The evening I turned 38 a few months ago, I began making a list of things I wanted to accomplish. I realized that many of the goals I wanted to accomplish or the things I wanted to experience were fairly attainable. With some dedication and hard work, it wasn’t impossible, or even too difficult to cross some of the items off the list. I ended up coming up with 40 things I wanted to do, accomplish, or experience in the next two years, by the time I turned 40.

It is exciting and scary at the same time to know that this list of 40 things I am working on, some things I’ve wanted to do/accomplish/experience for many, many years will be completed in (less than) 24 months! I made a colorful list in the back of my planner and then realized this week, as I was starting my new planner for 2016, I’d have to find a place to transfer them over. I’m actually trying out a new planner format next year; it is more in a journal form, so there aren’t many undedicated blank spaces. As I thought about where I could put my list so that I can see it often and not have to go through another transfer next year, I thought about this space – my blog, this online document of my life for the so many years now. The place where I’ve sought peace, release, and solitude in the last 4+ years. What better place?

I’ll be updating this list as we go along and on September 5th, 2017, I hope to have crossed off everything on the list below. I also encourage you to make a list of things you want to accomplish. Don’t forget to give yourself a deadline to accomplish them!

Hanssie’s 40 by 40 List (compiled on Sept 5th, 2015)

1. Pay off all Credit Cards Ha! *sob*
2. Get another tattoo (or two!) completed June 2017 (and yes, I got two of them!)
3. Run a Full Marathon  completed on October 11th, 2015 in Long Beach
4. Start rebuilding my savings/retirement
5. Get season seats to USC football
6. Have a professional photo shoot of me representing my brand Meh, don’t need until I figure out what I want to build
7. Read fifty non-fiction books (Read three so far…might have to make a separate list) much easier since I’ve been “reading” audio books during my commute each day
8. Decorate the house and get patio furniture this may have seemed random but I’ve been talking for 10+ years about getting patio furniture and I finally did in April 2017
9. Hire a housekeeper
10. Visit a country I’ve never been to Went to Belize March 2016
11. Visit two states I’ve never been to Oregon and
12. Be my own boss
13. Get an Apple Watch completed 1/7/15 – a Christmas gift from someone special 🙂
14. Volunteer for a cause I love
15. Paint a picture completed 10/1/15 at Paint Nite
16. Go to the rib cook-off in Nevada
17. Get 10k followers on Instagram
18. Visit Hearst Castle
19. Blog regularly again and get 500k+ visitors a month
20. Become an expert at something/Learn to do one thing really well
21. Get health insurance completed October 2016
22. See the chiropractor and acupuncturist regularly (twice a month) Ongoing
23. Have 14% body fat
24. Speak at a conference
25. Complete a Spartan Race completed Septmeber 2016 and August 2017
26. Participate in a Ragnar Race completed April 2017
27. Visit a National Park complete 10/1/15 in Yosemite
28. Take a real vacation (not a working one) in Hawaii took one in DC in October 2016 so I’m counting it!
29. Learn to Salsa Dance
30. Learn to play a song on the piano/guitar I started it but haven’t learned it yet
31. Fly first class somewhere
32. Take the Kidlet to two places she’s never been before one complete 11/20/15 to China/Taiwan
33. Create something that goes viral
34. Have one Me Day/Pamper Day a month
35. Learn to meditate at least 10 minutes a day
36. Get a new MacBook Pro  it’s actually my work laptop, but at least I’m not writing on my 2011 Dinosaur Pro anymore
37. Plan an exciting and fun 40th birthday adventure Going to Vegas to party!!
38. Preserve our family photos did one album
39. Run the NYC Marathon didn’t get my named picked in the lottery for the second year in a row
40. Be featured in a print magazine (not photography related)