Remember the little wins

This week at the Pad

Today we are taking some time to celebrate the little wins.

As an aside, have you noticed the change around here?

I have discovered colours taken from my favourite photo (these beautiful cherry blossoms below) and based the blog around it – Canva is literally the best thing my friend Rin has ever introduced me to. (That, and gin liqueur!)

Think of it as a ‘New year, New me’ thing.  One other blog based task I have intended doing was a Saturday post purely about the Kettle List – as distinct from my 40 x 40 or all the other Bucket List’s I seem to continuously compile!

Today I want to look at the cumulative things on the list – and how having them can encourage you to get more of your list completed.

If you are new to the world of Kettle Lists – let me explain.

It is like a Bucket List – but it is not stuff I intend doing before I ‘Kick the Bucket’. 

These are things I plan on getting done by 50 when I will start a new phase in my life. (As yet undecided!)

It is a Kettle List because ‘Polly put the kettle on’ – and also, I generally sit around with a cuppa while writing these posts. The list has all sorts of cool stuff on it. You should definitely go check it out.

Today I want to look at a few of the items that will take a while to tick off. Mainly because they involve doing a number of things.

Whether that is making something, like in the case of my 1000 cranes, or visiting places such as my 50 places of worship task.

Each little act adds up to create a whole task.

The Cumulative Tasks

It feels like I haven’t even looked at my list for a while.  I made a conscious decision for the New Year to focus on a selected few items from the list to increase the likelihood of them being achieved.

Now that I have picked them, opportunities for items I hadn’t chosen have arisen! Always the way!

Here is a selection of a few of the tasks on the Kettle List that could be done a bit at a time – not including ‘Complete the 40 x 40’, although that is on there…

Visit 6 continents – this will take at least 6 trips – although I have ticked off Europe and Asia already.

Stay in 5 unusual accommodations – I really want to stay in a yurt or an ice hotel..or a tree house!

Visit 50 places of worship – I am 14 in. Many of these were in Japan, and I need to find photos and start a page to document this properly.

Carry out 50 Random Acts of Kindness  –  only 8 left to go, but I want to start doing something a bit more substantial.  Potential future Saturday post right there!

Drink 50 Coffees in 50 Cities – this is a pretty important part of my list! I have tried coffees in a few different cities and even countries now and find this is a great way to get a task ticked off every time we visit a new place.

Why you should consider adding cumulative tasks onto your list

The benefit of having this kind of task on your list is that even if you are busy, or are a bit short of money, you can get something done. An act of kindness costs nothing, a visit to a local church or temple is free.

If you add a craft-based task – I intend to make 1000 cranes, and that is what I have done towards the list this week! – you can make things one night while watching Netflix. 

This way you can always be working towards completing your list even when you can’t go on expensive foreign trips, or you are building up the courage to finally do that skydive (you could just do indoor sky diving, it’s loads of fun and less dangerous!)

What if you don’t have a list yet?  Well, you should check out my post on why you should and what to consider when writing it.

Are you ready to up your list game? Check out this post on how to make yours even better.

Let me know how your list is going – what is on there and how are you planning to get the tasks done?