Tonight the NBC Nightly News had a story about a woman who found her father’s bucket list after he was killed in a distracted driver accident. The list included about 60 items of which about 6 where already completed. When she found the list she felt compelled to finish the bucket list and in doing so found new strength inside her as well as a connection to her father. She finished the list in about 5 years.
NBC Nightly News - Daughter honors late father by finishing his bucket list
As I watched this episode I thought about how this father’s bucket list was like a treasure map. It was a plan laid out for someone to follow. It gave the daughter a plan to act upon without struggling to think of her own bucket list (though she may have had one).
Is this a bad thing, to have a challenge laid out before you? Probably not, who knows if she would have accomplished her own bucket list in just a few years without the impetus or challenge from her father.
So the lesson here is to take the leap, find a list, any list and get started.