What's on your life list?

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” –Helen Keller

Throughout my journalism career thus far, I have been fortunate to meet fascinating, inspiring, daring people on a daily basis who tell me about their lives and passions. I donned a bee suit alongside the local beekeeper, followed politicians along their trails to office and trod through the muck at a donkey farm. Encounters like these have encouraged me to further uncover my own talents and goals, and not only write about those of others.

A website I discovered a while back to help people do just that is www.43things.com . The concept is similar to that of adventurer John Goddard's "life list." At age 15, Goddard listed 127 goals he wished to experience or achieve in his lifetime including climbing the world's tallest mountains, piloting the world's fastest aircraft, running a mile in five minutes and reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

On sites like 43 Things, people can create their own list of goals they would like to achieve. It could be simply one goal, 'not drinking soda for a year,' or it could be a whole list of 43 aspirations. Site users can browse through goals others are trying to achieve, or they have the opportunity to create their own goals.

Goals range from the simple: get up when my alarm clock rings, smile more, brush my teeth, spend more time with my best friend, eat more cheese, photocopy my butt …

To the sensible: learn a foreign language , change a tire, lose weight, start a business …

To the spiritual: pray more, visit a Hindu temple, go to church …

To the lofty: circumnavigate the globe on my own yacht, win a Grammy, be president of the U.S., learn to toilet train my cat, do the London marathon on a pogo stick …

To the entertaining: play in a polka band, do karaoke, skydive, learn to breakdance, be on "The Price is Right!" …

To just plain ridiculous: hypnotize a chicken.

At 43 Things, site users can track their progress on specific goals as they wish, and once a goal is achieved, they can mark if the goal was "worth it" or "not worth it." Goals can be added, revised or deleted at any time. Users also have the opportunity to cheer on other users in their pursuit of their own goals.

I've devised my own list of 40 things I’d like to do before age 40, which includes a variety of aspirations: riding a mechanical bull, tango dancing in argentina, volunteering in South America, decorating a cake and being a good aunt. I hope that you will take time to think about, write down, and go for your own aspirations in life.

So tell me, what’s on your list?