Life List

At fifteen, he sat down and made a list. At such a young age he jotted down all that he wished to do in his life. The list included things like; exploring the Nile, Colorado and more, learn about the primitive civilizations of Congo, Brazil and more, climb the Mt. Everest, Mt Fuji and many more, photograph Iguacu Falls, Niagara Falls and more, explore the underwater coral reefs of Florida and The Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Visit places like the Taj Mahal, Leaning tower of Pisa and others, write a book, make a telescope, publish an article in National Geographic Magazine, light a match with a .22 rifle, go to the moon and plenty of others. Puff! And that is just some of the items from his list that had 127 items in all.

He called it "My Life List".

Today, he has ticked off 111 items from the list. Some of the items still not ticked are; go to the moon, visit every country in the world (he has 30 to go) and feature in a Tarzan movie. Ha.

John Goddard is an explorer, adventurer, author and lecturer. Check his complete "Life List" . You will be bulldozed to amazement. I promise.

The story amazed me. The list has some of the most interesting pursuits that one can think of at any age, let alone at the young age of fifteen. Also all the pursuit had a worthwhile purpose - to learn and add to the human knowledge. He was the first man to navigate the entire length of the Nile in a Kayak and later wrote a book about it titled "Kayaks down the Nile".

All the items of the list required immense effort. It requires a very focussed mind to keep going on and ticking off a list that was made in your teens. To do that, you have to genuinely enjoy the pursuits. That brings home the point that John Goddard knew exactly what he wanted out of life even in his teens. I still have to figure that out for my life.

"Digging out the facts is the real challenge, The adventure
is exciting and enjoyable-but secondary." - John Goddard.