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 collegesTake 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)