My Impossible List

For those of you who haven’t heard of Joel Runyon’s Impossible List, an Impossible List is kind of like a Bucket List. Only it’s anything but a bucket list.

An Impossible List is a constantly changing list of your goals, accomplishments, and experiences that you are always updating, adding to, and finding new ways to challenge yourself. In short, it’s kind of like keeping a massive to-do list for your entire life. It’s also about seeing how much you raised the bar: what you thought was impossible last year might be totally do-able, even laughable, a few years down the road. Take a look at one of my favorite blogger Thomas Frank (of collegeinfogeek.com)’s Impossible List for a great example.

See all the things he’s crossed out, added to, and how, after he’s completed a goal, made goals even larger for himself? This is not a bucket list to check off and feel like a failure because you just haven’t found time to go to space with NASA or skydive. It’s a list that starts out with a few goals, a few steps towards the crazy dream you hold, and slowly blossoms into something great–something impossible.

With all that behind me, here it is. My Impossible List:

Current Focuses

• Play circle of 5ths fluidly on tuba
• Create and stick to a morning/evening routine
• Learn to use GarageBand
• Create a personal website

Last 5 Completed Goals

• Finish Junior Year Semester 1 on Honor Roll [Weighted GPA stayed over 4.0 WHAT]
• Take SAT [January 2016 – woot woot!]
• Get a 4 or 5 on the AP English Composition exam [I GOT A 5!!!!]
• Fill out FAFSA
• Fill out CommonApp (It’s really happening… I’m going to college??)

Music Goals

• Learn to use GarageBand
• Teach myself to Flutebox (yes, it’s a thing)
• Learn circle of 4ths on guitar (scales from C to G)
• Play circle of 5ths fluidly on tuba
• Start guitar lessons
• Start piano lessons (again)

Writing Goals

• Win NaNoWriMo [Done 2011, 2014, 2015]
  • Win NaNoWriMo 2 years in a row [Done 2014-2015!]
  • Win NaNoWriMo 3 years in a row! (why not, right?)
• Finish a first draft of a novel
• Submit a query letter to a publishing company
• Attend a writing conference

Productivity Goals

• All current HabitRPG goals
• Create and stick to a morning/evening routine

Reading Goals

• Read 20 books in 2016 (11/20) My “Currently Reading” Goodreads widget is in this blog’s sidebar! Check it out and add me on Goodreads!
• Finish the Inheritance Cycle (Currently Reading Inheritance; 4/4)

Language Goals

• Learn Sindarin/a Tolkien Elvish language
• Become fluent in Spanish
  • Master preterit and imperfect tenses
• Learn Mandarin
  • Learn basic phrases
  • Learn 100 characters
• Learn Korean
• Perfect Kiwi Accent [I feel like mine’s pretty good now…]
  • Convince a Kiwi that I, too, am a Kiwi (contact me if you’d like to test this)

Coding/Computer Goals

• Complete Codecademy’s JavaScript course (56% complete)
• Complete Codecademy’s Python course
• Complete Codecademy’s PHP course
• Complete Codeacademy’s Ruby on Rails course
• Complete Codeacademy’s Java course
• Complete MIT’s free online Python course
• Utilize every programming language I know on a personal website somehow

Travel Goals

• Visit China
• Visit Australia
• Visit New Zealand [Dec 2014-Jan 2015]
  • Visit twice [Dec 2015-Jan 2016]
  • Visit thrice!!
• Visit England
• Visit France
• Visit a Spanish-speaking country (Chile or Ecuador, perhaps)
• Visit Vietnam
• Visit Singapore (though Changi Airport is fabulous, it doesn’t count)
• Visit the Philippines [April 2014]

Fitness/Health Goals

• Complete Blogilates Beginner’s Calendar 2.0 (getting in shape) [Finished April 25, 2015!]
• Design my own regular fitness routine
• Get to bed by 11pm each night (Ha. Ha. Ha.)

School Goals

• Finish Sophomore Year on Honor Roll [June 2015]
  • Finish Junior Year Semester 1 on Honor Roll [Weighted GPA stayed over 4.0 WHAT]
  • Finish Junior Year on Honor Roll [Aww yeah!!!]
  • Finish Senior year Semester 1 on High Honor Roll
• Get a 4 or 5 on the AP English Composition exam [I GOT A 5!!!!]

College (Prep) Goals

• Apply to a college scholarship [July 2015 and ongoing!]
  • Apply to a scholarship once a week until the end of my senior year [haha this isn’t going so well]
  • Win a college scholarship
• Talk to parents and guidance counselor about potential colleges
• Take PSAT [October 2015: I scored 1460 out of 1520! (~2300 on regular SAT scale)]
• Take SAT [January 2016 – 2020, baby!]
• Fill out FAFSA [Is this really happening??]
• Fill out CommonApp [I’m going to college?! What?!]
• Choose a University

Professional Goals

• Create personal website
• Get my first job (other than Staff kid childcare)