Buckets by the Decade

Do you remember my 30 before 30 list? Buckets by the decade is like that, but on steroids.

What is buckets by the decade?

Similar to a bucket list, it’s writing everything down that you’d like to accomplish or experience in this lifetime. Once you have a clear outline, you start to put them into different decades.

For example: I really want to go on a safari. This is something that I would need a few years to budget for, but I want to be young enough that I can tolerate the flight and extended travel with ease. And, with so many species endangered, I want to go before it’s too late. So, I put it under my 30s bucket. Whereas visiting all 50 states could be completed really at any time, so that’s been moved to my 50s bucket to prioritize longer trips.

What’s the point?

One of my favorite quotes is “you can have everything you want; if you can control your wants”.

For many of us, there is so much in this life that we want to see and/or experience, and it can feel overwhelming. But not everything needs to happen now, or even next year – even if it feels like it does. Assigning different experiences to different decades allows you to plan and prioritize for each thing at a time. Rather than trying to cram 10 hobbies and 6 once-in-a-lifetime trips into a few years, you can get a much more realistic idea of when and what you’d like to accomplish.

Go do it!

Physical Version

The first time I did this activity, I wrote each experience and activity on separate pieces of small paper and laid them all out. Then, I started to sort them into separate piles based on decades. If you’re a visual person, I would explore putting them on a board.

Digital Version

This is my preferred method while being built out because it’s easy to edit and move things around. It’s exactly as easy as you’d think – each column is labeled as the desired decade, and each activity falls in the rows within.

And just for fun, I’d recommend adding in previous decades. It’s really fun to reflect on all the adventures and accomplishments from earlier in life. It can be easy to forget just how many places you’ve been, things you’ve achieved, and what you’ve experienced.