My Reverse Bucket List for 2026

I finally finished a book I had restarted at least three times — a small victory, but a meaningful one.
The funny part? I accidentally picked it up at a Toys“R”Us store when I first landed in Canada.

I had always wanted this book. Something about it felt familiar — almost Buddhist.
That book is From Strength to Strength.

It’s a good book with a strong message, though the ideas are scattered across many stories.
Miss one story, and the ending of a chapter might not fully land.
Still, one chapter stayed with me long after I closed the book — the one about the bucket list.

Why the Bucket List Never Sat Right With Me

Almost everyone has a bucket list.
Flying in a hot air balloon.
Seeing the Northern Lights.
Doing something once, just to say they did it.

The author gives the bucket list a different tone — one that made me pause.

Looking Ahead

I spent this chapter trashing the idea that the bucket list will bring you anything but dissatisfaction.
Let me say one good thing about the conventional bucket list, however: it makes us focus on the limits of time and thus on how to use time well.
The idea of the bucket list is to make sure you don’t get to the end and say,
“I’m not ready to die! I’ve never ridden in a hot air balloon!”
(I didn’t just make up this example – that’s number 6 on the average bucket list, according to a 2017 survey).

That hit harder than expected.

The Reverse Bucket List

Instead of listing things to chase, the author introduces the idea of a reverse bucket list.

You write down your worldly desires — fame, money, recognition, status — and consciously cross them off.
Not because they don’t matter, but because clinging to them creates endless wanting.

The goal isn’t less ambition.
It’s less attachment.

Less craving.
More meaning.

Bucket List vs Checklist (A Gentle Difference)

A bucket list is loud.
A checklist is gentle.

A bucket list whispers urgency: do this before it’s too late.
A checklist quietly asks: does this still matter to me today?

Bucket lists chase dopamine — the thrill of ticking something off just to move on to the next thrill.
Checklists are practical. They exist for the present, not for impressing the future version of yourself.

A bucket list wants a lifetime commitment.
A checklist is happy to be erased, rewritten, or ignored.

And maybe that’s the point.

My 2026 Checklist (Not a Bucket List)

• Travel to two new countries
• Learn a new language (technical or human — still deciding)
• Reduce my weight by 24 pounds
• Grow my YouTube channel to 15,000 subscribers with bi-weekly uploads

No pressure to complete everything.
No guilt if plans change.
Just direction — not attachment.

Less Wanting, More Living

Maybe happiness isn’t about adding more experiences to a list.
Maybe it’s about learning what we can let go of.

So this isn’t my bucket list.
It’s my reverse one —
a checklist I’m allowed to change,
without feeling like I’ve failed at life.

And for now, that feels enough.