What is a 40 x 40?
My very age-specific bucket list
Before this blog was even thought of, I had a different list; a list of things to do before I hit 40. My 40 x 40.
As I explained in the piece I wrote specifically about bucket lists and why everyone should have one, there are also things you should avoid. One of those is to avoid limiting yourself to a small time frame.
A rushed list is a bad list. While I tried hard (ish) to complete it, there are still plenty of things to do, which is why finishing it off now appears on the Kettle List.
The fact is, writing a list of things to do before you are forty, about 15 months before the event, does not give you time to come up with the best ideas. You subconsciously limit yourself.
Notice how the list does not involve any far-flung foreign travel, or anything too ambitious? It is because I knew I was on a timescale.
Don’t worry – a lesson well and truly learnt
I did want to get closure on my 40 x 40 list though, so I made item #2 of the Kettle List – Complete the 40 x 40 list.
What is on the 40 x 40?
So what was on this list then?
Well, the easiest – albeit longest – way to find out is to go look at the 60+ videos on my 40×40 playlist on my Pollyplaits Youtube channel. (It was a phase I went through a few years ago, that I may pick back up when I get the time)
However, If you just haven’t got the requisite 10 hours, or indeed value your sanity, then I will give you a quick rundown instead.
Bring on the list!
The things I have completed
#1 Get a Tattoo – The first one I completed, and I have since upgraded.
#2 Find 40 Geocaches – Learn more about Geocaching and how to get involved.
#3 Gain a Degree – One of my proudest moments. You can also find more details about my Life Long Learning Journey here
#4 See a Music Concert – My trip to Birmingham to watch Wet, Wet, Wet in concert.
#5 See a Comedy show – I am notching these up! I have since attended at least 6 different shows.
#6 Learn Japanese – An ongoing epic
#8 Make a Quilt – Completed this by accident!
# 10 Save £3,000 for Trip – A bit of a cheat one! I needed to save up to go on my Japan trip!
#12 Book Trip to Japan – I knew I was going after my 40th birthday, so this is also a cheat task. But it was a visit that would be the catalyst to everything else that I want to achieve.
#13 Train, Boat, Plane – No video – must find some pictures though…
#14 Drive a Car – I did not start this until 2019 – but an upgrade has occurred!
#15 Waist Deep in Sea
(Attempt one) (Attempt two)
#16 Make a YouTube Video – See the extensive playlist above.
#17 Spa Day – Had a great day at the Spa with my friend – may need another one…purely for photographic / research purposes…
#18 Weekend in Europe – We went to Prague, did a Locked room and saw giant river creatures.
#19 Do a Charity Run – The colour run, pretty sure I am still washing the paint off.
#20 Day/Night out with Luke (Luke being my younger brother) – A Rick Astley concert in March 2024
#23 Attend a “Big Conference” – LICAF 2022, and in 2023
#24 Cook a 3-course meal – with the use of Rin’s kitchen, and her ever-patient teaching, I managed to get this task done.
# 25 Hold a Spider – this happened once, unintentionally!
#26 Locked room Escape Adventure – Wrote a piece with the top 5 tips to help you out…literally.
#27 Indoor Skydiving – Most ambitious thing on the list in a way, but we got it done!
#28 Give Away 2016 things – part of my epic declutter journey.
#30 Try a Zip-line – Need to find some photos, but I did it.
#31 Posh Afternoon Tea – another one that needs writing up
# 34 40 Years of Movies (Part 1) (Part 2)
# 35 Eat Baked Beans – still traumatised… can’t write it up yet.
#36 Own a Pair of Jeans – this went as badly as I knew it would.
#37 Bake a Cake
#38 Dance to K-Pop in a nightclub – Korean night at Pop World. – again no photos, but don’t mind doing it again
#39 Do an online family Tree.
#40 Sort out New List and website.- complete cop out of a task, but you are here, so I have completed it.
To Do:
#7 Crochet a Top – working on this now –
#9 Lose a Stone – sigh. Still working on this one.
#11 Visit every Ceremonial County – there are 48, I have done about 28.
#21 Complete Smashbook (Must find this book that I put away ‘safely’)
#22 Sew a Dress – I’ve got the material…just need to get started.
#29 Whole Family on a day out – As some of the kids don’t enjoy theme parks, I’m thinking a day at Wookey Hole
# 32 365 Pictures – Work in progress, that I keep forgetting to do so have to constantly start again!
#33 Cycle To Bath – I live near the cycle path and have a bike….not sure my legs could take it quite yet.
So what is the plan, Polly?
As I complete the tasks in the lower portion of the list I will move them up, along with a link to where I have written about the task. I will really need to keep up with that writing!
Each year I add a number of the 40 x 40 tasks are on my focus list: once again #9 Lose a stone, and #32 Take 365 pictures to make their annual appearance. Will be glad to get those ones finally ticked off!
That would leave 8 tasks, so I am looking at completing this whole list in the next 2 or 3 years, leaving me free to work on the Kettle List…which doesn’t have long left either.
