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In his excellent book Over The Edge, author and self-proclaimed ‘regular guy’ Michael Bane put together a list of 13 high-risk extreme sports, and then went off and did them all, one by one.
“What’s it like to go to the very edge of the world and look over?” Michael pondered.
This list - which became know as The List over the course of the book - cost him thirty thousand dollars and one girlfriend, and was as follows:
- Windsurf Big Air
- The Kamikaze Downhill Race
- Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon
- Whitewater Off A Waterfall
- Rock Climb
- Cave Dive
- Ice Climb
- Skydive
- Skate Marathon
- Dive Really Deep
- Badwater Death Valley Run
- Iditarod Bike Rice
- Climb Mount Denali
As you would expect, Bane started and finished his journey as two very different people.
Why Make A List?
Lists are very popular nowadays, particularly on the Internet. Bloggers love to make lists, social media sites love to hear about them, and with good reason - pretty much everybody loves to read them. They’re even making films about them. A good list is easy on the eye and the mind - it reads well and quickly, tells you things you didn’t already know, but in brief, and then sends you away to think about it on a whole new level.
I like to make lists, too, from simple, throwaway things like grocery shopping lists, to stuff I want to buy come next payday, and planned articles for the various blogs to which I am a contributor. But I also really like idea of making the list, too - the one Michael Bane wrote about. But where do you start?
How about at the beginning? And I mean the very beginning. Your list needs plenty of thought. It’s not something that you should churn out flippantly or lightly. It needs to be personal and important to you. It’s your list. It’s the stuff you want to do most in the entire world. Before you die, or get too old to be physically able, or even care.
This is more important than you probably think. It’s very easy to reel off a vague, slightly random list of goals and dreams that might seem important or even worthy but unless they’re important to you, then it’s never going to happen. There needs to be some emotional thought here. It needs to matter.
How To Know What Really Matters
In his article How To Discover Your Life Purpose In About 20 Minutes, Steve Pavlina writes:
So how to discover your purpose in life? While there are many ways to do this, some of them fairly involved, here is one of the simplest that anyone can do. The more open you are to this process, and the more you expect it to work, the faster it will work for you. But not being open to it or having doubts about it or thinking it’s an entirely idiotic and meaningless waste of time won’t prevent it from working as long as you stick with it - again, it will just take longer to converge.
Here’s what to do:
1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.
Pavlina was writing about your purpose in the singular sense, but again his logic can and should be applied to the creation of your list. Whatever goes on there should, if not actually make you physically cry, then at least move you emotionally. The things on your list must move you when you think about them, and when you visualise yourself actually doing them. When you see others doing these things, it should fill you with hope and even make you fantasise a little.
If any single thing on your list does not do this, it should not be on there.
Don’t worry about how long your list is. It doesn’t have to fill a quota. It might be ten things, or it might be three. It might even be one. Or it might be fifteen. I would say, however, if it’s much more than this, it’s probably not only a little to long to be achievable, but I’d have to question if all the items on there really matter to you to the degree outlined above. Again, don’t be flippant about how you do this - just casually throwing things on there won’t get you anywhere.
This Is YOUR List
It’s important to point out that the list you make should entirely be for you. While other goals in life like maintaining a happy relationship with your partner, having children, living in a nice home, etc, are noble, these are not the kinds of things that have a place in ‘The List’. Maybe they need a list all of their own, but your list will, be definition, be slightly selfish. These are solitary pursuits. Sure, you may do some or all of them with one or more people - again, a common example is to run a marathon - but the purpose here is to accomplish great, life-changing things by yourself. Nobody is running that marathon for you, even though you might be surrounded by hundreds or even thousands of other people. Don’t make a list for others - make it for yourself. This doesn’t mean your list can’t include non-solitary pursuits or even contain admirable goals like reuniting with old friends or lost loved ones. All that matters is that you are a beneficiary.
Go Ahead And Dream – But Be Realistic
Your list should be fantastic and enthralling. It should grip and motivate you. When any given thing is done, it should have changed your life to some degree. When it’s all done, you should be a different person. The things on your list must count.
But don’t go nuts. If the greatest thing you can imagine is becoming a cosmonaut, it’s probably not going to happen if you’re 55 and earn a basic wage. That’s a great dream, but you’ve going to live a life of disappointment if that’s on your list. Don’t give up on it entirely – consider revising it down to something you can achieve.
Likewise, don’t sell yourself short. If you’ve been sedentary and overweight your entire life, the idea of running a mile without stopping might seem huge. And it will be – for a few weeks. Pretty much any able-bodied person can learn to run a mile in less than 4-6 weeks of fairly non-intensive, semi-regularly training.
Think big. But think smart.
Tomorrow: Tips on creating your own list, including the use of micro-lists, plus a list of my own. 
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