Making an impossible list

I’ve often had goals - sometimes in my head, at other times written down - but until now I’ve had no central place that I’ve stored them. Inspired by Thomas Frank’s “Impossible List”, I’ve decided to change that.

Apparently an “Impossible List” is different to “just a bucket list” in that it is “an ever-evolving list of experiences that build upon each other, help others as well as yourself, and implore you to take action.”

As I understand, the key ideas differences:

• It inspires you to take action right now (rather than achieve something further down the line)
• It’s public (I guess for accountability, and perhaps to help others)
• It’s iterative (so when you achieve a goal, you may decide to set a further, more challenging, next step)

I’m hoping this list will help me retain clarity and focus, and also avoid the sensation that I haven’t accomplished anything in my life by having a concrete record of the small wins.

So this week I made my Impossible List and here it is. I’m not quite ready to share this fully publicly yet, so it’s currently not linked to from anywhere else on my website. But I’m sharing it with you guys because this is my personal mailing list.

It’s definitely not complete yet, and I’m expecting it to evolve over time.

On the whole I found it a really helpful experience. I’ve had various goals bumping around in my head for quite some time, so it was cathartic getting them all down on paper. I found creating an ‘impossible list’ a pretty low-friction way to do so.

If you decide to start one, let me know!