My Bucket List: The Top 10 Things I Want to Accomplish by the Time I’m 40

written by   Pat Flynn
on  August 22, 2016
  • Uncategorized

We just hit a HUGE milestone in the Flynn family this month:

Both of our kids are old enough to be attending school.

Our daughter is now in preschool and our boy is now a first-grader! But even though my wife and I are happy and proud that they’re excited about it, and are excited ourselves about the extra time that opens up for us to get things done, we’re also both quite sad.

You see, we’ve been blessed to be able to live a life that allowed us to stay at home while our children were growing up. Except for the occasional business trip for a speaking gig here and there, we were always together. Now that they are in school, it’s an eye-opening reminder of just how fast time flies, and how quickly the kids are growing up.

Soon they’ll be asking for keys to the car, and don’t get me started on dating! I’m not quite ready for that!

Also, in case you missed it, check out Session #225 of the SPI Podcast for an interview with my entire family, which was super fun. Both kids and my wife got in on the fun.

My Bucket List Items

Marty McFly shouting

As I get older and I see myself changing, it makes me think hard about what’s coming next in my life. I have lots of goals related to my business, and I have family-related goals too, but beyond that there are certain things that I personally wish to accomplish by the time I’m forty, which is the next big age milestone of my life.

I wanted to share those things with you today.

These kinds of posts are some of my favorite to read on other blogs because they always reveal a lot about the person behind the brand, and I hope to do the same for you here. More than that, I’m also excited to put a timestamp on these thoughts and come back to them years down the road to see if I actually followed through.

Some of them may be of no surprise to you, while others you may be wondering, “Where did that come from!?”

Either way, here’s a list of the top ten personal achievements that I’d like to have under my belt by December 6, 2022:

1. Host My Own Multi-Day Conference

A conference of my own has always been something I’ve wanted to create. I attend a lot of conferences, both as a speaker and an attendee, and I always come out of those events thinking about what I’d do to level up the experience for people.

I’ve hosted single day events before alongside Chris Ducker for 1-Day Business Breakthrough, but a multi-day event would be an amazing dream come true. I know it can happen. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and making it incredibly valuable and worth people’s time and money. But there’s no rush on this one.

The question is, do I want it to be like Michael Hyatt’s Platform Conference, a smaller (about 150-200 people), more intimate and hands-on event? Or, do we go big and try to get thousands of people in there?

I’m not sure yet! But I do have seven years to plan this, right? 😉

2. Write a Fiction Novel

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to publish a book. Back then I think what I meant was a fiction novel of some kind. I’ve already published nonfiction, but I still have that desire to make up my own story and share it with the world.

Adventure, mystery, and science are genres that intrigue me the most, and I have a booklet of plot ideas that I could potentially choose from.

The ultimate dream would be to write a novel that is optioned for a motion picture, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. Let’s start with the book first.

3. Visit Europe

I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before, but I still have yet to visit Europe.

I’ve been invited at least a dozen times for various events, but I just haven’t had the chance to make it happen.

It’s been on my bucket list ever since I started studying architecture in college, and now that the kids are getting older, it’s definitely something I see happening sooner rather than later.

In particular, I’d like to visit London, Florence, Rome, and Dublin, to start. When it happens (especially if it’s related to a particular event I’ll be speaking at), I’ll definitely let you know.

4. Start a Non-Profit Related to Business Education for Kids

One of my big goals within the next five years is to start a non-profit organization in the education space, specifically geared toward entrepreneurial and business education for kids. With my own kids in their early days of schooling, this is extremely important to me right now.

The kind of things you learn as an entrepreneur are absolutely life-changing. I didn’t know anything about this world until after I was laid off in 2008, but just imagine if kids were equipped with this kind of business knowledge from an early age, and just how much of a difference that could make not only in their own lives, but also for the entire world.

I’m still shaping the idea of exactly what this organization would do, but it’s a big reason why I’m happy to be on the board of advisors for Pencils of Promise with access to a ton of other smart minds who set philanthropy, non-profit ideals, and changing the world as a top priority.

More on this later, obviously.

5. Dunk a Basketball

Every year I have a fitness goal that I work toward because it keeps me motivated each day to keep pushing myself, and I have something to track my progress against.

In 2014 it was a half marathon. In 2015 it was a triathlon. And in 2016 it’s dunking a ball. Because I have small hands, dunking a regulation-sized basketball is difficult for me, so I want to focus on any kind of ball I can grip. Eventually, if I can do that, I will see if I can dunk with a basketball!

Why the odd goal?

Well, I’ve been short my entire life. No one has even given me a chance on the basketball court, which is why I always stayed away from it (and why soccer was my primary sport), but recently, after putting our son into basketball, I became obsessed, and I started playing myself.

If you follow me on Snapchat, you’ll know that I play basketball at 5 a.m. in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I’m lucky enough to have found a group of guys that live near me who are also crazy enough to play that early. We play five-on-five often with a few substitutes.

They do it mainly for exercise, and I do it for that too, but it also energizes me and gets me back into my competitive nature, something I missed since having kids and not playing sports like soccer and softball.

As a 5’8” half-Filipino dude, many people think this goal is ridiculous, and nearly impossible, but I know it’s not. It’s not going to be easy though, and like with my other fitness goals, I’ve hired a coach to help me.

For the six months that I’ve been training, I’ve increased my vertical by about ten inches. As I write this post, I’m a little more than two inches away from touching the rim. I’m flying high, but these last two inches are going to test me.

If this happens, hopefully it’ll show everyone else that no matter how impossible something may seem, if you work hard at it, and believe, it can really happen.

6. Renew My Vows

Family is the most important thing to me, as many of you know, and one of the most foundational aspects of that is a great relationship with my wife. April is amazing and I wouldn’t be here doing what I do without her undying support. She’s worked a lot harder and put in many more hours of work than I have as a stay-at-home mom, and she does all of it without any recognition or credit relative to what I do.

On our ten-year anniversary, I’d love to celebrate by renewing our vows together. It’ll be a much smaller and more intimate celebration than our wedding back in 2009, but just as special. I want to make sure that she knows that I’ll always be here for her, and that I appreciate her and her love more than ever.

7. Expand the Tattoo I Have

You might not know this, but I have a tattoo.

I got inked in 2009 after our wedding. April and I initially wanted to get tattooed in Hawaii the traditional Pacific Islander way with wooden hand tools, but after researching that method, it seemed like it was going to cause a lot of unnecessary pain (LOL), so we decided to get them done at a San Diego tattoo parlor after we got back from our honeymoon.

Here’s a picture of my tat below, which sits on my upper back near my right shoulder blade:

Pat's tattoo

There’s a lot of symbolism in this tattoo, which is why I love it. First, the overall shape is a traditional Hawaiian hook, which symbolizes strength, prosperity, abundance, and a respect for the ocean. At the top, you’ll see a sun, which represents leadership and brilliance. Embedded within the tribal designs are other symbols, such as a shark, meaning “no fear,” and a sea turtle, which means endurance and long life.

I’d like to expand this tattoo to the rest of my shoulder in the back and around to the front to fill it out a little bit, and I want to include the two kids in there in a creative way too. I keep researching designs and expressing my interest to do it, but I really want to make it happen, especially before I turn forty.

Maybe after our ten-year renewal 🙂

8. Own at Least Five Rental Properties

Diversification is important when it comes to building wealth, and although I have my hand in several different kinds of businesses, expanding income generation into real estate is something I’ve always wanted to do.

Later this year we plan on purchasing our first rental property, a single-family home. By the time I’m forty, having five of these working for us would be ideal. They wouldn’t provide much in terms of additional monthly cash flow, but for a longer term investment, I’m excited to distribute some of my existing assets to this realm.

9. Go on a Fly Fishing Multi-State Tour

I love fishing. My dad and I used to go fishing almost every week back when I was younger, and ever since “becoming an adult” I haven’t had the chance to go fishing.

Now that my son is six, we’re definitely going to start fishing together, and hopefully get grandpa in there too for a three generation Flynn family fishing trip! But, beyond that, my biggest fishing wish would be to go on a multi-state fly fishing tour.

I’d love to hit up several great fishing spots all in one trip. I went fly fishing for the first time at the Platform Conference in 2015 in Colorado Springs, which was amazing, but I only had about four hours to fish. It was amazing being out in nature and catching beautiful rainbow trout. I can’t wait to get back on the water and hopefully do it in a big way like this.

And even better would be if the other Flynn fisherman were able to come along too. It would be the trip of a lifetime.

10. Meet Elon Musk

And finally, I’d love to meet the person who has been inspiring me most lately, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity.

I look up to Elon because of how limitless his brain is. He thinks BIG, and I need to think bigger in my life to achieve the things I want to achieve.

Every time I reach a new milestone or complete a goal, it’s always a surprise to me because when I first start out on the journey, I often don’t even think what I’m trying to do is possible. I get in my own way.

With Elon, he thinks big and lets nothing get in his way. After reading his biography by Ashlee Vance, and getting to know exactly how he sets his goals high to the moon (or better yet, Mars), he’s become a big inspiration to me, and a big reason why I support Tesla and own one of their vehicles. He’s making huge changes to the world, and I want to do the same in my own way, and I cannot let my own limiting beliefs get in the way if I really want to make that happen.

Now, I will say that Elon is not perfect and there were some things in the book I didn’t really resonate with, but still, I’d love to meet him someday soon.

And there you go!

Thanks for reading this post and learning more about what some of my aspirations and weird to-dos are here in the next seven years of my life. It’ll be interesting to come back to this later, but for those of you who follow along with my journey, please feel free to ask me about how these are progressing, because those constant reminders and knowing you’re there on the other end is super motivating for me.

Thank you!

And finally, since we’re playing this game, I’d love to learn about one or two of your own bucket list items that you’d like to achieve within the next five to seven years of your life. Leave a comment below, and let me know. Excited to get to know you as well 🙂

Cheers!

About Author More about Pat

Comments

  1. Sasha Solovyev says

    Hi Pat!

    I just thought that number 3 should be pretty easy to do with just a little planning on your part. 🙂
    And number 4 – I got really excited about. I have 3 kids growing up and I wish there was such a program that would teach the kids to become independent businessmen/women, as opposed to just cogs in the system which is taught by the mainstream education as it is now.

    Thank you for doing this great work, Pat!
    Sasha

    • Pat Flynn says

      Yeah, we’re waiting for the kids to get just a little bit older before we plan a family trip to Europe, but it will happen and I can’t wait! The only question is then, which countries do we visit on our first trip? Is it better to stay in one place longer, or visit many places for a shorter period of time. What do you think?

      • Sasha Solovyev says

        > Is it better to stay in one place longer, or visit many places for a shorter period of time. What do you think?

        In my opinion, it’s better to “visit many places for a shorter period of time” for the first trip, as you have no idea which ones you’ll love and which ones will be relatively boring to you. For instance, when we went to Rome first time (among 3 Italian cities) – we expected to like it the least, and we both fell in love with it. So, if you do the first trip like that – you’ll know which places you loved and therefore would want to come for a longer stay just there, and at the same time you’ll not get an overdose of other places which turn out to be not so interesting to you. 🙂

      • Jordi Sánchez says

        I’ve done the other way arround, I’m from Spain and this year in our honeymoon we went to New York, Washington, San Francisco, Yosemite, Sequoia National Park, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Los Angeles… It was pretty amazing to visit as many places as we could.

        I guess next trip will be to a single place for longer.

        Visit Girona in Spain, it’s really beautiful (and I’ll buy you a drink! ;))

  2. Peter says

    That’s a pretty cool tattoo design! If you’re interested in rental property as well check out things like storage lockers or parking lots, you can still earn income off them but you don’t necessarily have to deal with crazy tenants, property damage and stuff like that.

    • Pat Flynn says

      Thanks Peter! That’s a great idea. I’d prefer the storage lockers over the parking lots, but thanks for expanding my mind on this!

  3. Matt says

    You should probably take care of #3 now while most areas are still relatively safe. And after reading #9, I now understand why you use fly fishing in most of your examples of keyword research.

    • Pat Flynn says

      I hear what you mean, but also would rather have the kids be a little older. Thanks for your concern though Matt – truly appreciate it! And yes, fly fishing – it’s meant to be!

    • Sharon says

      Wow, ive never seen anyone describe Europe as unsafe before now.

      Theres no greater security threat in Europe than in the US. You make it sound like it’s going to the dogs!

  6. Joe says

    Pat – Maybe I can help with goal #5. I run The World of Hoops (theworldofhoops.com). My youtube channel has gotten a small amount of traffic – 1,000,000 views… I have trained hundreds (maybe thousands) of grade school, high school, and overseas professionals to play basketball as well as the associated strength and conditioning. My site has been dormant right now b/c of other interests (full time finance job at a fortune 500 company as well as my wife and I recently purchased and run a personal training studio). Anyway I played college hoops and have 15+ years of training players. I myself was a 5’9″ short-guy dunker. It would be fun to help you reach your goal. Shoot me an e-mail if you want to discuss. No fee, maybe just a shout out for my site if we get you dunking 🙂

  7. Shayna says

    Pat, I’m 100% behind you on #4 and think it’s an awesome idea! This country (and world) will be much better off with a generation of proactive, problem-solving entrepreneurial youth. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

    Regarding real estate, you should connect with Paula at affordanything.com – she owns several rental properties and transparently shares all her numbers on her blog, with analysis and explanation, similar to your income reports. She has her own podcast and would maybe make a great interviewee for yours.

  8. Jason Gracia says

    Loved this one, buddy! The countries you listed are all amazing; I highly recommend. And I’ll be at that first conference, no doubt.

    I’d like to start a cancer awareness program/fund in the next five years as well as make my new passion, FranklinMoxie, a go-to resource for insights that inspire.

    Can’t wait to see you check each and every one of these items off your list and build the next one!

  9. Anthony B says

    Hi Pat – love this list. its inspiring (i turn 40 in October – Yikes!)

    Regarding #4 – i’m sure you’ve heard of Junior Achievement before. Don’t know if I can post links, but here is their mission statement, “Junior Achievement’s Purpose is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.” I taught one of their modules to a third grade class a few years ago when I had a more flexible work position. I enjoyed it immensely and believe the kids really took to it. I would love to help you development something to educate youth about entrepreneurship. If you are ever looking for folks to help out in any way (sounding board for ideas, beta test, proof read even) i’d be more than happy to participate.

    Good luck on all the others!

  10. Luis Lorenzo says

    Hello Pat [email protected] ,

    Thank you so much for your emails. So far I can tell you it is really worth to be your subscriber and receive all those value packed emails from you. It is also great to go through your blog checking out all the content and knowledge rich information you have.

    I have tried twice to leave comments on your blog via discuss, but for some reason they appear as published immediately after I write them, but later on they are no longer present on your blog post comments. My comments have not been spam or any sort of malware, however they have not been published. Sad…

    Anyway, I decided to send you this email to let you know the following:

    First: About the SPI WordPress Theme

    These are great news! Your idea and offer are most appreciated.
    I do have some quick questions about this subject:
    1- I’m currently using a theme called Flexibility Theme http://www.flexibilitytheme.com . If I make the change to the SPI theme, will all my blog information (pages, posts, settings, plugins, etc.) be automatically and seamlessly adjusted to the new theme?
    2- Will the SPI theme be compatible with tools like the ones from http://www.thrivethemes.com and Optimize press?
    3- Will it properly work with any autoresponder and their plugins and automation tools?
    Thank you so much.

    Second: About your books

    I have read “Will it fly” and “ebooks the smart way”. I´m currently reading “email the smart way”. The advice and information you provide are just great.
    That’s it; I just wanted to let you know this. Also, feel free to use this email as a testimonial or as a comment on your blog.

    Third: About the Smart Podcast Player

    When you refer to the limited free version of the software, and you talk about one podcast and one site, you refer to one podcast which can infinite episodes, as long as they all belong to the same podcast. For example:
    Podcast “How to Build an Online Business” with episodes from 1 to 10000000000. Can they all be published on a website using the limited free version?
    What are the limitations of the free version compared to the paid one?

    Fourth: About the Ask Pat Podcast

    This is my question: What is the best, simple, fastest and inexpensive way of creating a LLC? If you could share the story n how you created yours it would be great.

    Fifth: About the pictures/art for your blog post titles

    Where and how do you create it?

    That’s it; I just wanted to let you know all this. Also, feel free to use this email as a testimonial or as a comment on your blog.

    Thanks,
    Luis

  13. Robert Divinagracia says

    Pat when are you coming back to the Philippines? Sound off if you have an activity here in Manila. But maybe later, crazy things happening here.

  14. Odd Cents says

    I’ve never written down a list of things to accomplish by the time I’m 40, they’re always in my head. Here is my top five list:
    1. Retire from the 9-5 grind ( This will probably happen before I’m 40)
    2. Have two children (Working on this)
    3. Complete an income property with at least three units (I already purchased the land)
    4. Start an online PhD (I’m into Business and Management)
    5. Live in another country for one year ( I’ve lived in Barbados all of my life)

  15. Chrissy @ Organise My House says

    Hi Pat – great list, and my advice is to get them done asap as time flies – I am 40 at Christmas this year and can’t believe it!

    My list therefore is slightly smaller, but still worth doing – so thanks for the push – I will be making a list for 45 before you know it!

    1. Make enough each month to pay the bills – my hubby does at the moment so would be great to take the pressure off!
    2. Go from working 35-40 hours a week to nearer 25-30 – and have more family time. Work smarter – not harder!
    3. Sort out my health – too many things have happened in my 30’s and I am on track to get the right people helping me to sort it all out – very exciting!

    x

  16. Steve L Cooper says

    Pat, your #4 is what I have been working on since Niche Site Duo 2.0. Except it’s a for profit. It’s called How To Make Money As A Kid. It has been truly amazing to work with kids and help them become entrepreneurs. That’s a great goal!

  17. Bruce Mattys says

    Hi Pat — I’ve been following you for a while now, and I gather that you must feel a special connection to Hawaii. I’m a mainlander who became fascinated with Hawaii when I was 12, and I ended up marrying a Big Island gal. I’ve visited several times, and it’s a special culture.

    Anyway, I came across your site a year and a half ago after getting laid off from my long-time job. I want to thank you for all the information you share, and for all the things you do. I was able to find another job in my field, but my wife and are are working on our own passive-income site, which we plan to launch before the year is out. I’m at least 20 years older than you, so my bucket list is shorter.

  18. James Wright says

    I have a great idea that you might like to pursue,

    To create 1000 millionaire bloggers by the time you reach forty. What a feeling that would be to help 1000 people (who would then go on to help thousands more)

    I’m first, lol. Me me me…

    Only thing is, when we internet marketers, bloggers are just starting out, we don’t have thousands of dollars to throw into training, even though we know it would be worth it.

    Perhaps a “training now” at rock bottom cost and “a pay it forward later” approach where your trainees sign some kind of promise online to help at least 3 people do the same…A ripple affect, so to speak….

    teach me teach me, lol…

    Thanks for an interesting post, Live Long and Prosper!

    Jimbo

  21. GoatsOnTheRoad says

    Love this post pat. My dad and I used to fly fish together as well! Love it. I had the opportunity to fly fish for the biggest salmonoid fish in the world in Mongolia. Good times. Anyway, love your blog and it’s a constant source of inspiration.

  22. Sofia Linha says

    Love this post Pat! And we should start a campaign to get Elon Musk to meet with you. =) I’m sure you’ll achieve your bucket list. Can’t wait to read the recap on the day you turn 40! 😉

  23. Dean K says

    Good luck with it all Pat. Nothing like the speed at which your kids grow to make you realise how fast time goes!? I swear my daughter was only born a few months ago and she was 3 in July. What!
    If you do make it to Europe, drop me a line. I live on the South coast and will take you and your family around the new forest, which is beautiful, and has an oldy worldy england feel to it.
    Keep aiming high Pat.

  24. Louie Luc says

    Hey Pat!
    Louie here from Portugal.

    I’d like to invite you to come and visit my country. I’m totally sure you’ll love it: lots of sun, beautiful old buildings, historical monuments, great food and mouthwatering pastry.

    There is also going to be a Web Submmit conference here in Lisbon on November of 2016. It could work as a good ‘excuse’ to come and further enjoy your trip here.

    You’ll be most welcomed, we’ll be delighted to have you and your family here.

    Best regards,
    Louie

  26. David says

    My goal is to end human aging by 2030. I’m dead serious. I will make it happen. My name is David Gonzalez. If you don’t believe in me, please tell me how impossible it is. It only gives me more motivation.