Almost a decade ago, seeking a positive way to escape depression, I made the purpose of my life to complete my entire 150+ item Life List before May 25, 2017, a deadline which I got tattooed on my butt. That date is today and it is with great pride that I get to announce that I have accomplished this lofty and life-changing goal.
Right now, I need more time to fully process everything that has happened. That said, I expect that I will be sharing my story and learnings in the form of a book and/or documentary sometime in the future. But before that, I am going to return to something much more familiar.
This grand adventure started with a list so it must end with a list too.
My Life List By The Numbers:
- 1,012,197 miles traveled (the equivalent of circling Earth 40.65 times)
- 44,587 photos taken
- 798 days spent in transit
- All 150+ of my life goals completed
- 7/7 continents visited
- Nearly 100 countries visited
- 100s of friends made
- 8 cities called home
- 3 houses built for deserving families
- 2 patents filed
- 2 companies started
- 2 books published
- 1 new language learned (Spanish)
- Banishment from 1 car rental company
- Banishment from 1 country (Singapore)
- 1 incredible life story to share!
My Life List in Photos:
That time I spent a month living alone in the wilderness
That time I flew
That time I did astronaut training
That time an artist painted a nude of me fighting a shark
That time I completed my first marathon
That time I found myself on Google Maps (Street View)
That time I explored Easter Island
All of the time I spent with my girlfriend
That time I saw an elephant outside my car window
That time I drove a racecar
All of the time that I spent with my family
That time my friend Sam and I got quarantined in Japan for having Bird Flu
That time this happened
That time I got six pack abs
All of the time I spent adventuring with my friends
My Life List in Videos:
That Time I Gave a TEDx Talk:
That Time my Friend Mel and I Launched a Homemade Spacecraft Near Space:
That Time my Friend Matt and I Did Astronaut Training:
That Time I Made This Ridiculous Video About my Morning Routine:
That Time This Happened:
That Time I Tested a Green Screen Studio Alone…
That Time I Got Naked on a Remote Island (Warning: the editing on this video is mediocre at best. It is from 2013)
That Time I was in a Commercial in Argentina (They Needed a Native English Speaker. I was Their Only Option):
My Favorite Life List Adventures:
“I Can’t Believe This is Real Life” Adventures
- Exploring an Abandoned Disney Island
- A Lessons Learned at Mt. Everest
- How I Unexpectedly Ended up in North Korea
- My Greatest Adventure Yet
- Suit Guy
- Learning how to Pickpocket
- Going 175 MPH With One Big Problem
- Training with the Miami SWAT Team
Travel Misadventures
- How not to Check into an Airbnb
- Stumbling Upon the Greatest Party in the World
- A Last Minute Plane Ticket to a Country that I Have Never Heard Of
“This is a lot Harder Than I Anticipated” Adventures
Food Adventures
- Life as Both a Meat Eater and a Friend of Animals
- 500 Days on the Ice Cream Diet
- 30 Days on a Vegan Diet
“Wow, I’m Proud of This Story” Adventures
- Dear Unhappy Former Self
- Life After Depression
- The Reason I Don’t Believe in Free Will
- 10 Things I Didn’t Realize about America
- 12 Financial Philosophies that Rich People Understand Better Than You
- The Single Best Decision I Have Ever Made
What is Next?
On October 17, 2011, I wrote a blog post titled “My Final Blog Post: A Draft“. The following are the final paragraphs from that post:
No one ever looks back on their life and says they worked too little and explored too much. The process of completing my Life List enabled me to finally stop making excuses. Times got stressful, plans got ruined, situations became inconvenient and money ran out but I kept making progress. Every day I moved forward at least one step. It took everything I did to learn how to stop making excuses (even when the logic was sound) and realize that above all else I needed to live my life my way.
Looking back now, I realize I should have stopped working to maintain my previous state of being and started earlier to focus my energy on changing and expanding my world.
I sit here at the finish line with a smile on my face. Like any circular path, the finish line is located at the starting line. Before I started all of this, the destination I reached today was within striking distance. It just took me an entire Life List to be able to see it.
I’m not done adventuring, not even close. While I spend time reflecting on my journey and planning my next step, I will continue going in the direction that I have always gone. I will spend my time doing the things I care about with the people that I love. Up until this point, the spotlight of my life story has been on me. Going forward, that spotlight will be focused on others. My Life List has been an incredibly powerful tool for me and I am now ready to give the gift of Life Lists to the world.
