A list of things to do before I'm 40. Some of them small, some of them big. Wish me luck.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

101 Things To Do.

Cliched? Yes. But still, I'd like to have some way of seeing how much of what I wanted to do in the future will actually get done by the time I turn 40. I chose 40 because by then I'd like to think my life was in some sort of order and I'd have had time to do all these things. I'll probably think up more along the way, but these are what I'll be keeping a check on. Some of these seem easy, some seem more difficult, but I'll give it my best shot to do them all.
  1. Pass Phase 1 of medical school.
  2. Pass the finals.
  3. Work for at least one year as an aid worker in Africa.
  4. Visit every continent. [Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Antarctica] (1/7)
  5. Go sky-diving.
  6. Go scuba diving
  7. Climb Mount Kilamanjaro


  8. Learn how to cook a roast dinner.
  9. Buy a house.
  10. See Muse live in concert. (Done 09/2010)
  11. Run a marathon.
  12. Pass my driving test.
  13. Fly a plane solo.
  14. Read 100 new books. (11/100)
  15. Go skiing again.
  16. Win a pub quiz.
  17. Find a speciality that I love.
  18. Pay back my student loan.
  19. Have a savings account with over £1000.
  20. Make a full English breakfast with no assistance.
  21. Have my other blog reach 20 followers. (20/20) (Done 08/2010)
  22. Watch a solar eclipse.
  23. Ride an elephant.
  24. Be at a live World Cup game.
  25. Ride in a hot air balloon.


  26. Find flatmates to live with in Preston.
  27. Try one of every cocktail in Font. (19/42)
  28. Have every single one of my PBL kids get a yellow card.
  29. Be a medic on a mountaineering trip.
  30. Teach at least one person something really useful.
  31. Learn basic Spanish and use it.
  32. Grow some form of edible fruit or vegetable.
  33. Do a food shop big enough to need a trolley. (Done 09/2010)
  34. Go to the Royal Ascot.
  35. Watch an opera, the whole way through.
  36. Be a best man at a friends wedding.
  37. Stay awake for 48 hours.
  38. Have a night out where I wake up in a different city.
  39. Do a good deed for the community.
  40. Own a small boat.
  41. Spend more on my parent's birthday presents than they do mine.
  42. Give a speech at a conference.
  43. Save/Help save the life of my first person.
  44. Teach CPR to school children. (Done 11/2009)
  45. Have given at least £10,000 to charity.
  46. See the northern lights.


  47. Go to the Nobel prize ceremony. (Winning one would be a bonus)
  48. Watch 20 new foreign language films. (3/20)
  49. Have a house party in my own house. (Done 2010)
  50. Bathe in the River Ganges.
  51. Go to an Olympics.
  52. Be part of a flash mob.
  53. Eat in a Michelin star restaurant.
  54. Meet a member of government.
  55. Have research or a letter published in a respected journal.
  56. Spend time in a jungle.
  57. Go horse-riding.
  58. Go on a road trip.
  59. Fly first-class.
  60. See the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. (Done 07/2010)
  61. Walk on the Great Wall of China.


  62. Learn to juggle.
  63. Do some large DIY project for my house.
  64. Attend the Burning Man festival.
  65. Watch the sunrise and sunset on the same day.
  66. Go on the world's largest rollercoaster. (Whatever that may be at the time)
  67. Sleep under the stars. (No tent)
  68. Write a short story.
  69. Donate time to a good local cause.
  70. Invent a cocktail. (Done 12/2010)
  71. Buy a Christmas tree. (Done 12/2010)
  72. Walk to and from university for a month.
  73. Be vegetarian for two weeks.
  74. Learn how to make one new thing from origami each year. (1/22)
  75. Watch a Champions League match.
  76. Play football in 10 different countries. (1/10)
  77. Stay in London, New York and Rome for more than three days. (1/3)
  78. Buy a new watch. (Done 07/2010)
  79. Join a gym.
  80. Ride on the Indian railway.
  81. Walk through the canopy of a rainforest.


  82. Go camping for longer than two weeks in a remote area.
  83. Go white water rafting.
  84. Meet at least one person a year who becomes a long-term close friend. (2/22)
  85. Invent something. (Either something material or a procedure)
  86. Have my name mentioned in a newspaper/on TV.
  87. Have a phone contract in my own name. (Done 07/2010)
  88. Buy a tuxedo.
  89. Vote in every election. (2/2)
  90. Re-watch 5 classic Disney films from my childhood. (1/5)
  91. Decorate a house.
  92. Haggle in a foreign market.
  93. Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
  94. Witness New Years in China.
  95. Be part of Oktoberfest.
  96. Win an argument against a racist. (Done 03/2010)
  97. Visit the Egyptian pyramids and the Sphinx.
  98. Get married.
  99. Have at least one child.
  100. If it's a boy, teach him how to play football in the local park.
  101. Do something extraordinary, not because its on this list but because it would make me happy.
So there it is, my life in one list. Obviously there'll be more I want to do that comes along as I get older but I really want to try to stick to everything I've put here, no matter how trivial it may seem in later years. Best get cracking.