of Goddard was channeled into me and my notebook, and I made a List for myself. It has turned out to be not only a life’s blueprint but it also serves as a terrific motivator to fight-off inertia, lethargy, and couch-potatoism. As for my List, it has evolved over time as things like jet skis and parasailing didn't exist when I authored my first edition, so they had to be added.

I have found not only inspiration from looking at what I'd like to accomplish, but also what I have been able to do so far. Plus, I find it to be terrific fun to put a checkmark by another challenge when it's accomplished as well as having done whatever it was in the first place. There is a unique kind of wonderful excitement to have a list of things to look forward to doing. Inspiration at its finest!

My List has been a terrific inspiration and motivator to get me to go run or work-out on those I'm-lazy-and-can-come-up-with-a-million-excuses-to-not-workout-days. It reminds me that I have committed to doing the World’s Tallest Stair Climb Race with my son in a couple of months or a charity run with my daughter. The List has been instrumental in designing training routines and nutritional regimens that have helped me cope with a killer sweet tooth. It has also helped me finish my doctorate, found a non-profit, and do fun things with my family.

I know some folks who seem to be biologically hard-wired with motivation. They seem to just “lock-on” and go for it. But for others, like me, I need a bit more structure. And for me, The List is it. It’s also fun to look back and review what’s you have been able to accomplish as a method of gaining some umph(!) when motivation is lean or uncertainty of future accomplishment is waxing.

Your blueprint could literally be your list of a lifetime...

List Tips

1. Care and feeding of your List.

To compose your List, you need to examine yourself, your goals, and your priorities. Vehicles or tools like The List can help in various ways to enrich life. Just the process of composition should tell you a few things about yourself. I'd recommend such a List to be dynamic and evolving as your life changes. Don't keep an obsolete goal just because you wanted to do it five years ago. And don't hesitate to add to it. I believe that life is way too short to be able to enjoy all that is possible. It is the picking that may be your ultimate challenge.

2. Fold in other sources.

While you may already have plenty you’d like to do in your life, I find inspiration from the plethora of books and lists like the “Top 10 Buildings of the 20 Century” and I am a sucker when it comes to those books about 1001 places to visit before you die, etc. They are like inspirational crack to me. It matters not whose lists or books you fall prey to, as there will always be differences in such categorizations, which is wonderful! Maybe you could (should?) come up with your own top 10s, 20s…!

3. Consider role models.

I've noted the inspirational impact that Goddard had on me. But I also have my inspirational professional heroes like R. Buckminster Fuller. I think I've read most every book by and about him, and every time I come away inspired — be it to bring better design into my daily life, or to do more for my fellow crewmember on Spaceship Earth. Thanks Bucky.

For me, I also am inspired by contemporary doers like Richard Saul Wurman or Guy Kawasaki, and I do my best to learn from them and act upon that education. Plus, they are kind (and cool) enough to actually be open to working together.

4. Look ahead and back.

Once you have accomplished something you aspired to, I suggest keeping it on your list, but with a checkmark. Over time as the checks accumulate, you can look back and you learn things about yourself that you may not have imagined when you started. I bet you are cooler than you think.

5. Make it yours... but you can (and should) involve others.

While this to be your inspirational life’s blueprint, it’s perhaps even better when you involve others, where fitting. For example, my wife and I have done many projects together toward shared goals and now my daughter is a co-dependent travel junky, 8k race fanatic and climber, all with apologies to my wife.

Also, behavioral psychology suggests that when you let others know about a goal (e.g., lose 10 pounds) your friends can serve as an augmentation to your conscience and motivation when you try to order that dessert with dinner. Having others be onboard with your goals is a wonderful thing. Do likewise to support others’ Lists and blueprints as well.

6. Two-for-one.

There is a wonderful synergy that comes with working toward some goals. For example, preparing for a race may also have beneficial side effects of being out in nature when on a training run, losing that nagging last-5-pounds, improving your nutrition, getting better at yoga, enjoying time together with your training mates...

In a similar vein, if possible and appropriate, you may want to consider pushing your flight back home to the later one in order to visit that museum you have always wanted to see while in a new city on business. When I have gone on mission trips, and it was feasible, I liked adding a day or two before or after the work-phase to visit the area I came to work in.

7. It’s not about keeping up with the Indiana Joneses.

Sure, some things you may find inspirational on your list may be a bit adventuresome, it really doesn't matter, hey, it’s your List. But I have also added goals that include books I want to read, people I’d like to meet, events I’d like to attend, and films I’d like to see, and then I passively always keep them in mind when the opportunity lends itself to make it happen. I thus never fret about them falling into some cognitive crack and forgotten. I find that these also bring a richness and texture to my life that is quite satisfying as well as inspiring.

Excerpts from my List: A Sampler

As my List has evolved over the years, I have organized it by topical areas, in no particular order. You may want to prioritize some of yours. You may want to experiment with your own approach and vary as need be over time.

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES Sample of done: Provide Congressional Testimony; Work at the United Nations Sample of still want to do: Have a patent; Be a lyricist

PHILANTHROPIC Sample of done: Found a 501(c)(3). The Center for Global Initiatives Sample of still want to do: Help more people to help others

LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS Sample of done: Licensed Clinical Psychologist; Open Water Diver Certification Sample of still want to do: Get Ham Radio operator license

TRAVEL Sample of done: Been to 44 states, 85 countries Sample of still want to do: Go to the other 6 states and at least 15 more countries

EXPLORATIONS Sample of done: Explore the Amazon (Ecuador and Achuar Tribes) Sample of still want to do: First Summit a mountain in Greenland (and name it)

ATHLETIC EXPERIENCES Sample of done: Complete an Ultra-Marathon Sample of still want to do: Complete a Cross-country Ski Marathon

CLIMBING EXPERIENCES Sample of done: Summit 3 of the World’s Seven Summits Sample of still want to do: Summit Aconcagua (tallest in South America)

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES (FLYING RELATED) Sample of done: Fly Air Combat in Marcetti SF-260 and perform 4-g loops, rolls, lag rolls, stall, dog fights, formation flying and landing Sample of still want to do: Fly in a blimp

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES (CAR RELATED) Sample of done: Race a NASCAR at Orlando World Speedway Sample of still want to do: Restore a late 1960s Mustang or Camaro

###

If you’d like to learn more or connect, please take a look-see at https://about.me/DrChrisStout If you’d like to more about my Curated Library, shoot me an email. You can follow me on LinkedIn, or find my Tweets.

If you liked this article, you may also like:

• DIY Humanitarianism
• 52 Ways to Change the World
• The New Humanitarians
• Philanthropy for the Rest of Us