Bucket lists are everywhere. They infiltrate social media, there are countless examples of bucket lists on Pintrest, and they easily become a fun conversational topic. In fact, I bet you have made a bucket list or two already, or may even be reviewing it right now. That’s fine, even great that you have thought about this too. I’ve made several bucket lists myself.

Here’s the issue though. Have you done any of the crazy things on your list? Have you finally gone sky diving? Have you seen the northern lights? Camped out on the beach with nothing but the shirt on your back and your bare feet? Have you finally travelled to all 50 states and are on your way to bigger and better places? I have not, and I’m not going to say that you haven’t either, because I am not here to judge you. But if you are like any other millennial, swamped with school, work, stressed out and constantly broke, chances are, probably not.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But the chances of accomplishing such fantasmic objectives as these are slim to none, making the whole idea of bucket list a whimsical shot in the dark at most.

Now, I am not here to crush your dreams. In fact, I really, really want you to accomplish your dreams and do so successfully. So now I will propose an alternative: A Fuck It List.

This is not the same as a bucket list. Allow me to differentiate. Often times, the things that end up going into a bucket list are little lofty in the sense that they are things you want to do, but you have no tangible way of accomplishing just yet. Over time, these ideas just sit and sit and more and more ideas get piled on, at one point, the bucket overflows, or there’s a leak, or it gets knocked over. Thus, the bucket is not structurally sound. In this case, there is motivation, but no stamina to fuel the motivation.

In contrast, A Fuck It List doesn’t really offer a visual to cling on to; rather it’s just that feeling, that sense of urgency to simply do. This offers a different framework for thinking about things you want to accomplish and do and allows you to try to put it into words, to create a vision for it instead of simply carrying it around because it isn’t handed to you, nor is it something you can hand to somebody else the way you would a bucket.

This is personal. Because Fuck It, you will do it. Now you have the drive to fuel your motivation. Next you need direction. Now you need to take the phrases and words from your Fuck It List and convert them into statements; “if…then…”, “tomorrow I will…” “before going to bed I will…”. Now that they are statements, there is a sense of responsibility to fulfill said statements.

I do ask you to be cautious though when creating statements. They need to be SMART statements. Why is SMART in all caps? Because SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

This is going to feel like work. And you might have a hard time. But don’t fret! There are tons of resources out there that can help you through it! Start even just going on google. Ultimately, the things that make it onto the finalized version of your Fuck It List will be the things that are worth doing because you put the work into getting to know the goal inside and out, and you have grown with the goal and hopefully have learned a thing or two about yourself in the process. So don’t give up! You can do it! Whatever it is you are going after, keep at it, and just Fuck it!