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Let’s rewind to November 2023. I was at a low point, and I had been for years. I was going to work, working, and coming home, and spending the evenings playing video games by myself. Sometimes, I’d watch TV by myself, or I’d stare at pictures of happy people on the internet, again, by myself.
I’d tried all the usual stuff like getting out in nature more, meditation, and eating vegetables, but nothing worked. I felt incapable of breaking out of the rut. I felt anxious all the time, and I kept putting off plans and finding excuses not to do things. Life just wasn’t that good.
Then, one day, I had an idea. Something huge, that completely changed everything.
I’m a big fan of long-term projects, with small touchpoints. I’d previously taken a photo every day for a year, and recorded a second of video every day too, so I knew that there were ways to tickle my brain. One morning, one neuron connected to another, and through a spark of inspiration, I found an idea that just might drag me out of this hole.
I’d create a project to get myself out of this rut.
And so, I picked something big and dumb and stupid and grandiose. I decided I’d write an entire bucket list, and I’d give myself exactly five years to do it. Then, a few minutes later, I decided that it needed to be four years. It felt like there was a lot more pressure that way. I needed to make it ground-breaking and BIG, so I decided I’d do one hundred things. It meant that roughly every two weeks, I’d have to be completing something important to me. The whole thing was a massive commitment, and at that stage, I was committed to doing whatever I could to change my life.
I chose to commit to SMART goals, as a way to make sure the bucket list would happen. I made sure that everything on the list was Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. This made sure that I didn’t have any vague goals on there that I couldn’t properly track if I’d completed them or not. What began as a scrappy idea slowly took shape as a framework.
And so, I got to work. I’ve coasted a lot, outside of work. I never really had a strong idea of what I wanted to do, so it became really difficult to come up with one hundred things. I checked online lists, read forum posts, wracked through old notebooks to find things that I said I wanted to try. Slowly but surely, the list grew. I asked myself deep questions about what kind of man I wanted to be, about how I wanted people to understand me. I looked back on my childhood and remembered what got me excited about the world.
Some goals were based around travel, visiting places I’d always said I’d do one day, while others were focused on skills I wanted to learn, wildlife I wanted to see, or life experiences I wanted to have.
And so, my story began anew. I now had one hundred goals, with a clear timeline of four years to complete them. It took one week before I realised a change had already happened. I’d reached out to friends that I’d lost contact with, inviting them to holidays that I never would have booked. I’d started work on projects that I’d been putting off for years. I was going outside in the cold January air more than I’d done in the last three months combined.
A few months in, and people had begun to see the changes, too. I was more outgoing, I was getting things in the diary, and making things happen. My life was beginning to fill up. I’d planted hundreds of trees with a community group, donated blood, and attended classes for things I always wanted to know. I’d rented a boat for a week with friends – I have a strong memory of standing on the bow of that boat, waving a cowboy hat at passersby. I’d become somebody entirely new!
The year went on, and I became closer to a friend of mine, Kymberley. We booked adventures together, and before long, we were a couple. I’d been single for five years at that point, having given up on love a long time ago.
We went to concerts that I’d been too anxious to go to, travelled across to the coast to search for fossils and dress up as pirates, and attempted long-haul kayaking. After the summer had passed, we travelled to Los Angeles for a week, where I saw art and museums that I’d always wanted to see, found bioluminescent algae in the dead of night, and most importantly, drove my dream car, a convertible Ford Mustang!
At this stage, I was firmly hooked on Project Bucket List. I looked back at my life a year before, and saw undeniable change. No longer was I a husk of a man, stuck at home alone. I was out in the world, experiencing it for all its glory! I got my motorcycle license, visited star observatories, and contributed to citizen science projects.
2025 came around, and I felt clearer and happier than I ever had before. I travelled to Mallorca for a weekend, exploring a vineyard in the winter sun and learning how to taste wine. Then came the trip of a lifetime: a week in Iceland, where we climbed glaciers, saw the northern lights dance across the sky, and I proposed!
With a fiancée in tow, I returned to the UK to explore figure drawing, blacksmithing, filmmaking, and beekeeping. I was living spherically, in all directions! I started writing about everything that I’d done, and rediscovered such a strong love for storytelling that I’d lost years ago.
People had started to ask about the Project more and more, and soon, I was handing out advice. I was teaching people how to create their bucket lists. I formalised the project into a system, which anybody can follow, based on SMART goals.
I’ve found that my life has completely turned around since I started Project Bucket List. Whereas I was scared of the world, or at the very least anxious of it, I was now embracing it with open arms.
In the next few months, I have a wildlife trip out to Arizona, and I’m currently working on a children’s book, and have entered production on a video game. I have so much coming up, and so much to do, that I cannot help but feel excited about life.
The list did more than just get me outside of my house. It has given my life structure and direction when I couldn’t rely on motivation alone. I firmly believe that everybody should have a list and should be actively working on one.
I have over 2 years left on the list, and I have some of the biggest adventures still to come. I cannot wait to see manta rays, learn how to fly, and explore Italy. Whatever happens, I know that right now I’m feeling something that I never thought I’d feel again. I’m not afraid of what’s coming next. I’m excited!
Dan Davison is the creator of Project Bucket List, a four-year journey to complete 100 life-changing goals. He writes about his adventures and how you can start yours at https://dan-davison.com/project-bucket-list/
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This content is brought to you by Dan Davison
Photo provided by the author
