Mitchell Juda

UWRT 1103
Prof. Intawiwat
November 12, 2014
A Little List Goes A Long Way
If you found out you have a year to live how would you live it? Would you spend it with
family and friends, sitting in sorrow, or doing and seeing things you have always wanted to? In
recent years many people have started making bucket lists, which is a list of items, challenges or
events someone wants to complete before they die. These lists have become increasingly more
popular since the movie The Bucket List came out in 2007 (Moore).
Bucket lists are tangible motives that encompass the idea of
achievement, self-actualization and self-fulfillment.
Kicking the bucket is an age old saying that means a person
passed away. That saying is where the term bucket lists came from
because it is a list of items to do before you kick the bucket. Bucket lists can be fun and good
way to accomplish lifelong dreams. The idea of living your life to the fullest is difficult to
capture with the everyday commotion of work, school and play, but when the end is near people
tend to feel empty or regret for the opportunities they may have missed out on. Creating and
completing a bucket list provides self-fulfillment and the feeling of accomplishment. In Alan
Gewirths book about self-fulfillment he states that self-fulfillment is the primary constituent of a
good, happy human life (3). A bucket list helps motivate people to live a happy life though the
accomplishment of goals.

Motivation is the contemporary determinants of choice, persistence, and vigor of goaldirected behavior (Beck 24). Being motivated to start completing items or to even start writing
down items may be sparked in many different ways. An obvious and most likely reason is a
diagnosis of a terminal illness like a sixteen year old girl named Alice Pyne who was diagnosed
with Hodgkins Lymphoma (Moore). Others may hear stories like Alices and be inspired to
create a list of their own or they may want to prove to others they can accomplish something like
an eighty-five year old man named Howard Reiche Jr. who went back to college to earn his
masters degree he never finished in 1950 (Bridgers). When people choose to make a bucket list
they usually attempt the list with much more passion because it has meaning and motive to them.
In Robert Becks book about motivation he states When people choose to do something they do
it with more vigor (24), which can directly relate to a persons bucket list and why they go
about completing their lists. No matter the motive behind the creation of a bucket list it brings
self-fulfillment and happiness to the people who complete their items.
The ultimate goal of human striving is self-fulfillment (Gewirth 3). When one person
strives to accomplish something it brings them self-fulfillment. The items on a bucket list are
examples of something more than goals or challenges. It represents the ability to create
happiness from within oneself. Bucket lists can also provide a person a sense of selfactualization because self-fulfillment creates favorable development about oneself when a person
achieves goals (Gewirth 6). By completing items off a list someone may find a new hobby, or
learn they have a pathological fear, but either way that person has found something new about
themselves. In creating my bucket list I found that I am privileged because I have been to many
places and done many things that most people have not. Finding new things about yourself can
enhance a persons bucket list. For example, if a person finds a new hobby they may add a goal

to their list. Completing a bucket list may seem like a near impossible task but humans tend to
finish things that mean more to them (Beck 149). Making the list special to you and finding new
things about yourself increases the meaning of your bucket list. A bucket list should be
important and unique to the owner but can easily affect more lives than just one.
A bucket list does not have to be activities that you physically take part in. A nine year
old boy, named Ben, is losing his sight so he created a bucket list of sights for him and his family
to complete. Some of the items on his list are very simple, such as examining chalk underneath a
microscope or seeing a tiny snail. Other sights are as big as the
Grand Canyon or the continent of Antarctica. Bens list does not
only bring happiness to him, but also to his mother and family.

His mother, Heidi Pierce, told the Houston Chronicle, He is a 9-

Figure 1, Ben in front of the Grand

Canyon

year-old boy... he squeals with excitement at little things and big

things, every single one has been incredible (Moore). Ben understands that he is very lucky that
his family was able to make his hopes come true. Understanding that he may not be able to
witness all the sights on his list Ben settled for pictures of glaciers, the Sistine Chapel and a few
other sights he wished to see (Moore). Bucket lists affect more than just the owner of the list.
Happiness is contagious and Bens story shows just that.
A sixteen year old girl named Alice Pyne inspired over 40,000 people to help make a
change through the public success of her bucket list (Thean). Alice started making her bucket
list because she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is a terminal illness. She
turned her bucket list into a blog to document her completion of different items on her list. Some
of the items were simple like: have a back massage, or to get her hair done. The two items she

has not completed were meant to inspire others to make a difference or to help people find joy in
bucket lists. The items are: to get everyone eligible for
the Bone Marrow Register and to get EVERYONE to
have a bucket list. Today, her blog has brought over a
million viewers, some famous like Katy Perry and
Johnny Depp, and has encouraged more than 40,000

Figure 2, Alice's Sweet Sixteen

people to sign up for the Bone Marrow Register

(Thean). Through Alices bucket list she was able to

make a lasting impact on not only her life but other peoples as well. Alice is still fighting her
ongoing battle of five years and continues to post to her blog. Her latest post was in September
of 2014 which talked about her sweet sixteen and her charity organizations Christmas in
November (Pyne). Alices bucket list along with her motivation to make a change has inspired
many people.
During this project I made a bucket list of my own.
Many of the items on my list are sports or adventure oriented
like: going to a home Buffalo Bills football game, getting a
hole in one, go sky diving, go scuba diving, etc. When I started
making the list I thought it was going to be easy to list off a
number of things that I would want to do before I Kick the
Bucket, but it was actually difficult. I found myself making
the list over a few days when an idea would spark though
conversation or watching television. At first, I did not think

much of my bucket list but after reading many different articles and Alices blog I have tried to
cross a few simple things off. Being in college and having little money makes it hard to travel to
New York for a football game or to go sky diving. I do plan to try to complete my list in the
future and thus far I have been able to complete a few of my items. I know my list will grow
when I grow as a person and I do hope one day I will be able to complete all my items.
Bucket lists provide happiness, self-fulfillment, and self-actualization through
achievement. The items on each list are a symbol of an opportunity and can help people grow
within and inspire others. After reading real life examples of people who have limited time to
complete their lists it has inspired me to attempt my list while my time is still ominous. Through
research I have found that bucket lists are more than a list of items. It can provide a person and
those around them with happiness, pride, joy and self-fulfillment.

Works Cited
Beck, Robert C. Motivation: Theories and Principles. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
Print.
Gewirth, Alan. Self-fulfillment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998. Print.
LeSile Bridger Staff Writer. "Sixty years after ; An 85-year-old Falmouth man takes an item off
his 'bucket list' after his life's work helps complete the graduate school program he started
in 1950.." Portland Press Herald (Maine). 08 Oct. 2014: 1A. eLibrary. Web. 25 Nov.
2014.
Moore, Elizabeth A. "For Boy Going Blind, a Bucket List of Sights." USA Today 4 Nov. 2014:
n. pag. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.
Pyne, Alice. "Give a Spit." Web log post. Blogger. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
<http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/>.
Thean, Tara. "Beating the Odds: Teenage Cancer Patient Completes Her Bucket List |
TIME.com." <i>NewsFeed Beating the Odds Teenage Cancer Patient Completes Her
Bucket List Comments</i>. 8 Aug. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
&lt;http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/28/beating-the-odds-teenage-cancer-patientcompletes-her-bucket-list/&gt;.