When it comes to achieving our dreams and working towards our goals, it’s never too late to start! 2020 may have been the year that put the brakes on most of our plans and ambitions, 2021 gives us a new opportunity to get them rolling again.
As one of the best retirement villages in Auckland catered towards lifestyle retirement, we know that no matter the age, it’s never too late to start focussing on our passions. This blog brings you the latest tips and ways to start effectively tackling your bucket list. Let’s kick off the new year with a bang and enjoy independent senior living to the fullest!
1. Make It Personal
Creating a bucket list that is personal and represents your goals and interests is an excellent way of giving yourself direction in the new year. With this in mind, you don’t have to label your list as a “bucket list”, you can call it whatever inspires you and resonates with you most! A few ideas include:
- Dream List
- My Aspirations List
- My Lifetime Goals
- Meaningful Life Goals
- Things to Conquer!
- My Life’s Must-Do’s
- Dream List to Achieve
- The Life Plan
2. Give Yourself Realistic Timeframes
The key to creating accomplishable goals is to challenge yourself a little but also to be realistic with the timeframes you create to complete them. No matter your goals, whether it’s to start a new hobby, take a road trip, write a book, or improve your fitness, spend some time calculating and give yourself a practical timeframe to achieve it.
An excellent way of doing this is to create mini-lists within the main bucket list, such as:
- A Seasonal Bucket List – Some goals will be seasonally based, such as growing a flower garden, skiing, taking a fishing tour, or going berry picking.
- A One-Year Bucket List – Sometimes long-term planning with no defined dates can deflate our motivation and decrease any urgency we feel towards planning for it. Creating a one-year bucket list is a great way of focusing on what we want to achieve within the short term, while still giving us adequate time to complete our goals.
- Goals Before 80 List – another way to approach long-term goal planning is to choose goals that you want to achieve before reaching a certain age or milestone.
3. Pick Your Starter Goals
While it’s a great idea to get all our future aspirations out on paper, a long list of goals to accomplish can sometimes seem overwhelming. It can be hard to even know where to start!
To reduce distraction and help you start working at your goals, pick two or three to work on at a time. A good rule of thumb is to at least choose one long-term goal and one short-term goal. This way, while your long-term goal will likely take a while to achieve, short-term goals will help you feel accomplished and stay motivated as you go.
4. Break Them into Actionable Steps
When you choose the goals you want to focus on, try breaking them down into actionable steps that you can complete over time.
Want to go travelling around the South Island in a camper van? Give yourself time to sit down and research what you want to see on your travels, the best camping sites to stay in, when you want to travel, and which flight deals are the best for you. If learning a new language is on your bucket list, start learning a word a day, or find a class near you to start attending on a regular basis.
5. Invite a Friend
Sometimes the best motivation comes from team effort! Why not invite a friend to create a bucket list alongside you? Not only will they be able to give you inspiration for your bucket list, but together you will be able to motivate each other and provide accountability.
6. Make Time to Review
Remember to set aside time every now and then to check in with your goals and see how you’re progressing. That way, if something you are trying to achieve just isn’t working for you, you can make revisions to your strategy and try to approach the problem from a different angle.
Alternatively, you could even drop a goal altogether if you realise along the way that it’s not something you want to pursue after all. Changing your mind is completely fine! In fact, it will give you more head space to focus on the next best thing.
7. Start Today!
When it comes to achieving goals, overthinking can make us feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, the more we think about something, the less we feel like actually doing it. If you have a tendency of overthinking and procrastinating, then you’ll know all too well how easy it can be to let plans sit on the back burner until they’re all dried up.
Basically, if you’re trying to decide when to start working towards your goals, there’s no better time to start than now!
8. Remember to Celebrate Your Successes
No matter how big or small, you should celebrate the steps you take towards accomplishing your goals. If we are too focused on reaching the end goal, we can often forget to appreciate the opportunities and experiences we gained along the way, which are what make accomplishing the main goal so much more meaningful. Every challenge is there to make us grow, and every step is a small victory that will take us forward!
Maximise Independent Living in your Retirement
As a full-time working adults, we may have the resources to enjoy life, but not the time to use them. In comparison, retirement is just the opposite! With newfound freedom, retirement gives us the perfect opportunity to start focusing on personal goals and interests again. So, what are you waiting for? Start creating your bucket list and make the most of retirement today!
We hope you enjoyed this piece! If you are interested in reading other items by us, explore our blog posts for articles covering lifestyle, culture, and more. If you are interested in moving into one of our quality retirement apartments in Auckland or would like to know more about life in the Settlers community then contact Rosalie, our sales manager, by emailing rosalie@settlersalbany.co.nz or call 0800 102 652 today!
