One morning while I was running a few weeks ago, I was listening to a Christy Wright’s Business Boutique podcast. She had just published her first book and was looking back to see when she first started dreaming about it. She realized that her dreams were never that big. It struck me as I was listening that I hadn’t spent much time recently dreaming about bigger accomplishments and goals. Then yesterday I was talking to another mom at school. Within the first few minutes of talking to her, for the first time, she told me the items on her bucket list to accomplish before she turns 35. I was inspired and reminded of the importance of dreaming and setting bigger goals.

Don’t get me wrong…It’s not that I haven’t dreamed at all. I am in the middle of carrying out one of my biggest dreams- having my own coaching business. But I realized that I haven’t spent much time in the last few years dreaming about the future beyond the practical. My dream for my coaching business was produced out of my love for women and seeing them achieve their desires and live into their calling. But it was also born out of the very practical needs of providing for my family and having a job that would give me flexibility in hours and location.

In my 20s and early 30s, I was living out my very big dreams of marrying the love of my life, getting a bachelor’s and master’s degree, having 3 beautiful daughters, running a marathon, buying our first house, traveling to Europe, but where do you go from there? What stopped me from dreaming beyond that?

Maybe it is because I have been living out so many wonderful dreams that I have been still basking in the glow of those. Or maybe it was because of practicality…with kids and a more restricted budget it would be harder to afford or find other resources to make new dreams happen.

Whatever the reason, I have decided it’s time to spend some time dreaming again. I love goals but I have been very practical with my goals. Now it is time to dream bigger. It’s time to make a bucket list, though not in the traditional sense because the due date of my list isn’t going to be the end of my life, but maybe a decade or two from now. My list is going to be less about practicality more about fun and using the gifts and resources that God has given me to experience new and bigger things.

A bucket list isn’t just important because it inspires me and appeals to the goal setter that I am. Psychologist Christopher Peterson says that bucket lists make life memorable and goals that are hard and specific are more likely to be accomplished.

Let me share with you why I think making a bucket list will be beneficial for me and others too. As with other smaller goals, a bucket list gives us meaning and a focus for our time. It makes us intentional about how we use our time. These are the main things I am hoping to gain:

Why I’m Going to do a Bucket List:

1)Look to Dream: With an ever moving life, I usually don’t take time to dream about the future beyond the things I currently have going on. Making a list will give me a chance to dream and make my dreams a part of my everyday life.

2)Look to Stretch Me: Though I am a very goal-oriented person, I tend to just make goals about what I already have going in my life. This is good too, but a bucket list will give me a chance to stretch myself beyond my current interests.

3)Look Beyond Myself: Serving others and helping them in times of struggle is a big value for me. It is important to me to be there for others and to seek out ways to help them. I want my girls to learn this from me. However, I tend to just take things as they come when it comes to serving others. Instead, with a bucket list I want to be proactive about seeking out and planning opportunities to help others.

4) Look Beyond What I Know: I love seeing how God works in my everyday in the most surprising ways. Making a bucket list will open me up to see how he works in other areas or through other things that I wouldn’t have anticipated.